Sheffield: Burst Yorkshire Water main fixed 18 months after report

The culvert, pictured here in October, is under Lady's Bridge in Sheffield city centre

A water leak reported under a city centre street 18 months ago has been fixed in what campaigners say was a "huge waste" of water.

Yorkshire Water had investigated claims of a culvert flowing constantly in Sheffield since May 2021.

The Sheaf and Porter Rivers Trust said a burst water main had lost "a bathtub" worth of water every two seconds into the River Don.

Yorkshire Water said the pipe, under Waingate, had been repaired.

First suspicions about a leak were identified by the trust in May 2021, after large amounts of water were seen flowing out of a culvert under Lady's Bridge in the north of the city.

It was initially thought to be waste from a damaged sewer with tissues and sanitary products in the water, the trust claimed.

Water was seen coming into a sewer through holes in the wall

But after Yorkshire Water worked to re-routed sewerage away from the area, water still flowed through the culvert and into the River Don.

Following months of questions to Yorkshire Water, Anthony Wood from the trust said it had been a "long road" to get the company to fix the problem, leaving him feeling "vindicated".

"Even though this is primarily tap water, it is still harmful to the rivers as it is heavily chlorinated and is considered environmental pollution.

"It also represents a huge waste of tap water in a time when Yorkshire Water has imposed a hosepipe ban on the people of Sheffield," he said.

A water leak was identified under Waingate on Monday by engineers from Yorkshire Water

A spokesperson from Yorkshire Water said finding the cause of the water entering the river had been "complex" due to the location of the storm overflow.

"Our teams diverted all sewage flows away from the overflow in the summer, while investigations continued, and have now managed to complete a repair on Waingate which has stopped water entering the Don from the overflow," they said.