Planned Work

Northumbrian Water are planning to carry out essential work at Howdon Sewage Treatment Works to ensure that the site remains resilient and that it continues to serve the community and protect the environment into the future.

Howdon STW treats wastewater from the Local Authority areas of North Tyneside, Newcastle, Gateshead, South Tyneside, and parts of South Northumberland. Across these five Local Authority areas, Howdon STW serves a domestic population of around 840,000, with trade effluent flows increasing the population equivalent to around 945,000. As much of the sewer network within the catchment is combined, surface water also contributes to the Howdon flows. Northumbrian Water is continually improving its operations and Howdon has been identified as requiring an upgrade to improve its operational resilience and to accommodate any future increase in flows.

The most viable solution is to expand the treatment capacity at Howdon. The recommended solution comprises of:

• Upgraded primary effluent and south bank pumping stations
• Upgraded primary tanks
• New storm tanks (with odour control)
• Upgraded secondary treatment
• New final settlement tanks
• Upgraded UV treatment

Delivery of this project has been phased to meet the recent affordability challenge. The following has now been agreed, with Phase One reflecting the minimum required scope for AMP7.

We plan to start construction work during 2023 and expect the first phase of the project to be complete by April 2025.

Phase One (due to complete by April 2025):

•            Demolition of redundant assets to accommodate the whole works

•            Upgraded primary effluent and south bank pumping stations (improving resilience of the site)

•            New south bank storm tank

Phase Two (due to complete by April 2027):

•            Upgraded primary tanks

•            Upgraded secondary treatment

•            New final settlement tanks

•            Upgraded UV treatment

•            New primary storm tanks