Yorkshire Water has become the UK’s first water company to try to prevent incidents of pollution before they occur using a model developed as part of its £300 million war on sewage.

Analysts at the company have used historical data to create a system which will monitor the weather and sound an alert when conditions create the ‘perfect storm’ for sewage pollution. The company will use the trigger to proactively jet pipes in the region’s most at risk pollution hotspots, preventing pollution incidents and potentially saving scores of outbreaks each year.

 James Harrison, Technical Sewerage Manager for Yorkshire Water, said:

“Taking care of the environment is absolutely crucial to our business and that’s why we wanted to try and develop a new approach to minimising sewage pollution.”

“Rather than being on the back foot, preventing the problem from occurring in the first place is a far more efficient way of working and we’re already starting to see the results with several potential incidents being prevented.”

Sewage pollution is a serious issue for water companies across the UK, with escapes into becks, rivers and seawater having a detrimental effect on both water quality and local wildlife. However, it is something which has traditionally been dealt with on a reactive basis – with companies treating sewage escapes as they occur.

Yorkshire Water’s new approach aims to prevent these problems by identifying the periods when a sewage escape is most likely and acting to stop it from happening.

Analysis revealed that dry weather, which reduces the flow in sewers, increases deposition, which when followed by a spell of wet weather greatly increases the risk of a blockage and subsequent pollution.

Yorkshire Water is also using the system to pinpoint the most vulnerable areas, or hotspots, of the sewage network. When the company’s system spots a potentially threatening block of weather on the horizon, teams are dispatched to the hotspots to clear any blockages before the rain hits and an escape can occur.

The model is one element of a £300m campaign of work on sewage over the next five years that will see Yorkshire Water also investing in refurbishing its sewers, relaying rising mains and upgrading its pumping stations.

If the new approach is successful, a similar predictive approach may applied to other repeat areas of concern like flooding and odours.