A budget of £350,000 has been committed to be invested in temporary flood barriers by Yorkshire Water; this in a bid to reduce the risk of water supply and sewerage services getting affected whenever there’s some extreme wet weather conditions to endure.

The barriers are to be deployed on a needs-be basis, whenever there is a risk of flooding. This will aid in the protection of the entire infrastructure in the whole region, which is comprised out of 55 water treatment works and 631 sewage treatment plants.

When compared with sandbags, the use of these plastic barriers makes for much more rapid and easier deployment to create dams, divert waterflows, and aid in the process of preventing flood water from causing damage to the assets of Yorkshire Water, which ensures that sewers keep on 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.”

Several sites belonging to Yorkshire Water including those in Bradford, Leeds, York and Calderdale were swamped with flood water over last year’s Boxing Day floods, prompting this response from the firm. Consequently, the firm has completed thorough inspections at each of the affected sites to mitigate against the future risk of flooding. Major cleaning operations were also carried out at each of the firm’s sewers that had become filled with river silt.

The investment in flood barriers follows hot on the heels of the Government’s September publication of the Flood Resilience Review.

Yorkshire Water is part of the multi-agency Local Resilience Forums, which are responsible for planning and preparing for emergency incidents, such as flooding, to help mitigate the impact they have on local communities.