Water engineers dive beneath river for first time in 50 years

ENGINEERS will start burrowing under a river this week to lay a new pipe to help shift water supplies round the county.

It will be the first pipeline in 50 years to be laid under the River Hull, since Yorkshire Water built its Tophill Low water treatment works in 1959.

The water company’s underground grid of waterpipes came into its own earlier this year when it was used to move hundreds of millions of litres of water a day from North Yorkshire to the drought-stricken east of the region, where groundwater stores were unusually low.

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Project manager Ross Housley, from Yorkshire Water, said: “Each year we replace and add to our underground network with miles and miles of new pipe, but the fact that we’re tunnelling under a huge river makes this project quite exceptional, as does the fact that much of the work is taking place in our nature reserve.

“Obviously we’ll be making sure our work doesn’t disturb the local wildlife, such as otters and water voles, in any way and once completed, this pipe will help to give us even greater flexibility in terms of how we move water around our underground grid.”

Contractor Morrison Utility Services will begin by creating a 230-metre long tunnel, which at its deepest point will be eight metres below the surface, before installing the same length of plastic pipe.

The project is due to be completed by December.

Tophill Low nature reserve, near Driffield, has a growing reputation for its huge array of wildlife, particularly birds, with around 65 different bird species showing on any given day.