Over the next five years, we'll be investing £3.5 billion into Yorkshire to support a huge capital programme, over 1,000 local businesses and many thousands of local jobs. For every £1 we spend we'll generate almost double this in terms of economic activity in Yorkshire. Read on to find out what this means for West Yorkshire...
Pumping in more than water
Our investment has a big impact on the local economy where in West Yorkshire where we employ over 2000 people at our head office and 600 at our contact centre. We'll soon be opening a new office at Clarence Dock in Leeds.
We'll be investing over £2m every working day over the next five years directly in the Yorkshire economy. The majority of this is generated in West Yorkshire by our employees distributing wealth in their local economies.
£8 million to replace 40,000 lead pipes in Leeds to
improve drinking water quality.
West Yorkshire - a bit of history
The Victorians were great innovators and we've them to thank for miles of underground networks providing us with clean water and taking away our sewage. As you can imagine, many of the pipes which make up our networks are getting old and could do with a makeover. We're therefore spending £8 million in Leeds over the next five years to replace the old, lead pipes with a modern version.
Our customers tell us that a safe, reliable drinking water supply is of paramount importance to them so over the next five years we'll be investing at our Chellow Heights and Graincliffe water treatment works to make sure standards are maintained and improved.
Richard Flint, Chief Executive
Making a clear difference
As part of the £3.5 billion investment we're looking at a new approach to moorland management in Keighley to improve the quality of raw water in the area.
The colour of raw water feeding a number of our moorland fed water treatment works has increased in recent years. Burning of heather moorland for grouse management has been suggested as the primary cause of colour increase in raw water supply.
We support a move towards sustainable moorland management practices which balance the needs of improved water quality, whilst supporting the many other functions of the moorlands. Through this approach we aim to treat the causes of deteriorating raw water quality at source. The alternative would be a more intensive water treatment process at our plants leading to a cost rise to society in terms of increasing our carbon footprint as well as customers' bills.
We're working with landowners towards an objective of sustainable moorlands for all. We believe that this approach is best for both the environment and our customers.
Our customers tell us that a reliable and high quality supply of drinking water is very important to them and it is our job to ensure that they get nothing less. We're therefore investing to maintain and improve our water treatment sites to ensure that they not only meet modern requirements, but also employ the most innovative and efficient processes.
Almost £5 million to upgrade Chellow Heights and Graincliffe Water Treatment Works in Bradford to
improve drinking water quality.
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