£15.9m investment sees 70% Phosphorus drop at five East Yorkshire treatment sites

Yorkshire Water’s £15.9m investment to improve river water quality by upgrading five wastewater treatment works across East Yorkshire has been completed.

The improvement works have resulted in a 70% average reduction in the amount of Phosphorus released back into the environment after the wastewater treatment process.

Contract partners, Ward & Burke, recently completed the upgrade at Leven wastewater treatment site.  It was the final of five wastewater treatment plants across East Yorkshire to benefit from a £15.9m improvement programme to reduce the levels of Phosphorus going into local waterways.

The investment at each of the five sites has led to a significant reduction of an average of 71.8% drop in the amount of Phosphorus going into local waterways.  The investment at each site and subsequent per centage reductions are: 

• £2.9m Watton WWTW (76% drop - 4.34 mg/l to 1.04 mg/l)
• £3.6m Cherry Burton WWTW (82% drop - 6.76 mg/l to 1.25 mg/l)
• £2.9m Leconfield WWTW (83% drop – 4.68 mg/l to 0.81 mg/l)
• £3.1m Easington WWTW (62% drop – 7.1 mg/l to 2.69 mg/l)
• £3.4m Leven WWTW (56% drop – 6.36 mg/l to 2.78 mg/l)

Phosphorus is a by-product of detergents such as shampoo or washing up liquid which gets into the wastewater system through showers, washing machines and dishwashers.  It can also be a runoff from agricultural fields and farmlands through crop fertilisers or dissolved from soil.  While a small amount of phosphorus is harmless and essential for many ecosystems, too much of it can be harmful to both human and animal life.

Upgrade works to help reduce Phosphorus across the five East Yorkshire treatment works included the installation of new mechanical, electrical, instrumentation, control and automation (MEICA) systems, ferric dosing kiosks, ferric storage tank kiosks, chemicals off-loading areas as well as general improvements across each of the sites.

Andy Clarke, lead project manager at Yorkshire Water said: “The improvements are already helping us to drive down Phosphorus levels and improve water quality across the region to benefit the environment, our customers and the wildlife that thrives in the watercourses.  Phosphorus levels in the treated wastewater returned to the environment each of the five sites are below the levels set by the Environment Agency.

“We have committed over £350m to reduce the levels of Phosphorus going into watercourses at 85 of our wastewater treatment sites across the region as part of our Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP) in the next five years, continuing the £500m investment we completed at many of our sites over the last five years.”

The WINEP programme is part of Yorkshire Water’s £8.3bn investment into its services and the environment over the next five years.