Leeds: Yorkshire Water issues disruption warning as work to build six underground storage tanks starts
Work is set to start across Leeds to install systems to prevent and manage water drainage as part of a £1.5bn investment by Yorkshire Water.
As part of the investment, six new underground storage tanks in Headingley and Kirkstall are set to be built at a cost of £16m that will hold excess water during heavy periods of rainfall.
Yorkshire Water has informed residents about the work, saying that the tanks will each hold the equivalent of 23,333 bathtubs, adding: “This means that when there’s heavy rainfall, we’ll be able to hold more excess wastewater back and reduce reliance on storm overflows during periods of bad weather.”
The storage tanks prevent wastewater from being discharged, with flows being sent for treatment when capacity in the network has returned to normal levels.
Yorkshire Water has said it is working with the local highways team to minimise disruption, with work set to start this month and take place at Headingley Station, Village Place, Wyther Lane and Spen Lane.
It comes as the company undertakes its biggest ever environmental investment plan, with £8.3bn in total being spent over the next five years to improve infrastructure.
Of this £23m will go towards improving monitoring of the wastewater network and £1.5bn will go towards reducing the need for storm overflow discharge.
It comes after Yorkshire Water was fined £40m earlier this year by Ofwat and told to address “serious failures” over wastewater and sewage.
The first scheme started in August at Millshaw combined storm overflow in Beeston, to reduce the frequency and volume of discharges into Farnley Wood Beck.
Jon Stokes, head of Yorkshire Water’s storm overflow delivery programme, said: “Our storm overflows are operating more often than we, and our customers, would like, and we’re going to be continuing our hard work into bringing the number of discharges down over the next five years.”
A total of 25 storm overflow schemes are due to start in Leeds before April 2026.
Daniel Rhodes, project manager at Yorkshire Water, said: “In the first year of the five-year programme, we’re going to be investing over £76m into storm overflows projects in Leeds.
“It’s a significant and challenging programme of works, but one that’s incredibly important for the health of the city’s watercourse and we’re keen to get started.
“Our investment will bring the number of discharges from these overflows in Leeds down by 72%.”