£1.6m scheme will clean up Stinking Brook

A £1.6 million investment is set to clean up a Warrington waterway known for decades as “the Stinking Brook.”
United Utilities is due to start work at the end of this month on a scheme which will improve the quality of the water in Sankey Brook as it flows through the town. A second project will get underway early next year.
Two small watercourses which flow into Sankey Brook – Longford Brook and Mill Brook – will be protected from sewers which occasionally overspill into the water during periods of very heavy rain.
The network of pipes have been completely redesigned and upsized, so they can hold more water.
Project co-ordinator Matt Parr said: “As soon as this work is finished the environment will start improving. The brook’s entire eco-system will begin to thrive. It’s great news for people in the town.”
The first scheme is taking place within the grounds of Orford Park. An underground tank is being built, which will be able to hold the vast amounts of rainwater, before it is sent back into the sewer after a storm.
It is expected this part of the scheme will take around 10 months to complete. Virtually all footpaths will remain open, except for a small diversion on one, as only a small compound has been needed for the work.
The second scheme will start in January and will see bigger pipes laid just off Winwick Road.
There will be no impact on traffic on this busy route. Work is expected to last three months.
Matt added: “There may be a very small amount of disruption for people in the area, but please bear with us, we should be out of the way, having made long-lasting improvements, by next spring.”
The scheme is part of United Utilities’ £3.5bn investment programme, running from 2010-2015, which is modernising and improving water mains, sewer pipes and treatment works across the North West.