£2m Yorkshire Water investment to reduce storm overflows to river Dearne

Yorkshire Water is investing £2m to reduce storm overflows into the river Dearne near Barugh Green, Barnsley. 

The project, which is being delivered by Sapphire Utility Solutions, is expected to be completed in November and will reduce the frequency and duration of discharges to the watercourse from the overflow on Dearne Hall Road. 

Work is underway to build 297m3 of additional storage in the sewer network to slow the flow of wastewater during periods of prolonged or heavy rainfall. The storm water collected in the new storage tank will be held until the rainfall event has passed and it can be treated. 

Modelling indicates the new storage, once completed, will reduce the number of discharges to the river Dearne from the overflow to approximately 10 per year, an 83% reduction from the 2021 baseline. 

Mudassar Ahmed, senior project manager at Yorkshire Water, said: “Our teams are delivering a £180m investment across the region by April 2025 to reduce discharges from storm overflows. There are four main ways we are doing this; building additional storage, separating surface water from the combined sewer system, implementing nature-based solutions to slow the flow of water and/or treat wastewater and adjusting our network and treatment works. 

“This storage project will mean a significant reduction in discharges to the river Dearne at Dearne Hall Road, helping to improve water quality in the river. This is a small part of our £180m investment and we are already looking further ahead, with more than £1bn investment planned between 2025 and 2030, as we continue our commitment to reduce storm overflows.” 

Yorkshire Water recently launched an interactive map enabling people to see how storm overflows are operating in near real-time.