£384m on tap to help stop storm overflows

SEVERN Trent says it is spending £384 million in the next financial year to help tackle storm overflows.

The company said last year had 35 per cent more rainfall than 2022.

This contributed to an average of 24.9 spills from storm overflows – up from 18.4 in 2022 but in line with the figure for 2021.

Severn Trent said it aims to meet targets at least five years ahead of the target set by regulators of more than 10 spills per overflow a year.

It has pledged zero impact from storm overflows by 2030.

It said it is confident it will secure the Environment Agency’s Environmental Performance Assessment highest 4* status for an unprecedented fifth consecutive year later in 2024,

Bob Stear, Severn Trent’s chief engineer, said: “These types of extreme weather conditions are likely to become more typical, so we’re accelerating investment even quicker to get ahead of such intense periods of rain to reduce the number of spills from storm overflows.

“Our record investment, with £384 million being spent now and a significant £1.1 billion planned to deliver, shows our commitment to an ambitious programme to reduce storm overflow spills.

“We’re essentially re-plumbing the network and rethinking hundreds of years of engineering solutions, so change on this scale can’t happen overnight and the progress won’t always be linear.

“So we have in place short and longterm plans for every single storm overflow and hundreds of people working on it.

“We’re actively seeking out new innovations and smart interventions including artificial intelligence capabilities, with more teams of people now dedicated to our spill reduction commitments to deliver the industry leading targets.

“So, while 2023 has seen signs of climate change and exceptional weather conditions that have caused spills, we’re doing what’s needed to deliver our commitments.”

More than 70 projects designed to contribute to spills reduction will be completed in 2024/5, They include creating new storage and combined sewer separation at Hinckley.

A live map is due to be launched in a few weeks, which will be a tool for people to see what investment plans are taking place on all storm overflows across the region.

SEVERN TRENT SAYS CASES UP DUE TO THE HEAVY RAINFALL