Welsh Water is launching a Cardigan Community Fund to invest in the town while it completes its £20 million upgrade at its wastewater treatment works.

Community groups, charities and non-profit organisations in Cardigan and surrounding areas will be given the chance to apply for a share of £20,000 to help bring their community projects to life.

The not-for-profit company is currently upgrading the treatment process at Cardigan Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW) and once complete, the new process will ensure the works can cope better with the influx of seawater from the tidal Afon Teifi, helping to reduce the spill frequency from the site.

The work started in spring 2025 and is expected to be completed by the end of spring 2027.

Work at Cardigan so far has included service diversions, preparation work for the new dissolved air floatation treatment process (DAF), and the draining and cleaning of the existing tanks on the current Cardigan site. This will allow them to be converted into new balancing tank and moving-bed bioreactor (MBBR), while there has also been the installation of two new 15-metre diameter primary settlement tanks (PST) - key elements of the wastewater treatment process.

Welsh Water’s Managing Director of Wastewater Services, Steve Wilson, said: “We are pleased to be making good progress on our essential work to upgrade the treatment process at Cardigan Wastewater Treatment works.

“This large investment will help ensure that we have capacity at the site to take wastewater and implement measures to prevent the influx of salt water. This in turn will ensure that we treat wastewater efficiently and reduce the number of spills from this site into the estuary.

“Now, we would like to say thank you by giving something back to the local community by launching our Cardigan Community Fund, giving local groups the opportunity to apply for up to £5,000 of funding to bring their community benefit projects to life.”

The Cardigan Community Fund will be open for applications from Monday, 5th January 2026 until the end of February 2026, and groups will be able to apply for varying amounts from £250 up to £5,000 to help enhance the area they live in.

To award the funds to local community projects, Welsh Water will be working in partnership with the local Public Service Board who will be part of the community fund panel.

To be eligible for funding, non-profit organisations and groups must be based within an area that is served by Cardigan WwTW, such as Cardigan, St Dogmaels, Penparc and Gwbert. They can apply for the funding to help them develop, launch or maintain a community project, which they will manage and deliver.

If anyone would like more information about this fund, they can email [email protected] and applications can be made via dwrcymru.com/cardiganfund from Monday, 5 January 2026.

The deadline for completed applications is 5pm on Saturday, 28 February 2026.