United Utilities announces further £12m investment to improve water quality in Chorley’s River Yarrow

United Utilities is inviting members of the public to find out more about its plan to improve water quality in the River Yarrow through its £12m investment project at Duxbury Mill.

The water company for the North West is set to start work on a project to create a vast new underground stormwater tank capable of storing three million litres of water in land adjacent to Miles Standish Way at Duxbury Mill in Chorley.

The additional storage will reduce stormwater overflows into the River Yarrow which is a tributary of the River Ribble. The two-year project will get underway in November.

Members of the public are invited to find out more at a drop-in session on Monday 27 October at Eaves Green Community Centre.

Simon Holding, County Business Lead for Wastewater Services in Lancashire explained: “During the next five years we are investing more than £30m to deliver five projects in Chorley, each of which will play an important role in improving water quality in the River Yarrow.

“These tanks act as huge holding areas for the extra rainfall that enters the sewer network in times of heavy rainfall. Creating this extra storage means that it isn’t all hitting the wastewater treatment works at the same time and the system is less likely to be overwhelmed.

“There is a already a similar project underway nearby at Southlands School and the combined capacity of these new tanks is more than six million litres of water – that’s more than two and a half Olympic-sized pools.”

Simon Holding added: “We know people in the area might have questions about the works, so we encourage them to come along to our drop-in session to meet the team and find out more. “

Across Lancashire, United Utilities is investing £490m during the next five years to deliver more than 90 projects to reduce storm overflows and improve the river environment.

The drop-in session is being held from 4 – 7pm on Monday 27 October at Eaves Green Community Centre, 35 Cottage Fields, Chorley, PR7 3QE.