Yorkshire Water has selected BarhaleEnpure joint venture for an £18m project to upgrade its Dewsbury Wastewater Treatment Works. 

The project will improve phosphorous removal and flow monitoring to ensure the works meet water industry national environment programme (WINEP) targets for England. 

The project forms part of Yorkshire Water’s £500m investment in phosphorous removal – part of its ongoing commitment to ensure future facilities meet current and anticipated Environment Agency quality targets

Central to the scheme is the transformation of the primary treatment capabilities through the replacement of a number of the 14 existing primary settlement tanks (PSTs) with three new, larger tanks and two new primary sludge pumping stations.

The project will take advantage of off-site manufacturing to pre-cast the concrete wall sections before they are assembled on site to form the new 8.5m deep, 45 metre diameter settlement tanks. 

Mark Wood, Barhale’s regional director for Yorkshire and North East England, said: “Effective management of phosphorous levels can make a big difference to the quality of water in our rivers and streams. 

“This is a major upgrade for the Dewsbury Wastewater Treatment Works which reflects Yorkshire Water’s ambitions for P-removal across its assets and its commitment to meet new standards. 

“This is just one of the many projects being undertaken to improve water quality in the Yorkshire area.

“By using off-site manufacturing techniques for several important elements and reusing existing assets, the build programme will also benefit from reduced carbon impact and time on site.”  

Richard Stuart, director of capital delivery at Yorkshire Water, said: “We are committed to looking at innovative ways to improve the operation of our sites. This project will make use of a range of measures designed to reduce carbon impact and speed up the length of the works.

“Not only does this provide significant benefits to us and our customers for a cost saving point of view, the work will ultimately lead to improved water quality by removing phosphorus from treated effluent and provide improved monitoring at the site to ensure compliance.”