Severn Trent’s work on its ground-breaking £78 million project to improve river health is progressing well in Leamington.

The project aims to improve the water quality in more than 50km of river in Warwickshire and Shropshire, and help move two stretches, on the rivers Leam and the Teme, towards bathing quality by 2025 – paving the way for improvements to more rivers in the future.    

Now work is set to begin in Leamington, that will include rainwater coming off roofs and roads being separated from household waste from homes and businesses. This surface water separation work will take place across the north-east of Leamington and will reduce the impact on the wastewater network, benefiting the river Leam across the town.

Work will also set to begin on the construction of storm water storage tanks below ground in Station Approach, south Leamington, increasing the capacity of the waste network - meaning more rainwater will be captured and stored, reducing the use of overflows.

The company will start this construction stage during the first quarter of 2024 and confirmed that the Pump Room Gardens is not a location that they will proceed with at this stage.  

Wilfred Denga, Severn Trent Delivery Business Lead, said: “We’re making some great progress with our bathing rivers project, and we’re looking forward to the next stage of work beginning in Leamington.

“Our ambition is to reduce our impact on the rivers and help protect the local environment, so this work in Leamington is vital in how we do that, and we’re excited about exploring different ways of working the town.  This work will see us increase storage, while separating our surface water and waste from homes and businesses – helping to reduce the need for overflows.

“We’ll also continue with our monitoring in the area, helping us to have the very best picture of the health of the river, so we know exactly what’s needed to help us do our bit on moving the rivers to bathing quality.”

To find out more about Severn Trent’s Green Recovery Bathing Rivers programme, please follow this link.