By John — Desalination News
Thames Water’s desalination plant in Beckton, east London, may not be fully operational for another two years because the company is struggling to get replacement parts approved, according to a report from Utility Week.
The Gateway plant is mainland Britain’s only large-scale desalination facility. It has faced operational problems since it was built and has only been switched on sporadically, including being unavailable during periods of severe drought.
The plant relies on reverse osmosis membranes, which are now damaged and need to be replaced. Thames Water says any new membranes must be approved by the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI), and that testing facilities currently have a backlog, which is holding up the process.
The Environment Agency raised the impact on Thames Water’s resilience as a concern in its analysis of the water industry’s annual water resources performance. The regulator also described delays and revised delivery dates for major supply schemes at other companies as “deeply concerning”.
Beckton was built as a drought backstop for London, so a prolonged outage leaves the capital with less supply resilience at a time when England has faced repeated dry spells. The situation also shows how regulatory approval pipelines for critical components can become a bottleneck for desalination assets, with the plant’s return now depending on how quickly the DWI testing backlog clears.
(Source: Utility Week)