Southern Water's £80 million project to bring even cleaner seas to Margate and Broadstairs is now complete with wastewater being processed at a new treatment works.

The environmental improvement scheme enables more than 30 million litres of wastewater to be treated every day at the company's Weatherless Hill Wastewater Treatment Works.

It is then safely released out to sea in line with European legislation, bringing cleaner waters for the 10,000 residents and visitors to the seaside towns.

Previously wastewater in the area only underwent one stage of treatment to remove debris. Now it undergoes several treatment processes, including disinfection by ultra-violet light. 

The wastewater from Margate and Broadstairs is pumped to Weatherless Hill treatment works along an 11 Kilometre pipeline. 

The new works has been built next to the company's existing works at Weatherlees, which already seperately treats wastewater from Ramsgate, Deal and Sandwich.

Once the water has undergone a thorough treatment process at the site, it is sent back along a second, parallel pipeline and out to sea at Foreness Point in Margate through a 1.9 kilometre outfall.

Engineering work has also been undertaken at the former works at Foreness Point and at North Foreland, in Broadstairs, which have been upgraded as pumping stations.