Northumbrian Water is currently working on an emergency repair to a damaged sewer pipe that is spilling onto the beach and into the North Sea at Saltburn.

The pipe has been spilling through the ground into Skelton Beck, mixing with the water and becoming diluted which is then being washed into the sea, adding significant further levels of dilution.

Major repair work is required to mend the pipe, which was damaged last week by a third party working in the Cat Nab Car Park, next to Skelton Beck. The damaged pipe itself runs under the beck alongside the carpark and the repair requires work to be carried out in the stream bed. To do this safely, it has been necessary to divert a section of this river away from the pipe, to allow access. The next steps will then be to replace the section of pipe.

The water company said the job is complex and the scale of the repair requires significant excavation work, followed by the installation of concrete blocks to stabilise the pipe, before it can go back into full operation.

Northumbrian Water’s team have put straw bales and other measures into the stream to help filter any waste from the water before it reaches the sea and these are working well.

The damaged pipe would normally take the waste to Northumbrian Water’s sewage treatment works in Marske. To protect homes from sewer flooding, the water company is unable to stop the flow through the pipe while the repair is carried out.

The utility has also been continuing to pump as much out of the spill as possible and into tankers, with the tankers running continuously to try to reduce the volume of the spill. However, Northumbrian Water said it was inevitable that there would be a discharge.

The company has been working closely with the Environment Agency on monitoring the impact –as as a precaution Redcar and Cleveland Council have cordoned off the section of beach where the river joins the sea.