Harrogate MP welcomes new £180m plans by Yorkshire Water to cut sewage discharges into rivers like Nidd

More than 190 storm overflows in Yorkshire have been earmarked for investment in the next two years as the water company looks to reduce its impact on water quality in the region’s rivers.

Welcoming the news, Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones said: “The immediate and ongoing investment is welcome.

"But tackling the Victorian storm overflows, which act as a safety valve when the sewers are overloaded, is a significant task.

"I know from my meetings with Yorkshire Water that the scale of that task and its importance is recognised.”

Recent years have seen widespread public concern - and much political flak for the Government - over the health risks of sewage spills and poorness of water quality in Britain’s rivers and coastlines.

Last year saw the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee warn that the UK's rivers were a "chemical cocktail" of raw sewage, microplastics and slurry.

Storm overflows are meant to act as “safety valves” used in combined sewer systems to protect properties from the risk of overloaded sewers during heavy storms creating flooding and untreated sewage backing up into streets and homes.

The concern is that storm overflows are now operating when there has not been significant rainfall.

Today has seen Water UK, the body which represents England's nine water and sewage companies, apologise on behalf of the industry.

In addition, the privately-owned water companies in England, including Yorkshire Water, have announces plans to spend £10 billion on tackling sewage spills, though water bills for customers are set to rise to as a result.

Yorkshire Water’s £180m investment to improve storm overflows, partly funded by shareholders, is in addition to the £147m being spent as part of the utility firm’s five-year business plan and the work being planned between 2025 and 2030, which will see the company’s largest environmental investment since privatisation.

But the company admits it should have taken action to tackle the problem earlier.

Nicola Shaw, CEO of Yorkshire Water, said: “We did not act quickly enough to tackle the issue of storm overflows into rivers.

"Despite the number and duration of discharges from storm overflows in Yorkshire decreasing in 2022 we understand they happen more than our customers would like.

"We are determined to tackle this issue and do our bit for river health.

“Tackling overflows is a priority for us but it is also a significant task.

"In Yorkshire, we have more than 2,200 overflows and we know replumbing the whole of Yorkshire is not a quick fix as it would be both significantly disruptive and costly to customers.”

"Our teams are already on the ground working on the first of these overflows and the investment will help to reduce discharges by at least 20%.

"But in most cases, we'll be going way beyond that and reducing them significantly."

Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones, who is part of an all-party campaign in the district to improve the quality of water in the Nidd, said: “We have already seen a reduction in the operation of storm overflows but it is important that this is sustained and accelerated.

"I will continue to work to see this done."