Water pipe contractors move to next stage

Contractors Balfour Beatty started work on the three-year project in 2008, and recently reached the halfway stage.

So far more than 42km (26 miles) of some of the company's largest water pipes – known as trunk mains – in and around Gleadless, Norton, Ecclesall, Fulwood, Norton Lees and Malin Bridge have been dealt with.

The next stage of the project will see the company returning to these areas to begin work on cleaning and re-lining some of the smaller distribution pipes.

Project manager Ian Johnson said: "It's a big project and we've still got a long way to go yet, but we're making speedy progress, thanks in no small part to the fantastic support and encouragement we've had from customers who understand that the work is essential if they're to continue to benefit from some of the best possible drinking water in the world.

"It was important that we kept work on large and small pipes separate, as to work on them both at the same time would have meant disruptions to water supplies – something we've worked hard to avoid.

"By staggering our work this way we also ensure that newly- cleaned pipes don't pick up any sediment from pipes which have yet to be cleaned."

In total, the project involves restoration of more than 80km (nearly 50 miles) of trunk main in the area, reducing the risk of discolouration in the water supply and improving the reliability of the pipes themselves.

Some of the pipes were lined with cement in the 1950s, so Yorkshire Water has had to develop a new technique to extract it.

The pipes are then coated with a modern, polymeric lining, prolonging their working life.