Water companies will spend £180 million over the coming 12 months to reduce the number of spills from combined sewer overflows.
Work will include using artificial intelligence systems to manage flows during periods of heavy rain as well as adding monitoring to sewer networks to identify blockages before they cause environmental harm.
Plans outlined by Anglian, Severn Trent, Southern, United Utilities and Wessex to plough £180 million into reducing the number of spills from their outlets adds to previously announced work by Northumbrian and Yorkshire. The investment is in response to the government’s discharge reduction plan, which called for rapid efforts to minimise the risk of harm from overflows.
Steve Barclay, environment secretary, said: “The amount of sewage being spilled into our rivers is completely unacceptable and the public rightly expects action. This £180 million of accelerated investment, which will stop more than 8,000 sewage spills over the next year, is a welcome step forward as we continue to push for better performance from water companies and hold them to account.”
Anglian will spend £50 million on 8,000 sewer monitors, which will add to the 22,000 installed across its networks, which will inform preventative maintenance requirements in 100 catchments.
Severn Trent is investing £41 million in recruiting additional staff and adding event duration dual monitors as a back up data source. It will utilitise AI to manage storm water and hold back flow in storage tanks to avoid discharging.
Southern is directing £10 million into real-time digital wastewater catchment control, accelerating its Chichester Harbour wetland scheme and managing surface water.
United Utilities, which has a higher proportion of combined sewer networks than the country’s average, will use £39 million on AI network analysis for proactive maintenance as well as rolling out successful solutions from pilot projects to separate rainwater and optimise assets to reduce spills.
Wessex will add 3,500 sewer monitors as part of its smart network for sewer management and reduce infiltration at a cost of £8 million.
Northumbrian previously committed to spend £29.8 million this year and Yorkshire will invest £99 million in its region to improve river health by reducing overflows.