Welsh Water operated Kingstone and Madley Waste Water Treatment works was constructed in the late 1940’s and has been modified on several occasions over the years to accommodate the increasing population in the area.

In the late 1980’s four parallel horizontal flow passive reed beds were added to the system to provide a tertiary polish to the effluent prior to discharge to the local watercourse. These have performed well and are still in operation with discharge consent levels generally being maintained though there has been some loss of treatment capacity due to age and increased loading rates resulting in the short circuiting of flow across the reed bed surface.