Severn Trent has today confirmed it has completed 1,500 engineering projects ahead of schedule.
The water and wastewater company, which serves four and a half million customers, has now unveiled further plans to fast-track the delivery of another 600 improvement projects to reduce the use of storm overflows across the region by autumn 2025.
This will bring the number of upgrades, including storm water tanks to hold rainwater and new solutions to treat wastewater, to an industry leading 2,100 projects.
As the interventions now get up and running, Severn Trent expects to see the region-wide impact of this work during the year ahead, and there is already progress being made at many sites including across Nottinghamshire.
Carlton – underground storage tank
Hidden underneath the car park of a leisure centre in Carlton, east of Nottingham, is the latest innovation to tackle storm overflow spills into rivers. Severn Trent has installed a massive underground storage tank to take the strain when there’s heavy rainfall, reducing the pressure on the local sewage network. The new tank will hold more than 500,000 litres of rainwater during periods of heavy rain.
James Jesic, Capital Delivery and Commercial Director at Severn Trent, added: “The new hidden storm water tank in Carlton, and other similar projects will serve as a blueprint for the improvements we’re making across our region to move at pace to reduce the use of storm overflows. As all the improvements get up and running, the benefits of this work will be seen across Nottinghamshire in the year ahead.”
Spills to be reduced
The water and wastewater company, which serves four and a half million customers, has also confirmed that now the 1,500 improvements are installed, the average amount of spills from storm overflows is expected to fall by over 25% to reach an average of 18 per year by December. With another record year of rain and a hike in exceptionally high rainfall days, the work is currently estimated to have resulted in thousands of spills from storm overflows being prevented across the region in 2024.
Engineering at speed – 34 projects every week
In what is a huge engineering programme being delivered at speed, the scale of the project has been made possible by a new dedicated team of Severn Trent engineers. Together, they have delivered an average of 34 projects per week since June 2024, ranging from new storage tanks to capture and store water, to flap valves that prevent flooding when river levels rise.
The range of engineering solutions that have been delivered include:
- 244 new storage tanks built and installed at treatment works, some that can hold up to 200,000 litres, to capture and store more water during heavy rain
- 189 flap valves installed across network assets to prevent flooding when river levels rise – which would otherwise overload the capacity of sewers with river water
- 23 cutting-edge Submerged Aerated Filter units in place at treatment works that help treat more wastewater
An Advisory Panel has been formed to oversee Severn Trent’s progress against Get River Positive, a series of five industry leading commitments launched in March 2022, to help lead the charge in transforming river health across the region.
Joe Pimblett, CEO, Severn Rivers Trust said, “As an integral partner within an Advisory Panel, I have had the opportunity to see how far and fast Severn Trent is moving forward with plans to improve our waterways. Severn Trent’s continuing strong investment in reducing spills is playing a pivotal role in reducing harm in the rivers in my and other regions”
This announcement is backed by funding secured as part of an accelerated £1 billion investment from Severn Trent’s investors, to improve the quality of waterways. Severn Trent’s plans for the next five years will see the company spending over £2 billion on improving river health.
James Jesic, Capital Delivery and Commercial Director at Severn Trent, added: “From new storm tanks to new treatment solutions, we’ve mobilised a huge team of engineers who are working non-stop to deliver for our customers. The team has delivered a major milestone of installing 1,500 overflow improvements, which was made more challenging given the extreme weather events and flooding in many locations. We’re now going even further and even faster by delivering an extra 600 projects by autumn 2025.”
