Yorkshire Water, Anglian Water, and Severn Trent Water are amongst five companies to share more than £1.6bn of new investment for vital infrastructure to improve the water quality of rivers, lakes and coastal waters and secure future water supplies, the government and Ofwat has announced.
As part of the new package of investment, announced in draft form by Ofwat, companies will commit £1.1 billion to help eliminate harm caused by storm overflows. A further £400 million will be spent on water resilience schemes and £160m to help reduce nutrient pollution.
It includes major new projects such as:
- Yorkshire Water improving wastewater treatment infrastructure in Ilkley to improve the bathing water quality of the River Wharfe (£67 million)
- Anglian Water accelerating its regional storm overflow reduction plan in the east of England (£27 million)
- Severn Trent rolling out smart meters and modifying its Draycote Water reservoir in Warwickshire to increase water capacity (£70 million)
- Essex and Suffolk Water increasing water resilience in their area to better meet the needs of local customers including businesses (£18 million)
- United Utilities reducing around 8,400 spills per year, including reducing discharges into Lake Windermere (£800 million)
Schemes will also focus on new infrastructure to reduce nutrient pollution. Improvements at 14 wastewater treatment works, with an investment of £160 million, will significantly reduce phosphorus pollution in protected site catchments. This includes proposals from Anglian Water to both reduce pollution and support sustainable housing development.
All work will start in the next two years, from 2023 to 2025.
Water Minister Rebecca Pow said: “These schemes will help accelerate the delivery of the urgent improvements we need to protect our environment. It includes £1.1 billion of new investment to stop sewage discharges at sites across the country and will deliver a reduction of 10,000 discharges per year in places like Lake Windermere, the River Wharfe, Falmouth and Sidmouth.”
