Yorkshire Water is investing £1.9m at a storm overflow in Gildersome to reduce the number of discharges into Farnley Wood Beck, improving the health of the watercourse.
A new surface water sewer and outfall will be installed from Spring Avenue in the village to the green space by Spring View for highway drainage to flow to, preventing it from entering the combined sewer network.
Once completed, the project is expected to reduce the risk of the Dean Beck storm overflow discharging into Farnley Wood Beck during periods of heavy or prolonged rainfall by 40%, as flows within the sewer will be significantly reduced.
Contract partners Galliford Try are already underway with the project and are expecting to complete it in March 2025.
Lumi Ajayi, project manager at Yorkshire Water, said:
“The project at Farnley Wood Beck is part of a £180m investment project across Yorkshire by the end of April 2025 to reduce discharges from storm overflows, and is an important step in improving the quality of watercourses in and around Leeds.”
The surface water network will be installed in stages, and teams will be seen moving around the area. Due to the location of the new pipes, and for the safety of teams and local people, temporary road closures will be necessary.
Nearby, Yorkshire Water is working on a project to reduce discharges by 77% at its Pudsey Smalewell storm overflow, by installing 3,500m3 of storm water storage.
The utility is also planning its largest ever environmental investment between 2025 and 2030, which includes over £1bn to further reduce the impact of storm overflow discharges on the region’s watercourses.
