£9m worth of work planned for sewers

Work costing £9 million is to take place on a network of Black Country sewers to stop waste spilling into the River Tame following heavy rain.

The Severn Trent Water scheme will include nine giant new underground storm tanks each measuring 39ft deep and more than 50ft wide being built at Willenhall Sewage Treatment Works in Anson Road. Bosses say the existing system cannot cope with demand and is leading to sewage spewing out polluting the River Tame during bad weather.

Grace Marren, spokeswoman for Severn Trent Water, said: " Our sewerage system throughout Willenhall has been serving the community for many years. However, it simply can not cope with modern demands.

"People may have noticed that during heavy rainstorms, overflow of sewage and rain water spills into the River Tame and causes pollution.

"We want to stop this happening and are committed to helping clean up this river by reducing pollution from our sewers. This is why we are investing so heavily in the new sewer network."

Work is expected to begin at the end of next month and last for 60 weeks. Due to the depth of the excavation needed heavy duty digging and drilling equipment will have to be used to carry out the work and bosses have warned there may be some disturbance to the closest neighbours in streets such as Riverbank Road.

However, Severn Trent said it will only carry out work between 7.30am and 6pm and storage tanks will be covered so no bad odours will drift onto neighbouring properties.

Severn Trent has been working in partnership with the Environment Agency on the plans which it hopes will result in a reduction in spills to the river during storm conditions, which in turn will improve the water quality of the river.

It was revealed last month how Wolverhampton and Sandwell are set for a slice of £800,000-worth of improvements to Midland flood defences.

Walls 5ft high are planned along the River Tame which runs through Walsall and into Sandwell.