£520m pouring in to improve our storm overflows

MAJOR INVESTMENT IN RIVER’S HEALTH OVER NEXT 25 YEARS

SEVERN Trent is to invest over £520 million on its storm overflows in Leicestershire, “bringing benefits to rivers now and during the coming years”.

The water company will make the investment over a 25-year period up to 2050, as part of its plans to reduce spills from storm overflows across the county and improve the health of our rivers.

A total of 336 storm overflows across the county will benefit – which could range from increasing the capacity of its storage tanks to introducing green nature-based solutions.

The company said it will ensure rivers are monitored closer than ever before with 100 per cent of its storm overflows having monitors – and the company is now analysing around 300m pieces of data a year helping to prioritise investment.

The investment for Leicestershire forms part of a wider £4.4 billion injection into 2,472 storm overflows across the Severn Trent region, as part of the water company’s Storm Overflow Action Plan.

It aims to reduce the number of spills into water courses across the county, ensuring that by 2040 no overflow will spill more than 10 times in an average year in high priority areas, and in all areas by 2045, five years ahead of government targets.

Bob Stear, Severn Trent chief engineer, said: “This is a huge long-term investment plan for Leicestershire, improving storm overflows and bringing benefits to rivers now and during the coming years. Today’s announcement marks another significant milestone in our drive to deliver real improvements in river health.

“This is why we launched Get River Positive that has already delivered great results, despite the region having experienced seven named storms between September and December, contributing to some of

the wettest months on record. And we know there is still more to do, which is why this investment is so important – not just to us, but to our region’s rivers and the communities they serve.”

Since launching Get River Positive, Severn Trent said it has delivered strong results and committed to significant investment in Leicestershire, including:

A huge £242.4 million investment at Wanlip Sewage Treatment Works to expand the works, meaning Severn Trent can increase the amount of sewage it treats, and to a better standard to improve the health of the River Soar;

£33.6 million worth of investment at Melton Sewage Treatment Works to increase the amount of flow the company can treat, and to a better standard to improve the health of the River Wreake.

As schemes progress, more detail will be shared on what action is planned for every storm overflow in every water body.

A live “Event Duration Monitor” map is due to be launched later this year, which will be a tool for people to see what investment plans are taking place on all storm overflows across the region.