Water firm invests £445k to cut storm overflow

Yorkshire Water is to invest £445,000 in a bid to cut the amount of wastewater being discharged into a North Yorkshire waterway.

The firm said the money would be spent on lining a 600m (656 yard) section of sewer along Northallerton Road, in Northallerton.

A company spokesperson said the work would help cut discharges into Terry Gutter by 63% by reducing the impact of groundwater infiltration on the sewer network.

Work on the project is due to start later this month and is expected to be completed in the spring.

Omair Khan, project manager at Yorkshire Water, said: "The project on Northallerton Road is part of a £180m investment project across Yorkshire by the end of April 2025 to reduce discharges from storm overflows, and is our latest step in improving the quality of watercourses in and around north Yorkshire."

Yorkshire Water has previously announced it was investing £480k to reduce discharges from a storm overflow on Springwell Lane in Northallerton, by disconnecting surface water from the combined sewer network.

Water firms can use storm overflows to release excess rainwater and untreated sewage when it rains heavily to stop homes being flooded, with legal limits in place to monitor their use.

Last year Yorkshire Water was fined £47m after an investigation by Ofwat found that on average the firm discharged untreated wastewater into the region's rivers for seven hours a day in 2023, with almost half of its storm overflows found to be in breach of regulations.

The firm has said it planned to invest more than £1.5bn between 2025 and 2030 on cutting the impact of storm overflow discharges in what it described as its "largest ever environmental investment".

Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here.