YORKSHIRE Water is set to invest over £35 million to improve water quality in the River Ouse via a wastewater treatment site in York.
The cash will be spread across multiple projects at Naburn Wastewater Treatment Works.
A major element of the project, delivered by contract partners Mott MacDonald Bentley will attempt to reduce the amount of phosphorous at the site before treated water is returned to the river.
Yorkshire Water said this will be done by installing ferric dosing, polymer dosing and magnetite dosing – which work together to remove solids and phosphorous from the water.
It comes after campaigners spoke about their growing concern around pollution in the River Ouse in York – with one likening the river to an ‘open sewer’.
Protestors called for action on pollution in the Ouse at Scarborough Bridge
(Image: Alice Kavanagh)
Lucie Arger, project manager at Yorkshire Water, said: “Phosphorous reduction forms a significant part of our investment plans for the next five years - the project at Naburn is one of 85 phosphorous reduction schemes that we will complete by 2030 in a £350m programme.
“The health of Yorkshire's rivers is incredibly important to us and to our customers, and reducing the levels of phosphorous in our treated wastewater is one way in which we can do our bit to improve it.
“We will also be investing significantly over the next five years to reduce the frequency and duration of storm overflow discharges into the Ouse.”
The Naburn works are now underway and are projected to be complete in spring 2028.
When finished, Yorkshire Water said a 9km stretch of the Ouse will be improved.
Naburn is one of the water company’s larger treatment sites.
Phosphorous is a normal part of domestic sewage and is present in shampoos and liquid detergents.
The mineral can also wash off agricultural fields after the use of fertilisers and be dissolved from soil, which can be difficult to control.
Yorkshire Water assured that while a small amount of phosphorous is harmless an essential part of many ecosystems, too much of it can be damaging to human and animal life.
Other projects at the site will involve replacing atmospheric filtering units, centrifuges, and pipework to improve efficiency.