Environmental campaigners have called for investment in a North Yorkshire sewage plant amid claims it is adding to the pollution in the River Swale.
Members of the Save Our Swale group put questions to Yorkshire Water on why the Richmond wastewater treatment works (WWTW) was not being upgraded at a meeting of North Yorkshire Council’s Richmond area committee this week.
It comes after the company’s Leyburn plant was earmarked for a £3m upgrade.
In response, Sarah Robinson, the utility company’s corporate affairs manager, who attended the meeting to give councillors an update on the company’s work in their area, said the Richmond plant was operating within its Environment Agency permit for discharging water into the river network.
The group has rejected the response, claiming the permit was issued 20 years ago and made no mention of coliforms.
Speaking after the meeting, Hilary Plews said: “Whilst Yorkshire Water may be very happy to ignore their presence in the River Swale, residents and visitors to the Swale at Richmond are not.
“The figures for coliforms, which include E. coli, are staggering at Richmond WWTW outflow pipe.
“For example, the coliform counts for bathing water status are set at less than 1000 counts per 100ml of water. At Richmond WWTW on August 4, 2024 they were 760,000 counts per 100ml; a year later on August 8, 2025 they were 520,000.
“The site certainly has not always operated even within its 2005 permit, and the Environment Agency (EA) has pointed this out on a number of occasions.”
The campaign group said both the Environment Agency and its members were concerned the inflow of wastewater exceeded the design capacity of the site.
In response, Yorkshire Water said the £3m project at Leyburn was a phosphorus removal scheme, and for the section of the Swale that the Richmond plant impacts, the Water Framework Directive classified phosphate levels as the best classification possible for this element.
A spokesperson added: “Richmond Waste Water Treatment Works is operating in line with its permits, so it’s not part of our plans for this investment period.
“The investment period covers 2025 – 2030, and Yorkshire Water will be spending £8.3bn across the region during this time to benefit customers and the environment.
“In terms of capacity at the site – this is something we have been investing in and there are not concerns about the treatment capacity.
“We recently re-purposed parts of the Richmond treatment works that were not in use to build storage for excess flows of wastewater.
“The additional storage here can collect up to 183,000 litres in excess flow, holding it to reduce the need to discharge from the overflow, before returning it into the works for full treatment when flows have returned to normal.”
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Keep up the pressure Hilary et al. If you walk along the river the pollution is sometimes blindingly obvious.