In West Yorkshire, we're creating wetlands where plants act like filters for the water entering Pudsey Beck. As well as creating a home for wildlife with cleaner water, this storage system helps to improve water quality.
Our work at Pudsey Beck
Earlier this year, work began on investing £36 million in four projects across west Leeds and Bradford to improve water quality in Pudsey Beck and reduce discharges from storm overflows during heavy rain.
We’ve been developing plans for the various schemes around Pudsey Beck for a while, focusing on green solutions where possible, and we’re pleased to be commencing construction on two sites and making real progress on others.
As we move forward, we’ll keep the local communities informed, and work with the relevant authorities to keep any disruption to a minimum.
In an integrated wetland, plants in a series of cells treat wastewater and storm water by naturally breaking down and absorbing bacteria, pollutants and nutrients. This is a natural process to clean the water and helps to boost local biodiversity by protecting and sheltering wildlife
We’re committed to improving river water quality and reducing storm overflow discharges and this project is a major part of our £800 million investment in Yorkshire this year. We know how important it is to our customers and for the environment that we tackle the number of discharges from storm overflows across our region and we’re committed to reducing their operation, and these two projects will significantly improve the water quality in Pudsey Beck by doing just that.
Pudsey is a hotspot for blockages in Yorkshire so our education team will also be visiting schools in the area to deliver LEGO Education sessions. These will inform the children of the work going on nearby, as well as providing an opportunity to build and program a LEGO robot to travel around a map and remove blockages from the sewer system. The sessions are designed to improve STEM skills, as well as educating the children on what should and shouldn't be flushed down the toilet or poured down the drain to try to prevent blockages in the area and do right by Yorkshire.
More from us
Storm overflows
Find out what stormover flows are, why we have them and how they work.
Storm overflow investment
To help us drive improvements in our storm overflows quicker, we’re investing in some of our most active storm overflows to reduce the number of times they operate.
Doing right by Yorkshire
From fixing leaks to making new wetlands. From helping customers struggling with bills, to giving back by helping communities thrive… We want to do right by you, by doing right by Yorkshire.
