Over £2 million is set to be invested into reducing a York village's waterways.

Yorkshire Water is investing £2.1m to reduce storm overflow discharges into the river Ouse at Poppleton as it continues efforts to improve water quality. 

The investment is part of a £180m fund, which was announced after the water regulator Ofwat proposed £47m of fines for the company.

They are working to build new underground wastewater storage in fields off Main Street. With construction underway on an eight-metre deep tank that will hold more than 250,000 litres of wastewater during periods of heavy rainfall.

The 'flows' will be stored during periods of rainfall and will be returned to the sewer network. Yorkshire Water says they will then undergo full treatment via new pumps and rising main sewers - which are being constructed as part of the project.

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Once completed, the work is expected to reduce storm overflow discharges from Yorkshire Water’s Riverside Gardens by more than 50 per cent, which in turn should improve water quality in the Ouse. 

Omair Khan, project manager at Yorkshire Water, said: "We are committed to reducing the operation of storm overflows across Yorkshire and are investing £180m by April 2025 to tackle the issue and improve water quality in our rivers and at our coast.  

"The additional storage will hold stormwater during heavy or prolonged rainfall events, before returning it to the network and treatment works for full treatment once the rainfall event has passed.

"Ultimately, this will lead to a reduction in discharges to the river Ouse and help to improve water quality." 

Yorkshire Water is also planning investment at a storm overflow on Coney Street, York, which will further reduce discharges to the Ouse.