Yorkshire Water's £170k to reduce flow of raw sewage into York rivers

The money will be used to upgrade two storm overflows in York that are known to spill untreated sewage into the rivers during what the water company calls ‘periods of prolonged or heavy rainfall’.

A spokesman for the company said improvements to the overflow under Boots on Coney Street would halve the discharges into the River Ouse there.

Improvements to a second storm overflow on Fishergate would reduce discharges into the Foss by about 10 per cent, he added.

Raw sewage was blamed by some for the mass death of fish in the River Foss last summer. Yorkshire Water insisted they had visited the river and found no sewage in the water.

But a team of scientists who had been taking water samples in the Foss at New Earswick said it ‘absolutely reeked of sewage’.

Dead fish in the River Foss last summer (Image: Supplied)

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Water companies have come under increasing pressure to tackle the problem of untreated sewage leaking into rivers.

Yorkshire Water says the latest investment in York is part of a £180m investment by Yorkshire Water to reduce sewage discharges into watercourses across the region in the next two years.

Martin Ineson, the project manager at Yorkshire Water, said: “We have committed to reducing discharges into watercourses across the region.

“In York, many of the discharges are due to the river flowing into the sewer network, as we experienced in recent weeks, following a prolonged period of heavy rain.

“The work we are carrying out on Coney Street and Fishergate will limit these instances and reduce overflows into both the Foss and Ouse. As well as these projects, we are planning more investment in York’s overflows in the next two years and beyond to further reduce discharges.”

A sewage pipe (Image: Newsquest)

Work on the two York overflows will include:

• Altering the operation of the Coney Street overflow, meaning greater flows of wastewater would be required before overflows occur
• Upgrades to stop the river inundating the sewer and to prevent blockages, which can also cause an increase in discharges to the watercourse from Fishergate.

Cllr Kate Ravilious, York’s executive member for the environment and climate emergency, welcomed the investment – buit said much more needed to be done.

“The problem of sewage discharge into York’s rivers is an issue we have raised more than once since May, and remain very concerned about,” she said.

Cllr Kate Ravilious (Image: Supplied)

“Investment is desperately needed and so I welcome this initial commitment. But we need to understand the full scale of the problem in York’s rivers, including how much investment is needed to resolve it, as this funding may only represent a small step forward.

“We also need to know how any investment will accelerate tackling the problem, as climate change adds increasing pressure to local storm overflow infrastructure.

“We know Yorkshire Water has indicated it will prioritise cleaning up rivers where people swim, but there are good environmental reasons why the Ouse and Foss must be cleaned up too. We will continue to push the company for greater investment in York."