The amount of discharges from York’s sewers and drains into the River Ouse has sparked concerns for rowers, a nature reserve and nearby homes.
University of York facilities and estates director Harvey Dowdy said they had had to clean up after discharges because of concerns over their impact on Fulford Ings and river users.
She added Yorkshire Water had also failed to resolve issues raised by residents in St Oswald’s Road near a pumping station despite assurances there would be a response.
Yorkshire Water’s head of corporate affairs Tim Myatt said the company would respond when things went wrong and it was keen to investigate and resolve any issues.
It comes as City of York Council’s economy, place, access and transport scrutiny committee heard storm overflows discharged waste water into the River Ouse for 27,386 hours in 2023.
Analysis of Environment Agency figures quoted at the meeting showed it came seventh in England and Wales by that measure.
Ms Dowdy said Yorkshire Water had promised to work with the university, Natural England and others to address their concerns about discharges but they were yet to receive a response.
She added concerns included the impact it was having on the University of York Boat Club whose members row onto the River Ouse from their base in the Fulford area.
The director said: “If we reluctantly accept the need to discharge into the river upstream it would seem essential to advise those put at risk from raw sewage.”
Improvement plans
Councillors heard there are plans worth around £327m to improve Yorkshire storm overflows, which discharge waste water including sewage into waterways to stop flooding.
This would include improve nine storm overflows in the York area.
Yorkshire Water is also planning around £1bn-worth of network improvements which would include a further 13 storm overflows in York.
Councillors heard improved monitoring systems and an app for people to report problems with the network were also being rolled out and trialled.
Mr Myatt said the amount of hours that discharges took place in did not reflect the amount of sewage being dumped into rivers or the overall water quality of them.
The head of corporate affairs said: “We understand there needs to be a significant amount of investment and that’s already ongoing.”