Yorkshire Water is a British water supply and treatment utility company servicing West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, the East Riding of Yorkshire, part of North Lincolnshire, most of North Yorkshire and part of Derbyshire, in England. The company has its origins in the Yorkshire Water Authority, one of ten regional water authorities created by the Water Act 1973, and privatised under the terms of the Water Act 1989, when Yorkshire Water plc, the parent company of the Yorkshire Water business, was floated on the London Stock Exchange. The parent company was Kelda Group in 1999. In February 2008, Kelda Group was bought by a consortium of infrastructure funds.
It is regulated under the Water Industry Act 1991.
Area The company's area includes West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, the East Riding of Yorkshire, part of North Lincolnshire, most of North Yorkshire and part of Derbyshire. The area is adjoined on the north by that of Northumbrian Water, on the west by United Utilities, on the south west by Severn Trent Water and on the south by Anglian Water. It serves 5.5 million households and 140,000 business customers, and owns over of land.
Environmental record Yorkshire Water has received fines for breaches of environmental law. For example: Yorkshire Water was fined twice in April 2007. The first offence was for allowing polluting matter to enter Clifton Beck in Brighouse, contrary to section 85(1) of the Water Resources Act 1991. The final incident killed one third of the wildlife along over a mile of the stream.ENDS Report 388, May 2007, p. 54 A further incident in the same beck led to a fine of £2,400 in 2004.ENDS Report 351, April 2004, p. 60 Yorkshire Water argued that the blockage causing the offence was caused by a third party. Eleven days later, the company was in court again to admit to breaching its discharge consent at its Neiley sewage works, Honley. The discharge consent allowed for biological oxygen demand to exceed 21 mg/L more than three times a year. The Environment Agency demonstrated that the works had breached this limit five times in 2005, resulting in a fine of £16,000 plus £754 in costs. Yorkshire Water was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay £9,051 in costs for supplying "unfit water" in May 2006 in a prosecution brought by the Drinking Water Inspectorate, under the Water Industry Act 1991. It pleaded guilty to three offences. Properties in Harlow Moor, Harrogate, had received discoloured water supplies in February 2004, which was caused by work on its supply mains stirring up sediment. About 1,200 properties were affected and 64 customers complained. The Drinking Water Inspectorate said to the ENDS Report that this was not the first time that the company had failed to check valves before working on its distribution mains. Before this incident, the DWI had prosecuted it four times.ENDS Report 377, June 2006, p. 54 Yorkshire Water's largest fine, of £119,000 (reduced to £80,000 on appeal), with costs of £125,598, was received in December 2000 after pleading guilty to seventeen charges of supplying water unfit for human consumption.ENDS Report 311, December 2000, p. 52 Yorkshire Water was investigated under caution in October 2008 by the Environment Agency following a leak of sewage into Whitby Harbour. The leak was caused by a pump failure and resulted in sewage leaking into the harbour for 52 hours.
Performance In June 1996, Yorkshire Water was effectively fined £40 million by the regulator, Ofwat, by freezing their ability to raise bills for customers. This was a result of what Ofwat described as a "failure to deliver the standards required to consumers". This fine was a result of being the most hated water company during the "year of the drought" (1995). However, Yorkshire Water's performance had turned around so much so that the company was awarded the title Utility Company of the Year by Utility Week magazine three years in succession while no other water company has won it more than once." The company has been criticised (2022) for losing 283 million litres of water a day due to leakages. The company says that this is a 50% reduction on the period 1995/96.
1992 Sludge tip blocks River Colne, Huddersfield A landslip of sewage sludge engulfed a sewage works at Huddersfield in 1992. Almost of sewage slipped from its Deighton waste tip on to the plant, and completely blocked of the River Colne. The disaster also forced the closure of a nearby ICI plant.
1995 Year of Drought For months between September 1995 and January 1996 reservoirs in the west side of the region ran dry, and water had to be taken by (up to) 700 tankers (delivering of water a day) from the east side of the region near Goole in a convoy of trucks, with 3,500 daily deliveries along the M62 in a drastic emergency measure which cost £3 million a week, eventually totalling £33 million for the entire tankering operation. The trucks were famously shown on TV delivering water into Booth Wood Reservoir. The company has now built a pipeline from the east to the west to allow the balancing of water levels should the need arise. Following the "year of drought", Yorkshire Water became known as "the most hated water company" during this period, with "staff having to travel in unmarked vans for fear of reprisals". Many suspected Yorkshire Water would never be able to win back customers' trust.
2007 Hull floods
The company came under intense criticism when the Bransholme pumping station failed, worsening the flood damage to the city and flooding two thousand homes on the Kingswood and Bransholme estates. The pumping station was upgraded in 2016.
2022 Sheffield gas supply outage
Yorkshire Water were criticised in December 2022 when a burst water main operated by the company caused flooding in the Stannington area of Sheffield, which subsequently entered the local gas network and left thousands of properties without a natural gas supply for more than a week amid below-freezing temperatures. The burst water main occurred during the evening of 2 December and leaked more than 400,000 litres of water into the local gas pipe network before finally being fully repaired five days later. Sheffield City Council declared a major incident and aid was distributed to residents as a result of the crisis.
Customer service Yorkshire Water ranked 11th of 21 water companies in Ofwat's 'Satisfaction by company' survey 2012/13.In January 2015 the UK Customer Service Index (UKCSI) announced that Yorkshire Water was the leader for service in the Utilities sector, they were also the second most improved organisation in the whole UKCSI, beating competitors such as Severn Trent, Anglian, Thames Water as well as United Utilities and EDF.
The UKCSI is the only external measure showing the state of customer satisfaction in the UK and allows individuals to benchmark across all sectors as well as utilities.
Drinking water quality In the year ending 31 March 2013, 99.93% of Yorkshire Water's samples met the UK standards; in the previous year it was 99.95%.
Constituents The authority created in 1974 took over the Yorkshire River Authority and the following public sector water supply utilities:
Barnsley Corporation Waterworks Bradford Corporation Waterworks Huddersfield Corporation Waterworks Kingston upon Hull Corporation Waterworks Leeds Corporation Waterworks Rotherham Corporation Waterworks Scarborough Corporation Waterworks Sheffield Corporation Waterworks Norton Urban District Council Waterworks Rawmarsh Urban District Council Waterworks
Calderdale Water Board Claro Water Board Craven Water Board Doncaster and District Joint Water Board East Yorkshire (Wolds Area) Water Board Mid Calder Water Board Northallerton and the Dales Water Board Pontefract, Goole and Selby Water Board Rombalds Water Board Ryedale Joint Water Board Wakefield and District Water Board
York Waterworks Company
In early 1999 the company took over , a small water-only company serving the city of York. It had been founded in 1846 as the York New Waterworks Company.
Predecessor borough waterworks
Barnsley Corporation Waterworks
The Barnsley Local Board of Health established a waterworks using powers in the Barnsley Local Board Act 1862 (25 & 26 Vict. c. xxxii).
The was established by the (7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. lxxxii).
Bradford Corporation Waterworks
Bradford Corporation Waterworks was created by the (17 & 18 Vict. c. cxxix).
The was established by the (5 & 6 Vict. c. vi)
Huddersfield Corporation Waterworks
Huddersfield Corporation Waterworks was formed when the (32 & 33 Vict. c. cx) vested the undertaking of the Huddersfield Waterworks Commissioners in the corporation.
Wessenden Reservoir was bought by the corporation under the Huddersfield Corporation Waterworks Act 1890 (53 & 54 Vict. c. cxv). They had offices in Water Street, Huddersfield, built in 1828.
The were created by the (7 & 8 Geo. 4. c. 84).
Hull Corporation Waterworks
Hull Corporation Waterworks was created by the (6 & 7 Vict. c. lxxiii).
The was established by the , and taken over by Hull Corporation Waterworks on 1 October 1893.
Leeds Corporation Waterworks
Leeds Corporation took over the private Leeds Waterworks Company by the (15 & 16 Vict. c. cii).
The Leeds Waterworks Act 1867 (30 & 31 Vict. c. cxli) authorised the building of three reservoirs at Fewston Lindley Wood and Swinsty.
The was incorporated by the (7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. lxxxiii).
Rotherham Corporation Waterworks
Scarborough Corporation Waterworks
Scarborough Corporation Waterworks was established when the (41 & 42 Vict. c. lxxv) enabled Scarborough Corporation to purchase the private Scarborough Waterworks Company.
The was incorporated by the (8 & 9 Vict. c. lxviii).
Scarborough Waterworks Company purchased the by the (41 & 42 Vict. c. l).
Under the (SI 1961/1151), Scarborough Corporation Waterworks purchased the private Whitby Waterworks Company, acquiring its Randy Mere Reservoir.
The was formed by the (14 & 15 Vict. c. xxxvi).
Sheffield Corporation Waterworks
The private was incorporated by the (11 Geo. 4 & 1 Will. 4. c. lv), taking over a number of smaller water suppliers that existed at that time.
In 1833, Hadfield Dam (originally named Pisgah Dam) was created in Crookes to provide a service reservoir. The three large Redmires Reservoirs were then complied in 1836, 1849 and 1854. The Rivelin Dams were created in 1848 to provide compensation water.
The (16 & 17 Vict. c. xxii) authorised the company to raise more money, and the building of Dale Dike, Agden and Strines reservoirs on the River Loxley.
In 1864 the dam of Dale Dike Reservoir failed, causing the Great Sheffield Flood.
The company built offices in Division Street, Sheffield in 1869. These are now a J D Wetherspoons public house.
The (30 & 31 Vict. c. lxxxvii) obliged the company to start to provide a continuous water supply from July 1869. The company failed to do this, which led to Sheffield Corporation beginning attempts to take over the service. The achieved this with the passing of the (50 & 51 Vict. c. clxxviii), which allowed the Sheffield Corporation Waterworks Department to take over the company's operation for a cost of £2,092,014 (equivalent to £ million in ).
The undertaking of the was transferred to Sheffield Corporation Waterworks by the (SI 1963/572).
The Dearne Valley Water Board was constituted by the (10 & 11 Geo. 5. c. lxxiv), taking over the private Dearne Valley Waterworks Company.
The was incorporated by the (43 & 44 Vict. c. cxvi).
Predecessor water boards
Calderdale Water Board
Calderdale Water Board was created by the (SI 1961/623). It covered Halifax, Brighouse, and the Calder Valley, and had offices on Thrum Hall Lane, Halifax.
was created in 1848 when Halifax became a municipal borough, taking over the water undertaking of Halifax Improvement Commissioners created by the (2 Geo. 3. c. 40).
Claro Water Board