New 'waste incident' highlights Harrogate's pollution worries over water discharges remain as strong as ever
A Harrogate resident’s claims of a new waste discharge incident highlights the scale of Yorkshire Water’s challenges.
Just a day after Yorkshire Water agreed to donate £235,000 effort to make amends for a historic incident of pollution, resident Adrian Davy got in touch to report an ‘incident’ at Oak Beck in Harrogate.
Mr Davy’s complaint comes after Yorkshire Water was found by the Environment Agency to have breached its environmental permit with an unauthorised sewage discharge from Stray Road in 2015 which polluted Hookstone Beck.
Of this new, separate event, Mr Davy said: “Last weekends heavy showers resulted in the Hydro Combined Sewer Overflows failing again.
"The outlet is completely full of the type of waste this facility was meant to prevent from being discharged into Oak Beck.
"A number of dead rats are in the water.”
Yorkshire Water said this particular discharge was part of the normal operation of the CSO system and it checked weekly to clear any build-up of debris.
“CSOs act as a relief valve when the sewer network is experiencing high flows of wastewater, such as during thunderstorms, which occurred in the area recently,” said a Yorkshire Water spokesperson.
"This prevents sewage backing up and flooding properties and gardens.
"This CSO discharged into the watercourse during heavy rainfall as it is designed and permitted to do.
"We previously installed screens to prevent unwanted items such as plastic and wet wipes, which are incorrectly discarded into the sewer, from entering watercourses.
"We carry out regular maintenance of these and attended this morning to remove the debris caught by the screen during recent heavy rainfall in the area.”
But Mr Davy argues what is needed a more spent on increasing the size of the main sewage pipe from town to the Bilton sewage works.
"The current sewage capacity gets overwhelmed every time there is any significant rain,” said Mr Davy.
"There is no chance of improving the water quality in Oak Beck and the Nidd while these incidents happen every time there is a heavy downpour."
Yorkshire Water’s £235,000 donation will go to the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust.