A new £700,000 storage tank in Staxton will hold up to 73,000 litres of excess wastewater to significantly reduce storm overflow discharges into the River Hertford.
Water quality in the River Hertford will see significant improvements as a £700,000 infrastructure project gets underway in Staxton.
Discharges of combined wastewater and rainwater into the local waterway are set to fall dramatically over the coming years. Construction crews from Sapphire Utilities Solutions have arrived at the Staxton Pumping Station to begin building a large-scale storage tank.
The new facility will be capable of holding up to 73,000 litres of additional storm flows within the combined sewer network. This extra capacity is designed to prevent the local combined storm overflow from triggering during periods of heavy or prolonged rainfall.
Combined storm overflows are built into the infrastructure to act as essential relief valves for the sewer network, which carries both surface rainwater and household wastewater. When the underground system reaches maximum capacity during severe weather, these valves automatically discharge into local rivers and streams. This mechanism is necessary to stop raw sewage from backing up and flooding residential homes and gardens.
By capturing the excess storm water in the new 73,000-litre tank, the upgraded Staxton system will hold the flows securely until the heavy rain passes. The stored wastewater will then be safely pumped back into the main network and sent for standard treatment once the system regains capacity.
The construction work is expected to take four months to complete. The scheme forms part of a massive £1.5 billion initiative by Yorkshire Water to reduce pollution incidents and bring down the number of discharges across the county.
Ian McCall, a project manager at Yorkshire Water, outlined the reasons behind the accelerated timeline for the village.
He said:
"Our storm overflows are operating more than we, and our customers would like, so we're making improvements across 450 overflows by 2030. We’ve already started work on eight other storm overflow projects across North Yorkshire, and we have pulled forward the work at Staxton so we can start delivering benefits for the river Hertford as soon as possible."
The current £1.5 billion improvement programme follows a previous £180 million investment over the last two years. That initial phase saw more than one hundred overflows upgraded throughout the region.
Utility bosses say the previous upgrades have already yielded positive results, with storm overflow discharges across Yorkshire decreasing by 24.5 per cent in 2025 when compared against the previous twelve months.
Coastal water quality is also a major focus for the utility company, with further investments planned for the Yorkshire Coast.
In nearby Scarborough, a multi-million-pound transformation of the town's wastewater network is currently in the investigation and planning stages. Yorkshire Water officials say this upcoming coastal project will specifically target a reduction in combined storm overflow discharges directly into the sea, aiming to significantly improve water quality along the shoreline.
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