Wichling Water Treatment Works Upgrade

A £4 million extension to a South East Water treatment works at Wichling will see the works completely refurbished with new pumps, a control panel and a microfiltration membrane plant.

The refurbishment will allow the works to produce up to 14 million litres of top quality water a day from boreholes driven more than 100 metres deep into the chalk. The water will supply South East Water customers in the Maidstone area.

The project is on course for completion despite builders having to make allowances for a hundred or so bats which were found hibernating at the works.

Ecologists, using special detectors, found the site was home to a large colony of common pipistrelle bats and a small colony of brown long eared bats. There is also another type of bat called the noctule bat which roosts in nearby trees.

South East Water obtained a licence to complete the work, ensuring the bats were not disturbed.