WAVE UPON WAVE OF COASTAL IMPROVEMENTS

Northumbrian Water has been turning the tide on the North East Coast for a decade.

In 1990 it began an ambitious programme to improve the level of sewage treatment provided along the coastline.

After an initial investment of £400 million the water company completed its 'first wave' of improvements at the end of last year.

With the help of international environmentalist and County Durham resident David Bellamy, Northumbrian Water then launched into its 'second wave' of coastal improvements costing a further £300 million.

Raw sewage flows have been intercepted and miles of new sewers have been laid down to carry the waste to new treatment works providing extensive levels of treatment.

This work has brought - and will continue to bring - major improvement to the quality of the water returned to the region's sea and major estuaries making them and the coast cleaner than in living memory.

Some of the sites where improvement work has been carried out which particularly benefit the County Durham coast are at Hendon, Seaham, Horden, Hartlepool and Seaton Carew.

Sailing for the 'Sea of Lights'

It is particularly fitting that two of the vessels being used for the 'Sea of Lights' spectacular celebration are Northumbrian Water tankers which play a key role in the coastal clean up.

The ships - MV Northumbrian Water and MV Bran Sands - transport sludge left after treatment to a new state of the art regional centre at Bran Sands on Teesside. There it is dried and converted into pellets that can be used as a fuel and in manufacturing, agriculture and land reclamation.

Northumbrian Water invested hundreds of more millions building that centre as a sound environmental solution to the former dumping of the sludge at sea, a practice which has now also stopped.

High days and holidays

Northumbrian Water is not only committed to the massive investment to improve coastal water quality - it is also one of the official partners of the Turning the Tide project working on land and on the County Durham coast.

The water company helped turn the tide on tourism prospects in Seaham with the biggest-ever contribution from its Kick-Start Fund.

At the opening, a Seaham town council official, said: "From the desperation days of the closure of the pits, people are now seeing the town fighting back. This is the sign of better things, of Seaham being on the up again."