Severn Trent Introduces Significant Initiative to cut Storm Overflow Discharges by 40%
The ongoing capital investment program across the region aims to eradicate 20% of spills from storm overflows.
This accelerated initiative will continue throughout 2024 and early 2025.
The company plans to implement nearly 1,000 separate improvements across approximately 900 sites in 2024 alone.
The released plan includes several key initiatives:
- 700 new storage solutions will be installed at treatment works to capture and store more flows during high rainfall, significantly reducing spills.
- A large-scale community trial will provide 8,000 free water butts across 10 communities, helping to minimize surface water entering drains.
- Nature-based solutions, including the creation of over 70 reed beds, will treat sewage at the storm route for storm overflows.
- 25 treatment units will expand treatment capacity through additional processes, leading to a substantial reduction in spills.
- 198 enhancements will improve the flow of sewage to treatment works.
- 130 FLAP valves will prevent river ingress into the network, preventing sewer overload from river water.
- A dedicated Zero Spills Hub will involve 300 expert engineers and data scientists, focusing on storm overflow improvements.
- An international collaboration partnership program will bring together water companies and academics worldwide to discover innovative ways to reduce spills more efficiently.
Severn Trent’s CEO, Liv Garfield, stated: “We’ve heard our customers’ calls for a reduction in storm overflow spills and are committed to addressing this issue swiftly.
To this end, we’ve mobilized a dedicated team of 300 engineers and data scientists who are tirelessly working to evaluate and implement various capital projects aimed at minimizing storm overflow spills. The installation of the initial storage tanks has begun, with new tanks being rolled out steadily every week.
In the background, our team is relentlessly pursuing innovative and efficient methods to expedite the execution of these complex capital projects.
We’re on track to construct up to 40 tanks weekly at our peak production. Our efforts will persist until we’ve met our objectives.
Since the inception of the Get River Positive initiative two years prior, we’ve enacted significant infrastructure enhancements.
Consequently, our contribution to the degradation of our regional rivers’ health has decreased to 14%.
We’re optimistic that by next year, our impact will be further reduced to 10%, attributing 9 out of 10 causes for the Midlands rivers not meeting good ecological standards to factors outside our sector.
Following a successful £1 billion fundraising effort from our investors in late 2023, Severn Trent has substantially increased and expedited investments in our storm overflow spill reduction strategy.
While we had initially earmarked £384 million for capital delivery in 2024/25, this figure has now been augmented to £450 million, ensuring rapid deployment.
With a total of 2,472 storm overflows—more than any other water company in a non-coastal region—Severn Trent reported that approximately 350 of these did not experience spills last year.
Over 900 storm overflows, accounting for more than 40%, are slated for immediate attention this year, with plans to sequentially address the rest.
In the previous year, marked by exceptional rainfall, the company recorded 60,253 storm overflow spills.
The initiatives announced today would have curtailed these spills by 20%.
As we progress with these projects, we will provide detailed updates on the planned actions for each storm overflow affecting every waterbody.
We’ve introduced a storm overflow map, an invaluable resource for the public to track the investment activities for all storm overflows throughout the region.
Severn Trent’s commitment to environmental stewardship has been acknowledged with the Environment Agency awarding us the top four-star rating for four consecutive years.
We are confident in achieving this distinction for a record fifth year in July 2024.
source: Severn Trent
