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Severn Trent opened the doors to its East Leake Waste Treatment Works to show locals around its £2.1m project taking place on site.

The company is upgrading the treatment process on the works in Nottinghamshire, which serves around 10,000 people in the area, and invited residents to see the improvements for themselves.

Steve Hinsely, senior programme engineer from Severn Trent, said: “The work we’re doing at East Leake is important for the local environment and for the community, so we wanted to be able to show everyone exactly what we’re doing and why we’re doing it.

“We’re really passionate about the environment which is why we’re installing new equipment that filters waste water to an even higher standard than we do already, meaning what we’re putting back into the watercourse is of even higher quality.”

The £2.1 million improvements are due to be complete before Christmas this year.

“At the same time as we’re making these improvements to the sewage treatment works, we’d still encourage everyone to think before they flush,” said Steve. “Our sewers and treatment works are designed to deal with poo, pee and toilet paper – when people flush or wash away the wrong items it clogs up the sewer system, causing blockages and sewer flooding. Then it all ends up at our sewage treatment works. By simply binning items like nappies, wipes, sanitary products and cooking fat, nasty blocked sewers can be prevented– so it’s really important to keep our sewers clear.”

Severn Trent clears around 50,000 blockages in its region every year, and says that the majority of these are down to sewer misuse.

Steve added “The open day was a great success, we were able to show residents all about what happens when they flush or pull the plug, as well as showing them the improvements we’re making which will make a huge difference to the environment and their community.”