Rother River Basin Catchment

We have developed the first Drainage and Wastewater Management Plan (DWMP) for the Rother River Basin Catchment.

We have 56 wastewater systems in this catchment, with 212 pumping stations and 1,349 km of sewers. We cover 7% of the geographical area (mainly the urban areas and villages including Rye, Hythe, Dymchurch, Hastings and Folkestone) with 89% of the homes in the catchment connected to our wastewater systems.

Our DWMP sets out our priorities for the Rother River Basin Catchment. These include:

• Reducing the number of spills from the 80 storm overflows which together currently spill around 2200 times per annum
• Separating or attenuating excess rainwater in the sewer networks to reduce the risks of flooding and frequency of storm overflow discharges, especially in Hawkhurst, Wadhurst , Battle and Northiam
• Reducing nutrient discharges from the WTWs across the river basin to prevent deterioration of the internationally designated Habitats site
• A catchment wide, partnership scheme to divert surface water away from the cliffs at Fairlight
• Improving the resilience of our networks and treatment works to prevent pollution incidents, particularly in Rye and Fairlight.

All the stages we followed in developing the DWMP for the Rother are set out in the subsections below. Please explore these pages to find out more. You can find detailed investment needs in the tables on the Rother Options Development and Appraisal page.