The risk of sewage spills from a treatment works in a Northumberland village will be significantly reduced, thanks to a multi-million pound investment by Northumbrian Water to increase capacity at the site.

The water company’s £3.5 million project will see the capacity of its Wark Sewage Treatment Works (STW) near Hexham triple, helping to protect the River Tyne from pollution.

The site can currently take in 2.7 litres of combined sewage and rainwater a second before the excess volumes are retained in storm tanks for later treatment.

While the STW currently operates in line with its regulatory permits, the investment will increase that capacity to 7.6 litres a second, allowing it to meet the demands of local population growth and additional rain resulting from climate change.

While two new tanks are being installed on the site, to deal with the additional flows from population growth and increased rainfall, the project team will establish a temporary facility on site to ensure the waste continues to be treated throughout the works.

The work will be carried out by the water company’s partner, Mott MacDonald Bentley (MMB), starting on site on November 3, with completion expected in August 2024.

Lasr week MMB carried out a drone survey of the whole of the sewage treatment works to enable them to capture some video footage.

Northumbrian Water’s Project Manager, Colin Burdon said:

“With growth in the local population and climate change both contributing to an increase in the combined volumes of sewage and rainwater that needs to be treated at Wark STW, this project will protect the Tyne against overflows by tripling its capacity.”