Yorkshire Water innovative upgrade at Kirklington wastewater treatment site

Yorkshire Water has begun £1.6m of improvements at Kirklington treatment works to improve local watercourses Holme Beck and Healam Beck. 

Project partners Mott MacDonald Bentley began the scheme in September, installing a FujiClean unit – a packaged treatment plant solution. It will be the first time that Yorkshire Water has made use of this technology. 

The work, which will reduce the amount of phosphorous entering the waterways, forms part of Yorkshire Water’s largest ever environmental investment between 2025 and 2030, totalling £8.3bn.  

Phosphorus is a normal part of domestic sewage and is present in shampoos and liquid detergents. It can also wash off agricultural fields after the use of fertilisers and be dissolved from soil, which can be difficult to control. 

While a small amount of phosphorus is harmless and is an essential part of many ecosystems, it can become damaging to human and animal life when unmanaged. 

The work is expected to be completed in spring 2026 and the levels of phosphorus present in the wastewater that is returned to the environment after treatment will be reduced. 

Thomas Fawcett, project manager at Yorkshire Water, said: “As part of our ongoing commitment to improving water quality in our rivers, we have several phosphorus reduction schemes planned across Yorkshire over the next five years. The scheme in Kirklington is one of 13 that we’ll be completing this year, with projects already underway in Knaresborough and Leyburn. 

“It’s important to us and our customers that we look after our local watercourses like Holme Beck and Healam Beck and help them to thrive. Once completed, this project will reduce the amount of phosphorus in the final effluent and do just that.” 

The project is part of a £350m investment at 85 wastewater treatment sites across the region to reduce phosphorus over the next five years. It follows a £500m investment in phosphorus removal over the previous five-year delivery period, which saw the amount of phosphorus in treated wastewater decrease by 68%.