Thieves or vandals who target Wessex Water’s sewage treatment works in Highbridge could find themselves quite literally caught ‘red-handed’.
The company has taken steps to forensically mark its equipment at the centre next to Apex Park after unwanted security breaches last year at treatment plants across the south west cost it nearly half a million pounds.
Items stolen included copper cabling, lightning conductors and manhole covers. But now thieves who target the company’s sites – such as the one pictured here in Highbridge – will find themselves linked to anything they attempt to steal.
Wessex Water has coated a special grease on equipment which is then transferred to the perpetrator.
Ian Blair, Wessex Water’s head of health, safety and security, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “We have forensically marked our equipment with Redweb – a security product that helps police identify stolen assets.”
“We believe it will not only help us recover any stolen items that have been found by police but also deter thieves from targeting our sites.”
Wessex Water also uses CCTV at its sites and high security fencing to keep out trespassers.
Wessex Water said the use of Redweb technology will further improve security as it will link the company with its assets. Only one particle of the marker – the width of a human hair – is required to identify that the item belongs to Wessex Water.
