Severn Trent to invest over £660 million on storm overflows in Derbyshire

A total of 416 storm overflows across Derbyshire will undergo investment – which could range from increasing the capacity of its storage tanks to introducing green nature-based solutions. The company is also investing to ensure rivers are monitored closer than ever before with 100 per cent of its storm overflows with monitors – and the company is now analysing around 300m pieces of data a year helping to prioritise investment.

The investment for Derbyshire forms part of a wider £4.4bn injection into 2,472 storm overflows across the Severn Trent region, as part of the water company’s Storm Overflow Action Plan (SOAP). 

The aim is to reduce the number of spills into water courses across the county, ensuring that by 2040 no overflow will spill more than 10 times in an average year in high priority areas, and in all areas by 2045, five years ahead of Government targets.

Bob Stear, Severn Trent’s Chief Engineer said: “This is a huge long-term investment plan for Derbyshire, improving storm overflows and bringing benefits to rivers now and during the coming years.

“Today’s announcement marks another significant milestone in our drive to deliver real improvements in river health. This is why we launched Get River Positive that has already delivered great results, despite the region having experienced seven named storms between September and December, contributing to some of the wettest months on record. And we know there is still more to do, which is why this investment is so important – not just to us, but to our region’s rivers and the communities they serve.” 

Since launching Get River Positive, Severn Trent has delivered strong results and committed to significant investment in Derbyshire, including; 

· A £20m investment to upgrade Kilburn Sewage Treatment Works to achieve a higher level of treatment and improve the health of the Kilburn Water.

· A £3.9m project to upgrade Whitwell Sewage Treatment Works to achieve a higher level of treatment and improve the health of the Millwood Brook.

As schemes progress more detail will be shared on what action is planned for every storm overflow in every waterbody. A live ‘Event Duration Monitor’ map is due to be launched later this year, which will be a great tool for people to see what investment plans are taking place on all storm overflows across the region.

Visit www.getriverpositive.co.uk for more information and to sign up for the newsletter for regular progress updates.