The three-year project to improve river water quality in the River Irk will involve decommissioning waste water treatment processes at Royton and building extra storage tanks to contain more of the storm flows.

An underground pipeline will be laid to transfer sewage around 4.5km to the Oldham wastewater treatment works at Chadderton.

At Chadderton, the plant will be upgraded, using improved treatment processes to clean the wastewater.

Oldham’s two wastewater treatment plants have been helping to keep the town and its watercourses clean since the early 1900s.

New European rules now require wastewater to a much higher standard, which both existing plants are too old and too small to meet at present.

B&V’s contract comprises design, procurement, construction, commissioning and operational optimisation.