A new robot with an uncanny resemblance to a character in a Walt Disney film is helping to keep our water supply clean and safe.
It's being used by Northumbrian Water to vacuum sediment from its underwater storage tanks.
There has been a significant drop in the water quality of the region's beaches. The Marine Conservation Society has published the annual Good Beach Guide.
After success last year, less than half of beaches passed water quality tests. Northumbrian water blames the wettest summer on record, while surfers blame the sewerage.
Northumbrian Water has outlined price increases for this year meaning that the average bill for 2013-2014, which comes into effect from April, will be £359.42p. The increase of 2.2% is in line with inflation the average bill in 2012-2013 was £351.61p.
Northumbrian Water’s average bill for water and waste water services are set to rise. The increase will be in line with inflationand part of a five-year improvement programme.
Customers will, on average, pay less than £1 per day for all their drinking water and sewerage services and Northumbrian Water charges will remain amongst the cheapest in the country.
A North East water company has launched a new campaign highlighting the problems caused when people put items down drains and sewers
Read the full storyNorthumbrian Water has launched a campaign to cut down on the number of blocked drains.
Using a new character called Dwaine Pipe, they want to persuade people not to flush away items like cotton wool buds, nappies and household wipes.
This year the water company will spend a million pounds dealing with more than 17,000 blockages.
Northumbrian Water Statement: We are aware that customers in the DH1 & DH7 areas may have experienced an interruption to their water supply. This was a technical issue which resulted in the loss of supply for a short time. We are currently charging up the network and hope to restore supplies soon.
If you have water but it is at a reduced pressure, please be advised that the water can take some time to return to normal pressure. If your supply is discoloured when it returns, please run your first draw cold tap (normally in the kitchen) for 40-50 minutes to clear the supply.
For more information visit the Northumbrian Water website.
