Yorkshire Water gets winter ready with expansion of Customer Field Services

If there’s something strange in the neighbourhood sewers, who you going to call?  Very probably the Yorkshire Water Customer Field Services (CFS) team. These are the region's front-line defence against blocked drains, sewer overflows and unidentified objects causing an issue.

Leaky loos, blocked sinks and internal pipes are the homeowners’ responsibility, but when blockages or pollutions happen outside of the home, then it’s often Yorkshire Water’s operational technicians or ‘jetters’ that respond to the call.

Yorkshire Water is making significant investment in its wastewater and CFS team recruiting 60 new network sewerage operational technicians. These essential workers offer a first-time-fix and same day solutions to customers. 

Network operational technicians also tackle environmental problems and deliver essential preventative work as part of network maintenance to stop blockages and sewage escapes from happening.

To help the team carry out their daily tasks quickly, effectively and efficiently, Yorkshire Water has invested in new fleet and equipment, including 30 new jet vans. This state-of-the-art fleet is equipped with all the kit required, to fulfil a first-time fix, in most cases, particularly for domestic call-outs.

Joe Sykes, regional operations manager, Yorkshire Water, said: “Our response to pollution events is hugely important to us as a business and we are determined to deliver against our performance commitment. Part of this includes a number of new pollution response trailers so that CFS wastewater team can respond to any pollution incidents faster and more effectively.

“We’re also getting winter ready with pro-active pollution maintenance plan and have committed to monitoring at least 450k meters of sewer every year. This is a year-round programme of proactive and pre-emptive action that aims to head off any issues and stop them becoming a pollution event.

“The investment in the team, equipment and specialist vehicles will allow us to expand proactive and pre-emptive work. We’re actively looking to fix snagging issues before they become a problem or escalate into a series pollution event.”