Water firm wants 13% bill hike to tackle sewage

The Howdon treatment works is located on the banks of the River Tyne

Northumbrian Water was fined millions earlier this year for historic sewage spills. It has promised to reduce those spills and improve water quality – but wants its customers to pay more to cover the cost. As part of Water Week, the BBC’s Mark Denten went to the firm’s treatment works to find out more.

It’s perhaps not everyone’s idea of a beauty spot.

Nestling next to the River Tyne on a 77-acre (31-hectare) site, you’ll find Northumbrian Water’s Howdon Water treatment works.

The pipes and equipment here serve about one million people on Tyneside.

Tony Rutherford is the treatment works manager and is giving me a tour.

A keen fisherman, he highlights the difference he believes this place has made.

"Howdon was actually built in the early '80s, so before that, all of the waste water from those one million people used to go directly into the river," he said.

"So, effectively, the River Tyne in its lower stretches was pretty much dead."

Tony Rutherford, the Howdon treatment works manager, took Mark Denten on a tour of the site

Since then, there has been significant progress, but this has its limits.

The Environment Agency said Northumbrian Water discharged sewage into waterways for 280,000 hours last year from its storm overflows.

The firm said it would spend £20m tackling the issue through so-called smart sewers which use AI sensors to predict rainfall and reduce overflow spills.

In another area, I see another tangle of pipes, which I am told are part of a system designed to address the problem of different amounts of rainfall across the region.

Waste water operations manager Tony Baines said: "What we're looking to do is use smart technology and AI to hold the flow back in certain areas so that means there’s capacity where the rainfall is."

Of course, none of this investment comes cheaply.

Northumbrian Water wants to put consumer bills up by 13% to help pay for it.

This would bring the average water bill to £471 a year.

Regulator Ofwat wants the bill hike to be lower, but the company insists it needs the full increase.

New pipes are being laid in County Durham as part of a £157m scheme

Moving down to just outside Barnard Castle in County Durham, I look down on several huge diggers installing miles of bright blue pipework in the ground.

This £157m scheme is designed to protect water supply for 200,000 customers.

However, as Northumbrian Water’s group water director Kieran Ingram tells me, this will mean residents need to pay more.

He said: "We do appreciate that means customers putting money in, but it’s not just them.

"When I look at our shareholders and the investment we’ll put in as well.

"That is a £400m investment from our own shareholders as well to make sure we get the right balance and we’re spending customers' money wisely."

'Learn lessons'

But how wisely is it being spent when some of our waterways are still being polluted by the water companies?

"Yes, we have more to do, I don't think we can argue with that at all," Mr Ingram explains.

"But we’re also trying to learn the lessons of the past, we’re making sure we have the right supply of service for our customers not just now, but into the future as well."

So investment is going in, millions of pounds of it, to improve our water system.

However, in the middle of a cost of living crisis, whether privatised water companies should increase consumers bills to help pay for it is a question worth asking.