Yorkshire Water will begin upgrades at the Middleton sewage pumping station combined storm overflow (CSO) in Ilkley this week as part of a large-scale investment to improve bathing water quality in the river Wharfe.
The £7.9 million project at Middleton CSO follows is being carried out by contract partners M Group - the scheme includes the construction of a 920m3 storage tank in a field adjacent to the Olicanian Cricket Club.
The project will reduce the number and volume of discharges from the CSO to one discharge per bathing season and no more than 10 discharges per year on average. Discharges occur during heavy or prolonged rainfall to prevent wastewater backing up and flooding nearby homes and businesses.
The project at Middleton sewage pumping station CSO follows a £9.7 million storage tank project at the company’s Addingham and Low Mill Lane storm overflows.
Both projects will reduce storm overflow discharges into the river Wharfe to one discharge per bathing water season and no more than 10 discharges per year on average. The additional storage will hold excess flows of wastewater during periods of wet weather, reducing the likelihood of discharges, before the excess flows are returned to the sewer network for full treatment.
Further work will take place later this year at Bridge Lane storm overflow.
Dominic Cunney, project manager at Yorkshire Water, said:
“We have been investing significantly in our wastewater network in and around Ilkley to do our bit to improve the quality of the water in the river Wharfe. Part of this work is targeting the storm overflows that are just upstream of the bathing water so that we can bring down the number of discharges – Middleton is just the latest one to see these upgrades.
“The work on these overflow will complement work already completed in Ilkley and the £60 million project underway at Ilkley wastewater treatment works, all of which have been designed to reduce overflows entering the Wharfe.”
The schemes follow previous works to reduce discharges from Ilkley wastewater treatment works and Rivadale View CSO and the ongoing £60 million investment at Ilkley wastewater treatment works, which includes:
more than doubling the capacity of the Ilkley Wastewater Treatment Works by installing a large storm water storage tank and constructing a new aerated rush bed in its grounds
plans for a 19,000m2 integrated wetland across the river from the treatment works to provide further treatment to the final effluent and a biodiversity net gain for the area, subject to planning permission
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