Stroud Times had a chance to look inside Severn Trent’s new storm drain just off the A419 Ebley Bypass.
Measuring 25-metres across and 25-metres deep, the drain can hold 7,400 cubic metres of water – equivalent to 24,500 bathtubs of water, or three Olympic sized swimming pools.
It is part of Severn Trent’s £25million project to reduce sewer flooding in Stroud and has been created to increase water storage capacity during heavy rainfall. It features cutting edge technology that automatically holds water back during severe weather and returns it to the treatment works at Stanley Downton when rainfall has subsided.
“It’s a massive tank – it will be Severn Trent’s biggest tank in their portfolio, and we like to claim it’s the biggest hole in Gloucestershire,” said Peter Richardson, a project manager with construction firm Galliford Try.
“The whole project’s been running for two and a half years now. We started it in April 2023 and a lid will be going on in the next couple of weeks, then it’s the electrical and mechanical fit out to get it to automate itself and pump the sewage back into the sewer so it can go for treatment after storage.”
