Case study - Thames Gateway Water Treatment Works

London is classed by the United Kingdom’s Environment Agency as ‘seriously water stressed’. To tackle the water shortages, the UK’s first desalination plant opened in 2010.

It treats water from the brackish waters of the River Thames, producing up to 150 million litres of clean, fresh, drinking water each day during times of drought or extended periods of low rainfall, or to maintain supplies in the event of an incident at other water treatment facilities. Within the plant, saline river water passes through lamella clarifiers to remove solid particles. The clarifiers are large, open tanks containing a coarse filter media that is supported by a grillage of 78 stainless steel I-beams.