Leeds City Council announce £4.2m River Aire storm overflow project is underway in popular Leeds suburb
The storage tank is one of fourteen storm overflow projects Leeds City Council has started since April 2025
Yorkshire Water has started work to build an underground storage tank in Leeds as part of a £1.5bn storm overflow discharge reduction programme which aims to reduce wastewater entering local watercourses.
A 200m cubed tank which will store up to two million litres of excess wastewater and rainwater flows is set to be constructed by contract partners Ward & Burke in a field off Dewsbury Road in Morley.
The project is valued at £4.2m and is expected to take a year to complete.
It is hoped that the storage tank will reduce discharges from Wide Lane Woodlands CSO into the River Aire.
Storage tanks build additional capacity into the combined sewer network, which transports both wastewater and rainwater.
By holding excess flows during periods of bad weather, they prevent combined storm overflows (CSOs) from discharging into local watercourses.
Flows will be sent for full treatment when capacity in the network has returned to normal levels.
Dan Rhodes, project manager at Yorkshire Water, said: "This is one of fourteen storm overflow projects we've started since April 2025 in Leeds, where we have a target of reducing the number of discharges by 72% by 2030. We're already delivering on this commitment, with completed projects in Beeston and Stourton."
Other areas with current storm overflow projects include Wyther Lane in Kirkstall, Claremont in Horsforth, and Canal Road in Armley.
Elsewhere in Yorkshire, there are also schemes underway in York, Sheffield, Rotherham, Barnsley, Bradford, Calderdale and across North Yorkshire.
Storm overflows are designed to act as a relief valve for the combined sewer network, which carries both wastewater and surface water, during periods of heavy or prolonged rainfall.
They discharge when the system is at capacity to prevent flows backing up and flooding homes and gardens.
Across Yorkshire, the need for storm overflows to operate will be reduced by building new:
- Surface water sewers, to separate surface water and wastewater so that wastewater networks aren’t impacted by bad weather
- Underground storage tanks, to build additional capacity into the network
- Nature-based solutions, to build additional capacity into the network
- Sustainable drainage systems, to slow the flow of surface water into the combined network
The storm overflow project is part of Yorkshire Water’s £8.3bn investment into its services and the environment over the next five years.