United Utilities is making rapid progress with a fast-track project to upgrade 21 rural wastewater treatment works across Cumbria to enable them to treat more wastewater during times of heavy rainfall.
United Utilities is delivering the £10.6 million programme to increase capacity at 29 rural wastewater treatment works across the region - 21 of these are in Cumbria.
The project is introducing new treatment units that enable the small rural facilities to treat more wastewater during times of heavy rainfall. This is expected to reduce the number of times that storm overflows operate at the upgraded sites by more than 1,200 a year.
The project is part of United Utilities’ commitment to reduce spills by at least 50% by 2030. Work has already been completed at 11 sites in Cumbria and is well underway at the others.
Andrew Kendall, Wastewater Lead for United Utilities in Cumbria explained:
“This fast-track project is one of a range of measures we are taking to reduce spills from the wastewater network.
“These new treatment units operate alongside the existing treatment methods, they are quick to produce and install and will play an important role in reducing the number of times that storm overflows operate in periods of heavy rainfall
“By treating more, and doing it more quickly, we can ease pressure on these rural wastewater treatment sites and in turn reduce the risk of spills.”
The treatment units are being manufactured in the North West at Bury-based Water Engineering Services at the rate of one every week.
Once made, they are delivered to site fully assembled and can be ready for action within a few weeks.
Andrew Kendall added:
“This fast-track project enable us to install an effective solution in a matter of weeks compared to the 18-months plus it can take to deliver larger scale infrastructure.
“It is an important first step as we launch the biggest overhaul of the region’s sewer network in a century. People are going to see much more of this over the next 25 years as we deliver a wide range of solutions.”
“Across the region, we are making fundamental changes to the way our sewer system has been designed and change on this scale cannot happen overnight.
“We have a programme to re-plumb our drainage systems, building storage tanks to increase capacity and separating rainwater out of sewers – as well as using engineering solutions we’re also harnessing the power of nature by introducing measures such as reedbeds and natural filtration systems.”
Work has already been completed at Plumbland, Casterton, Gilcrux, Kirkbampton, Brough, Askham, Bootle, Embleton, Hawkshead, Eaglesfield and Great Broughton.
The company has also completed a project which has created an additional 2.6 million litres of storm water storage at its Ambleside and Windermere wastewater treatment works to help improve water quality in Windermere.
The additional storage at those sites has increased the amount of storm water the sites can store and then return for full treatment. This will also help reduce the number of times that storm overflows need to operate during periods of heavy rainfall.
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