Yorkshire Water is to meet with City of York Council in a bid to tackle the dumping of sewage into York's waterways.

The meeting, which will be part of the council's economic scrutiny committee, comes after the news that Yorkshire Water dumped sewage into York's waterways for more than 17,000 combined hours in 2023.

On Tuesday, June 25, the council will be discussing the cleanliness of York's rivers and becks and the city's drainage infrastructure.

Ahead of the meeting, a spokesperson for Yorkshire Water said: "We regularly meet with councils across the region to share details of our plans in their area, and to build positive relationships so that we can collaborate effectively.

"In the 2020-2025 period, we have been and will continue to invest heavily in York to improve the health of its waterways.

"This includes a £10.5 million investment into reducing the amount of phosphorous present in treated wastewater returned to the environment, and investment into nine storm overflow sites to reduce the number of discharges in periods of prolonged or heavy rainfall."

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The council's report ahead of the meeting said "this is an important issue to members and many residents", stating that the cleanliness of York's waterways is one of its priorities.

The council said it would cooperate with Yorkshire Water as it carried out its previously announced £170,000 investment into the issue in York.

Yorkshire Water added: "In October last year, we submitted our draft business plan to Ofwat for the 2025 - 2030 period.

"This plan includes £1.3bn to reduce storm overflow discharges, and £1.7bn to invest generally in our wastewater network. Within this, a further 13 storm overflows would receive investment in York.

"We’ll also continue working closely with the council to collaborate on surface water removal and the use of sustainable urban drainage systems to reduce flow into storm overflow outlets."

It is reported that Yorkshire Water are currently investigating 17 storm overflow sites in York as potential places to allocate funding. In the event of more funding being announced, it's believed an additional 13 locations will also be looked at.