Heading seawards

A full on final day of adventure was looking at the final stages of waste water control before encountering the real deal and hitting the waves in the afternoon.  Lyndsey and Clare at Yorkshire Water help look after the Yorkshire coastine from the environmental effects of climatic change and preventing direct and overflow sewage discharge.

Scarborough waste system is undergoing a significant investment of £50 million, nearly half of a total coastline upgrade programme to better manage the increasing levels of sewage we are pushing their way and to reduce the chances of overflow from heavy rainfall events and storms.  Lyndsey described a new and revolutionary modelling process that Yorkshire Water are using to predict the waste and sewage flows to ensure that the investments they make are cost efficient and long lasting.

The developments include several underground holding tanks squeezed between Marina Drive on the sea edge and the cliffs. This one was 32m deep - it looked a long way down there!

Tall cranes managed to keep clear of the fulmer populated sea cliffs.

From here, the waste is pumped in big pipes under the ground along the coast to a treatment works like that we saw yesterday at Esholt, albeit somewhat smaller.  This was built on crown estate, and was constructed to look like an original farm to fit into the beautiful coastline using a world first - a UV screening process to give the seaward discharge a final 'polish' before it went out to sea.  Certainly the walkers on the coast hugging Cleveland way wouldn't have recognised it as a sewage works.

The beautiful Yorkshire coast, unaffected now the Yorkshire Waters works are installed to deal with our  waste.

In a unique partnership to build a better environment for the Yorkshire coastline, Yorkshire Water, the Environment Agency and the local councils are working together to improve the coastline and sea water quality, aiming to achieve the recently updated and highly rated blue flag quality award for both beaches in Scarborough (currently the south beach is rated as excellent whilst the north beach is defined as sufficient).

After a classic Scarborough fish and chip dinner, we headed off to the beach, although we were waylaid by Hannah and Martha making the most of the streams at Scalby Mill to cool off.

Unfortunately the afternoons surfing session was so good, we forgot to get any photos, but our instructor, Andy, kept us busy with some great tips and we all managed to crack it, with some long bottom turns and tight kick backs off the lips as the break ran left (honestly, we really all did).  Well ok then, we did all manage to stand up on the board at some point, even if was when we were doing the walking the plank game!

At least we had loads of confidence in the quality of the water though!

A great weekend of Yorkshire Water adventures rounded off with ice creams and smiles all round!

Thanks for such a unique experience Yorkshire Water!

Dan