Improving the North West's rivers

All of us working at United Utilities want to see cleaner rivers and waterways and recognise the critical role we play in doing so on behalf of the communities where we live and work. We’re committed to making the step change people want to see and to continue to build on the improvements and investment made so far in how we treat wastewater and reducing the number of times storm overflow pipes operate during times of heavy rainfall.

We intend to go further and faster and have submitted a plan to spend more than £3 billion with the aim of seeing a 60 per cent reduction in spills over the 10 years to 2030.

This money will help improve more than 300 miles of river, ranging from the River Kent in Cumbria to the Irwell, which flows through counties of Lancashire and Greater Manchester.