Madeleine Kirk Raises Local Flooding Concerns with Yorkshire Water

12.10.00pm GMT Tue 8th Dec 2009

Prospective Liberal Democrat MP for York Outer, Madeleine Kirk, has been raising local people's concerns about flooding with Yorkshire Water during a tour of their Rawcliffe Waste Water Treatment Centre.

Madeleine toured the site to talk to engineers about flooding problems local people had raised with her and to learn about what the company is doing to minimise the effect of the sewage works on the local environment.

Commenting, Madeleine Kirk said: "It was great to have an opportunity to tour the site and learn about everything Yorkshire Water is doing to try and minimize the effect it has on the surrounding environment. Whilst it's inevitable that a sewage works will have some effect on the local area, I was pleased to hear about the steps that Yorkshire Water are taking such as stopping septic tank imports to the site and refurbishing existing odour control units next year.

"It was really useful to have the opportunity to discuss some of the concerns about flooding local people have been raising with me with Yorkshire Water face-to-face. I'm sure that by working together we can get real results for those affected by local floods in York and the surrounding villages."

Madeleine is also backing Yorkshire Water's sewer flooding campaign Bin It Don't Flush It which urges people to think about what they are putting into their sewers.

"I was amazed to learn about some of the things that have ended up in Yorkshire's sewers!" Madeleine said. "50% of all sewer blockages are caused by people putting inappropriate things down their sink or toilet. If people just stop and think about what they are doing when they put something into the sewer then we can reduce the incidents of localized flooding in our area very easily."

For more information on Yorkshire Water's Bin It Don't Flush It Campaign visit http://www.yorkshirewater.com/binit