Improving the underground water mains in south-west Sheffield
About 300,000 of our customers will benefit from a £16.7m project in Rivelin, Sheffield.
As well as improving water quality, the work should also reduce the risks of bursts or leaks occurring in the future.
What's involved?
We're improving the condition of the mains in the following areas:
Ecclesall, Lodge Moor, Whirlow, Dore, Totley, Low Edges, Beauchief, Oaks Park, Meersbrook, Gleadless, Nethergreen, Crookesmoor, Rivelin, Walkley, Sharrow, Millhouses, Hillfoot, Bradway, Norton, Bolehill, Abbeydale, Lowedges, Hollins End & Commonside.
The work will be carried out in partnership with our service partner, Balfour Beatty Utility Solutions, who are based in Darton, near Barnsley. We're also working very closely with Sheffield City Council's Highways Team to minimise disruption on the roads.
What's involved?
The project involves cleaning, relining (coating the pipes with a new polymeric lining) or replacing more than 80kms of large trunk mains. We'll be using various methods of rehabilitation to refurbish the mains. These include scraping and relining, pressure jetting and lining, jet cleaning, swabbing and renewal.
See how we reline our pipes and what other technologies we're currently using to reduce disruption
The programme of work is due to be completed in 2011.
Learn more about what we're doing at Rivelin by watching our video.
New technology
We've come across a problem that we've never encountered before. In the 1950's a lot of the larger cast iron mains were coated with cement internally but the old water corporations didn't have CCTV back then to check if the process had worked. What we've found 60 years later is that, rather than lining the inside of the pipe, a lot of the cement has just sunk to the bottom, restricting the pipes' circumference and leaving the metal exposed.
We're employing new technology to extract the cement, remote controlled units which use high-pressure jets of water to cut through it but without damaging the pipes. We think that about 16 miles of pipe have been lined with cement in southern Sheffield.
Customer service
We'll be doing everything possible to minimise any inconvenience caused by our work. Our partners, Balfour Beatty, have their own customer service co-ordinator who will deal with any issues or enquiries that our customers may raise. His name is Craig Jackson and Craig can be contacted on 0844 8481096 (Monday to Friday 8am to 5.30pm).
To keep up-to-date on the ongoing work at Rivelin visit Balfour Beatty's website. You can also receive RSS feeds when anything changes.
