We’re proud to be doing right by Yorkshire through delivering our largest-ever environmental investment programme. Over the next 5 years, £8.3bn is being invested across the region to upgrade infrastructure and improve services.
As part of this programme, we’ll be improving our service to customers in Scarborough by reducing pollution and leakage, maintaining high-quality drinking water and protecting our rivers and coasts.
We’re also making a significant investment in wastewater treatment. This is designed to improve water quality in the sea (currently Scarborough North Bay is deemed ‘sufficient’ and the South Bay is deemed ‘poor’ by the Environment agency) and to help protect the town and coastline for future generations.
To do this we’ll be using a mix of solutions to capture, store and treat wastewater. We know some people will have questions and want to share their views. That’s why we want to be open about what we’re doing and give people the chance to have their say on what solutions they want to see.
Have your say
In person
We’d love to speak to you about the water treatment and storage solutions you’d like us to deliver. You can come and see us:
Where: Scarborough Library, Vernon Road, Scarborough, YO11 2NN.
When: 10am-2pm every Tuesday from 28 April - 2 June 2026.
Online
Don’t worry if you don’t have time to come and see us, you can give us your feedback - and find out much more about the proposed work - at our dedicated Scarborough website.
Any questions?
How often is the sea water tested?
The Environment Agency tests water quality for regulatory purposes up to 20 times during the bathing season (May to September).
Some beaches may be tested less often if water quality has been consistently excellent. You can find details for specific locations on the Environment Agency’s SWIMFO website.
What contributes to poor water quality?
The environment agency test water quality by looking for two types of bacteria, E-coli and Intestinal Enterococci. This can be found in many forms including farming and agricultural runoff, trade effluent from businesses, misconnections and third part involvement, storm overflow sewage, animals and seabirds and the amount on natural UV we get across the UK.
What types of solution will you be investing in for Scarborough?
We’re currently exploring a range of options to help reduce releases from storm overflows. We’d like you to come and talk to us about these and help shape what we do next. They include:
Surface water sewers
Divert rainwater into a separate sewer to reduce pressure on the network. This helps stop the wastewater network becoming overwhelmed during heavy rain and means rainwater can return to waterways without needing full treatment.
Underground storage tanks
Can store excess wastewater, meaning when there’s heavy rainfall, we’ll be able to hold more excess wastewater back and reduce reliance on storm overflows during periods of bad weather.
Underground tunnels
Divert wastewater away from our coastline to be treated at alternate upgraded treatment plants.
Nature-based solutions or sustainable drainage systems
This includes rainwater harvesting, permeable surfaces, swales and rain gardens.
Hard surfaces like concrete and tarmac don’t absorb water, so rain runs into drains and puts pressure on the network. These sustainable drainage solutions help slow that down by managing rainwater in a more natural, lower impact way.