£480k project to reduce storm overflows in Northallerton

Yorkshire Water is investing £480,000 in Northallerton to reduce discharges from a storm overflow on Springwell Lane. 

Work to disconnect surface water entering the combined sewer from road surfaces on Bishopsgarth has begun. The surface water will be returned directly to the watercourse, rather than entering the sewer and mixing with wastewater, helping to reduce wastewater discharges. 

By cutting the amount of rainfall entering the sewers during a period of prolonged or heavy rainfall the number of discharges into Willow Beck, a tributary of the river Wiske, will be reduced by 10%.  

Omair Khan, project manager at Yorkshire Water, said: “Reducing the amount of surface water running off residents’ roofs, roads and pavements into our combined sewer systems is vital to cutting the number of discharges from storm overflows. This project upstream of the storm overflow will ultimately reduce the frequency and duration of discharges. 

“We are currently in the process of delivering a £180m investment in storm overflows across the region by April 2025. This investment is the first step in a long-term programme to reduce number of discharges and we recently submitted plans to Ofwat that outline more than £1 billion investment to reduce overflows across the region between 2025 and 2030.” 

Yorkshire Water recently launched a new interactive map with the live status of the 2,180 overflows it operates across Yorkshire. The data updates every 15 minutes and provide up-to-date information for people looking to understand the impact of Yorkshire Water’s operations in their area.