£350,000 has been set aside by Yorkshire Water, to be invested in temporary flood barriers as a means through which to considerably lower the risk of water supply and sewerage services getting affected by extreme wet weather conditions.
Whenever there is a risk of floods occurring, the barriers will be deployed in a move to protect the entire infrastructure in the region, which includes a total of 55 water treatment works as well as 631 sewage treatment plants.
In comparison to the use of sandbags, the deployment of the plastic barriers is much easier and more rapid, effectively creating dams and diverting waterflows while helping to prevent flood water from causing damage to Yorkshire Water’s assets. This makes sure that the sewers will keep flowing and that water supplies are maintained.
Martyn Hattersley, Emergency Planning Manager at Yorkshire Water, said:
“These barriers reduce the risk of essential services being affected during extreme wet weather events. During floods electricity, gas and water services are all put under pressure and this investment is about improving resilience to our water and sewage services. The barriers will provide a vital extra layer of protection against floods, reduce pollutions risks and flooding.”
A selection of Yorkshire Water’s sites in Leeds, Bradford, Calderdale and York were swamped with flood water during the course of the Boxing Day floods last year, prompting a response from the firm. The firm has since completed inspections at each of these sites to mitigate against the risk of future flooding. Furthermore, the firm carried out a major river silt cleaning operation on its sewers which had been filled with the river silt.
This investment in the firm’s flood barriers has been made following the publication of the Government’s National Flood Resilience Review in September.
Yorkshire Water plays its part in the multi-agency Local Resilience Forums, which hold the responsibility of planning and preparing for the occurrence of emergency incidents like flooding, to help mitigate the impact these incidents have on local communities.