Severn Trent rolls out 2,100 storm overflow solutions
Severn Trent has revealed how it has reduced storm overflow spills at a Gloucestershire river by 96% in one year
Last updated 19th Feb 2025
The overflow at Charlton Kings in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, had spilt into The River Chelt some 25 times in 2023, up from 19 times in 2022.
But after major investment at the site, including boosting storage capacity, laying bigger pipes and installing new monitors, the spills fell to just one in 2024 - a fall of some 96%.
The news comes after Severn Trent completed 1,500 engineering projects at its storm overflows ahead of schedule and has now unveiled plans to fast-track the delivery of another 600 river improvement projects.
This will bring the number of upgrades, including storm water tanks to hold rainwater and new wetlands to naturally treat wastewater, to an industry leading 2,100 projects by autumn 2025.
This work forms part of a £1 billion investment across the region and Severn Trent plans to invest around £2 billion in the coming five years to reduce the use of storm overflows across the region and on projects to help improve river health.
With another record year of rain and a hike in extreme weather events, the work is estimated to have resulted in around 24,000 spills from storm overflows being prevented across the region in 2024.
Matt Leedham, Waste Optimisation Performance Manager, had led the two-year Charlton Kings project. He said: “It’s been an amazing success, thanks to the efforts of all our teams.
“We wanted to reduce our impact on the River Chelt and we’ve done that in 2024 and believe that will continue going forward.
"We now hope to replicate this kind of success at other sites to show to the public we are really making progress in cutting spills.”
James Jesic, Capital Delivery and Commercial Director at Severn Trent, added: “The Chalton Kings project on the River Chelt is a great example of success in reducing storm overflows.
"This project, and others similar will serve as a blueprint for the improvements we’re making across our region as we continue to move at pace to reduce spills.
"As all of the improvements get up and running, we’re looking forward to seeing the huge benefits of this work right across the region in the year ahead.”