Work set to begin on 'Pig Trough' flood-prone footpath in Shrewsbury

Shrewsbury is an area with well-known historic river and surface water flooding issues, and water company has been working with the Environment Agency and the council for several years to solve and prioritise multiple flooding issues, across the town and across the county.    

In December last year Severn Trent announced £470 million of investment for Shropshire. One step in the start of this wider investment programme for Shrewsbury is tackling issues to enhance the sewer system and reduce flood risks.  

Severn Trent has now put forward to the local council a sewer separation proposal, together with a green solution for this area within its improvements as part of a forthcoming five-year investment programme.     

This latest proposal is one of several in the Coton Hill area, which will help to reduce flooding of the footpath known as the ‘Pig Trough’. 

Due to the continuing challenges of climate change and increased storm events, a higher volume of rainwater is passing through at faster rates into the combined sewer system, which causes issues such as the manhole cover on the ‘Pig Trough’ path to ‘lift’. To alleviate this, one of the steps in the plan will be to begin works to separate surface water runoff from the sewer system.

The company will now complete a range of surveys and community meetings to check for the feasibility of installing Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) to help reduce flooding. 

SUDS work by diverting surface water from heavy downpours of rain away from sewers and into a nature-based solution called a bioswale, slowing it down and helping drains to cope with the increased rainfall.  

Catherine Webb, Community Communications Officer for Severn Trent said: “These new features would not only offer flood prevention and surface water attenuation but also provide wider benefits including enhanced ecology given it’s a nature-based solution. We’d like the design of the features to include input from the local residents and community groups for the shape of the feature and how these will be planted.”

In addition, over the summer the company has already installed seven flap valves and planned for 42 more on overflows in Shrewsbury, designed to prevent river water entering into the network when river levels rise. 

This follows on from the work Severn Trent is doing to manage stormwater in the town by previously offering residents of Coton Hill free water butts, to slow the flow of water entering pipes during rainfall in the area.  So far more than 250 people have had a free water butt installed.

Catherine added: “It’s great that so many people have taken up the free garden water butts, which helps to capture rainwater.  We are committed to improving Shropshire’s sewer infrastructure to handle future weather events and ensure a cleaner environment for everyone, which will include a range of projects and significant investment.

“We understand that work can be disruptive and apologise to those who will be impacted by the surveys and works carried out by our teams.” 

Severn Trent said its plans for the next five years will see the company spending more than £2billion to improve river health across its region.