Northumbrian Water’s engineering teams have continued to work in and around the Cat Nab car park, Saltburn, all throughout the day on the repair to the pipe that was damaged earlier in the week.
This priority work will be continuing over the next few days.
The repair that is needed is quite a complicated fix and the engineers are expecting it to take into next week to complete.
The damaged pipe itself runs under the beck alongside the carpark and the repair requires work to be carried out in the stream bed. So, to do this safely, the engineers need to divert a section of this river away from the pipe, to allow access.
The next steps will then be to replace the section of pipe that was damaged on Wednesday by a third party.
The job is complex and requires significant excavation work, followed by the installation of concrete blocks to stabilise the pipe, before it can go back into full operation.
Northumbrian Water’s team have put straw bales and other measures into the stream to help filter any waste from the water before it reaches the sea and these are working well.
They are also continuing to pump as much out of the spill as possible and into tankers, to take it to our treatment plant in Marske. This will continue until they’ve managed to sort the repair.
The company is working closely with the Environment Agency on monitoring the impact that this is having, but are confident they’re doing all we can to minimise the risk.
However, as a precaution Redcar and Cleveland Council have cordoned off the section of beach where the river joins the sea and are asking people to avoid the area until the situation is resolved.
The Northumbrian Water team will be working on this all throughout the weekend and into next week, to get it fixed as soon as possible and will keep everyone updated on progress.
The company knows the impact this has had for people living and visiting the area and want to reassure people they’re treating it as a priority and are doing everything they can to get it fixed as soon as possible.
Information from Redcar & Cleveland Council
Redcar and Cleveland Council are supporting Northumbrian Water as they carry out the emergency repair work and have closed the car park and put up a barrier and signage warning the public to stay away from that section of the beach.
A Council presence will be in the area throughout the weekend to support and advise the public.
The measures will be in place until the pipe is fixed and until then we ask residents and visitors to keep out of the water that runs from Skelton Beck to the sea at Saltburn.