Yorkshire Water is starting work this week on the first of 27 projects, totalling an investment of £73.5 million in the Rotherham area to reduce sewer discharges into watercourses across the region, with a new storm overflow project at Lord Street.
The £2.3 million scheme will add extra storm water storage capacity to the sewer network with the construction of a new 80m³ storm tank. New pipework and an overhaul of the existing combined sewer overflow chamber will reduce the number of discharges into Herringthorpe Beck, a tributary of the river Don, from the Clifton Lord Street overflow.
Vikki Overend, project manager at Yorkshire Water, said:
“This is one of the first of 27 projects to improve overflows in the Rotherham area, with a combined investment of £73.5 million. These projects aim to reduce the number and duration of wastewater discharges into local watercourses following periods of prolonged or heavy rain.
“Our project partners, Ward & Burke, are due to start the site set up on Monday 15 June and will begin construction of the new storage facility in early July. This will take place within a secure boundary of four empty allotments plots that will be fully reinstated, so that they can be brought back into community use on completion next year.”
Yorkshire Water is delivering its largest ever environmental investment programme, with £8.3 billion set to be invested across the region over the next five years to upgrade infrastructure and improve services for customers.
This includes £1.5 billion towards reducing the need for storm overflow discharges by building new:
- surface water sewers
- underground storage tanks
- nature-based solutions
- sustainable drainage systems
The solutions will help to support the sewer network to deliver cleaner and healthier rivers and coastal waters.
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With the UK government demanding a 50% reduction in storm overflow spills by 2029, the era of reactive management is over. Speaking in the House of Commons on 21 July 2025, then environment secretary Steve Reed said, “This Government will cut water companies’ sewage pollution in half by the end of the decade.”
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