Northumbrian Water has completed a £9 million scheme to upgrade a Northumberland sewage treatment works.

Northumbrian Water began the work at Morpeth sewage treatment works in April 2013.

As well as increasing treatment capacity, various treatment processes at the site have also been improved resulting in a higher quality of treated waste water being discharged into the River Wansbeck.

The site, which serves around eight thousand properties in Morpeth, can now treat more than five million litres of waste water per day, almost one million litres per day more than before the work began.

Dean Thompson, Northumbrian Water’s project manager, said:

"Morpeth sewage treatment works has been treating wastewater for more than a century now. To ensure the site is fit for future generations, we have constructed a new inlet works, three new wastewater treatment tanks, which range from 15 to 17 metres in diameter, and installed three new 34-metre diameter filters. A significant amount of electrical and mechanical work was also carried out.”

Northumbrian Water treats up to 475 million litres of waste water every day. The utility will invest more than £150 million between 2015 and 2020 to upgrade and maintain its 412 sewage treatment works as part of its AMP6 investment programme.

To see a time lapse video of the work visit the Watch section of Waterbriefing