Yorkshire Water has addressed concerns regarding bathing water quality in Scarborough and Scalby, explaining that false spill readings on their real-time map are sometimes caused by spiders' webs and dust in underground sensors.
Yorkshire Water has sought to reassure residents in Scalby and Scarborough that their monitoring equipment is accurate, amid ongoing public concerns over bathing water quality in the area.
The utility company has explained that the sensors placed in storm overflows, which are technically known as Event Duration Monitors, operate in exceptionally difficult underground conditions. This hostile environment can occasionally lead to anomalous data being transmitted to the public.
According to the water provider, environmental factors such as dust and spiders' webs can interfere with the sensitive equipment. This interference causes the company's real-time overflow map to occasionally display fake, instantaneous discharges that do not reflect actual pollution events.
Adam Ashman from Yorkshire Water detailed the physical challenges faced by the monitoring equipment and the specific reasons behind these false readings:
"We've got sensors in storm overflows they're called Event Duration Monitors EDM monitors. They they work in quite a hostile environment, you know they're buried underground. There is lots of contaminants dust and spiders webs that do cause blips. So on the on the real-time overflow map um that we have you do sometimes see it looks like there's been a spill that or a a discharge that's lasted just a moment instantaneous and they are generally fake that's not that's not that's an anomaly within the data. So we're working to make them more reliable."
The company emphasised that they are strictly required by the Environment Agency to ensure these monitors are available constantly, as it is a fundamental condition of their operating permit.
However, maintaining and repairing the equipment can be logistically challenging for their teams. Some of the monitoring assets are located in highways and byways, meaning that official lane closures are required before maintenance crews can safely access the underground sensors and address any technical issues.
Yorkshire Water highlighted a specific example at Holbeck Hill in Scarborough, where an overflow monitor has occasionally recorded spills during dry weather. The company confirmed that these readings are completely anomalous, as overflows should not be active without heavy rainfall.
Fixing these specific glitches is now a priority for the company, as they aim to maintain and rebuild public trust regarding the safety of local bathing waters.
Miles Cameron from Yorkshire Water further explained the regulatory requirements they face and the ongoing issues at Holbeck Hill:
"We're measured on the availability of those monitors as well through the agency we have to provide assurance that they're available 100% of the time so it's in our interest of course as part of the permit. I think there's more work to do to make sure that they're available all the time. Some of those assets are in highways and byways so they need lane closures we've had a problem for example some of you may be familiar with something called Holbeck Hill so recently that's an overflow that has occasionally said it's spilling. We know that's anomalous, some of these shouldn't be spilling in dry weather. But that's the sort of thing we've got to rule out to give obviously the public, customers, trust and confidence. We're absolutely measured on availability they should be 100% of the time."
The water company continues to work on improving the overall reliability of their Event Duration Monitors, striving to ensure that residents and customers have accurate, trustworthy information regarding bathing water quality on the coast.
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