Mid and West Wales Fire Service to start using sewage water to fight blazes

Firefighters will start using sewage water to fight fires, to protect drinking water supplies and hit their net zero targets.

Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service announced that they have been trialling the use of ultra-violet (UV) to clean wastewater, before using it in their hoses to tackle blazes.

The scheme covers, Swansea, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Neath Port Talbot and Powys.

It means the fire service won't have to depend on using drinking water and other water sources.

It is being trialled after firefighters faced "challengingly" low water supplies due to droughts last year.

In August 2022, a nation-wide drought was declared by Natural Resources Wales (NRW) after exceptionally low levels of rainfall.

The country saw its driest five-month period in 40 years, with just 61% of its expected rain between March and July 2022.

As well as reducing the impact on communities, they hope the scheme will help the service achieve their Net Zero Carbon target by 2030.

The fire and rescue service are working with Dŵr Cymru and NRW to treat the water using the UV technology in sites across the country.

It will mean 100-litre fire engines can fill up and respond to incidents quickly.

A spokesperson for Welsh Water said: "By substituting this volume of water which otherwise would have been taken from the potable water supply it will help in the preservation of our supplies for customers especially in the face of increasing climate change impact on our natural resources.”

Mid and West Wales Fire Service says the use of treated wastewater will be tightly regulated by NRW. It will only be used in emergency circumstances.

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