Replacement sewerage plant to be built underground

The high-tech treatment works is set to replace the current above-ground sewerage works that has served the area since the 1960s.

A spokesman for Yorkshire Water said that a “two-fold increase in the size of the local population” means that the current plant is now operating at above capacity and “only just managing to treat the extra flows it’s receiving on a daily basis.”

The company says that the new underground plant will mean that the risk of odour “will be massively reduced” and, as the plant is underground, it will be “far less visually obtrusive”.

Building work began on the site, beside Huddersfield Road, yesterday and, if all goes according to plan, the new works are expected to be up and running by March next year.

Laura Harrison from Yorkshire Water’s community engagement team said: “Whilst the current works has served the area well for over 40 years, as the local population grows, it’s beginning to struggle a bit to keep up with demand.

“Building an above-ground replacement treatment works would have been far easier than installing an underground facility, but the benefits this subterranean works will bring in terms of it not being visually obtrusive, whilst also massively reducing the risk of odours at the site, made this the best solution.

“Prior to the project beginning we’ve been in close consultation with the local community to raise awareness of the scheme and the fact that there will be no disruption to sewage services.”

She added: “We’ll continue to keep everybody updated around this exciting project as we progress.”

This latest project will take Yorkshire Water’s investment in Ingbirchworth and surrounding areas up to £10m as the firm also launched an £8m project back in February to carry out a major overhaul of its Ingbirchworth water treatment works.

The site, which opened in 1990 and supplies 22 million litres of water every day, is being fitted with brand-new equipment which will “enable it to more effectively remove pesticides and better treat raw water entering the works.”