South West Water has invested £260,000 in North Devon as part of its continued focus on reducing the use of storm overflows across the region.
Stibb Cross and Langtree wastewater treatment works, both located just outside of Torrington, were two of the company’s highest spilling sites in 2023 and were prioritised for investment as part of South West Water’s storm overflow reduction programme.
The two sites had over 400 spills in 2023, however recent works in the catchments have helped drive down spills, with a 90% reduction in spills in the seven months since the work was completed compared with the same period last year.
Earlier this year, South West Water’s dedicated teams began work to identify what was causing the sites to spill so frequently. The first step in the process was using CCTV cameras to survey almost 1.5km of sewers in the catchments. This revealed that groundwater was getting into the pipes and putting unnecessary strain on the two local treatment works.
The team then carried out a programme of sewer improvements to stop this water finding its way into the network, which involved relining over 650 metres of sewer across the two areas.
They also completed a number of smaller repairs to parts of the network and made improvement to eight manhole covers where surface water was able to enter the sewers.
Jay Harris, Director of Wastewater Operations, said: “Stibb Cross and Langtree were two of our highest spilling sites in 2023 and they are under two miles apart. It was clear that we needed to take action to tackle spills at both sites. Through a process of detailed investigation and rehabilitation works, our teams have put in place solutions that are already delivering improvements that will benefit the environment in the area for years to come.”
South West Water is working to roll out similar solutions across its other top spilling sites as a priority, part of overall plans to be the first water company to meet the government’s target of achieving less than 10 spills per overflow a decade ahead of target.
