Gwynedd is known for its mountainous geography, including much of Eryri, a national park that contains Wales’s highest mountain, Yr Wyddfa, which stands at 3,560 feet. The county also features a long coastline to the west, including the scenic Llŷn Peninsula. Much of the county is very rural with the University City of Bangor the largest settlement.
The county has a population of approximately 117,591 people and covers an area of 979 square miles. It has the highest percentage of Welsh speakers in Wales, with 64.4% of the population speaking the language.
Over the next five years, we will be focusing on investing for the future and our investment programme for Gwynedd will be looking to improve resilience in our drinking water network by replacing water pipes in areas which have been impacted by supply issues, as well as protecting and improving the environment by focusing our efforts on our wastewater treatment sites.
Every five years we prepare a regulatory business plan which is submitted to Ofwat as part of the Price Review process. The plans are based on customer views and cover our performance commitments, efficiency, investments, and bills. Below are some examples of the work carried out in your area during the previous investment period 2020-2025.
We are currently investing £19 million at Beach Road in Bangor to help improve the water quality of the Menai Strait. During heavy rainfall, the additional surface water and wastewater from the area is stored in a storm overflow tank, at our Beach Road pumping station, however, during significant rainfall, when this tank is full and can’t cope with any more water, the water flows out of the storm overflow into the bay.
To help protect the local environment and water of the strait, which forms part of the Menai Strait Marine Special Area of Conservation, we are creating an underground storage tank which will hold back the flows until there is room in the network to help reduce the number of times the storm overflow is used.
We have invested over £6 million at our wastewater treatment works in Bala.
This investment on site increased the capacity and treatment capability at the works which will benefit the local community, development and the environment. The work has also help improve river water quality as well as help accommodate future growth in the area.