Work is underway at Yorkshire Water’s Wombwell wastewater treatment works, off Ings Road, Barnsley to install a new Phosphorus removal solution to improve water quality in the river Dove.

Photo: Ward and Burke team on site at Wombwell WWTW

Work is underway at Yorkshire Water’s Wombwell wastewater treatment works, off Ings Road, Barnsley to install a new Phosphorus removal solution to improve water quality in the river Dove.

The water company is investing £19 million on an innovative removal system, including specialist chemicals and helpful bacteria to reduce the amount of Phosphorus in treated wastewater before it is safely returned to the environment.

Lindsey Philips, project manager at Yorkshire Water, said:

“We’re working with our contract partners, Ward & Burke, on this Phosphorus removal project to help us improve the health and water quality of our rivers, which us important to us and to our customers.”

The project includes a secondary ferric dosing unit and tertiary solids removal unit (TSR) using Blue-water bio filter clear technology. This is new technology for Yorkshire Water, introduced as a future-proof solution, capable of meeting increasingly stringent environmental standards and able to support future growth.

The investment also includes return activated pumps, a primary settlement tank to increase capacity of the wastewater treatment as well as a new storm overflow tank creating additional storage capacity to allow for the safe treatment of wastewater during periods of heavy or prolonged rainfall.

The project is due for completion early 2029 and has been designed to accommodate the growing population of Wombwell and the surrounding area.

The Wombwell upgrade is part of Yorkshire Water’s £2 billion investment on its WINEP programme directed towards environmental improvements focussing on storm overflows and wastewater treatment.