News
£450m Investment Benefitting Warwickshire Waterways
Thursday 4th July 2024
Severn Trent’s kicked off an accelerated £450m region-wide programme of investment, where once complete, spills from storm overflows will reduce by 20% a year - and work in Warwickshire is already well underway.
The company has committed to going further and faster, to reduce the use of overflows and has embarked on a programme of work to 900 locations to be completed across the Midlands this year alone.
A series of unique projects in Warwickshire have already been completed, including £169,000 worth of improvement to Fenny Compton Wastewater Treatment works, as well as the installation of new storage solutions at Hurley Waste Treatment Works, in Atherstone – increasing its capacity by 170,000 litres.
The two projects saw reed bed improvements and new pipe work laid to reduce the use of overflows, as well as large storage solutions being installed in Atherstone, helping to capture more rain and water reducing spills.
Both projects are massively benefitting Warwickshire rivers with many more due to start over the next 12 months. The company is also rolling out more projects right across the Midlands.
Overflows are designed to protect homes and businesses from flooding during heavy rainfall, however Severn Trent know they need to do more to reduce the effect on local rivers.
This accelerated work will carry on long term, and more specifically for Warwickshire over the next 25 years the company is investing £300m to improve 141 overflows by 2050.
Mark Darby, Severn Trent Spills Programme Lead from Severn Trent said: “Our customers want us to go as quickly as possible to reduce spills from overflows, and we’re doing just that. We’re working round the clock, finding new and agile ways of delivering complex schemes quicker, and these projects in Warwickshire are a great example of that.
“By installing the new storage solutions in Atherstone, it means an additional 170,000 litres of water can held at the site – meaning the network doesn’t become overwhelmed, reducing spills from overflows – which is exactly what we’re setting out to do.
“We’re also looking to install more storage solutions, make more improvements to our network, and deliver more schemes across Warwickshire at pace. Including nature-based solutions like the reed-beds at Fenny Compton.”
900 locations will benefit this year alone across the Midlands, with plenty set to come for Warwickshire.
Mark said: “We know just how important rivers are to everyone and they’re just as important to us. This series of work for Warwickshire is a really exciting step and compliments the existing things we’re doing in the area already as part of our bathing rivers projects, and storm overflow action plan. Our customers can trust that we’re delivering what they’re after, and we’re doing it faster than anyone else..”
These accelerated projects build on Severn Trent’s delivery of significant investment in Warwickshire that includes:
· As part of its Green Recovery, Severn Trent is investing £78m to improve the water quality along more than 50km of river in Shropshire and Warwickshire and help move two stretches (on the rivers Teme and Leam) towards bathing quality by 2025.
· Construction work starting this summer to increase the capacity of Longbridge sewage treatment works in a £45 million project. By increasing the capacity of the works, the quality of effluent will be improved, and the number of spills will be reduced.
· A £4.5m investment to upgrade Tysoe Sewage Treatment Works to achieve a higher level of treatment and improve the health a tributary of Wyngates Brook.
