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Northumbrian Water commits £8million to protect against flooding

Northumbrian Water has invested £8 million across its network to alleviate flooding dangers in Durham and North Tyneside.

In North Tyneside the group has completed a three-year flood reduction scheme, which saw a joint investment of £6 million from Northumbrian as part of a partnership with the Environment Agency and North Tyneside Council.

The work was completed in an area where 3,500 homes were at risk from flooding. The work included diverting a river away from the sewer network and towards a main river via new piping, construction of three natural surface water storage areas and re-contouring a lake to manage surface water.

Leila Huntington, the Environment Agency’s flood risk manager for the North East, said: “Across North Tyneside there is approximately £6.5 million of Flood Defence Grant in Aid (FDGiA) being invested between 2015 and 2021, which will help to better protect homes from flooding.”

To improve water quality in the floating islands planted with shrubs to absorb nutrients and clean the water have been added.

Steena Nasapen-Watson, sustainable sewerage manager for Northumbrian Water, said: “We’ve already seen the benefits of this project, where the new storage basins were utilised during the recent heavy rainfall and helped to reduce the impact of surface water flooding locally.”

As part of a separate project, Northumbrian has committed £2 million to upgrade its sewer network to reduce flooding risk around Durham City.