United Utilities unveils plan to help reduce spills from storm overflows

United Utilities has announced a new programme of activity to accelerate spill reductions at a further 700 sites across the North West.

In May this year the Warrington-based water and wastewater company was widely criticised when 10 million litres of raw sewage spewed into Lake Windermere for 10 hours.

In July, regulator, Ofwat, announced that United Utilities, along with other companies, was being investigated over how they manage their wastewater assets.

And last month United Utilities was rapped by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for its lack of transparency in dealing with queries over its environmental performance, saying the company has repeatedly failed to classify information as environmental.

Now, United Utilities has announced that a dedicated team of 500 engineers and data scientists are in place to deliver the programme with a focus on:

• Creating additional storage capacity for storm water collection to capture more sewage during high rainfall to substantially cut spills
• Enlarging wastewater treatment works with modular units to reduce spill frequency in rural areas
• Tackling ground water from entering pipes by preventing water entering sewers and overwhelming treatment works
• Removing surface water from the sewerage network to ensure it transports only sewage and not rainwater
• Creating nature-based solutions such as reed beds and swales to improve filtration and treatment
• Using AI and predictive analytics to optimise operations

United Utilities chief executive, Louise Beardmore, said: “We have proposed an ambitious business plan of over £13bn of investment to improve services for customers, communities and the environment over the next five years.

“This will deliver better quality drinking water, reduce leakage and improve the quality of the region’s rivers.”

She added: “The plan will see us tackle over 440 of the biggest storm overflows across the region, enabling us to reduce spills and improve over 500km of rivers and waterways.

“Customers and regulators have made it clear that they want us to go as fast as we can, and we have been working in the background sourcing ideas and solutions.

“We have been accessing some of the best innovation from across the world to see what more we can do, and that’s why we’re able to commit today to a further acceleration that will see us making interventions at an additional 700 sites across the North West.

“Together with our business plan, today’s announcement will see us making improvements at over 1,100 sites by 2030 and spending a total of £500m on accelerated wastewater service improvements.”

She said: “That’s a massive commitment and one that will help to deliver the step change that customers, stakeholders and regulators want to see.

“We have mobilised our supply chain and engaged some of the best engineering and construction teams.

“We are accelerating environmental programmes in communities across the region where we are innovating to find quicker and more immediate solutions and fast-tracking investment to drive improvements.”