Improving water quality
We'll soon be completing our work to improve water quality and the risk of discolouration for over one million customers.
We'll have achieved this by upgrading over 1,200 miles of water mains - enough pipework to stretch from Leeds to London and back three times! But our work still won't be complete - between 2010 and 2015 years we plan to improve another 450 miles of pipework.
Our work continues to help improve the quality of your water - addressing raw water quality, reducing discoloration and replacing pipes to make our supply more secure whilst reducing the risk of bursts.
We've worked closely with the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) to ensure that the investments we're making protect public health and help us deliver clean, healthy drinking water when you need it.
Continuing to ensure that you have a secure supply of drinking water. Maintaining high standards of water quality across the region. Fitting Automated Meter Readers (AMRs) to water meters so we don't have to come to your home to read your meter - this will mean we send out fewer estimated bills. 714km of water mains will be renewed, relined or cleaned. A lot of our improvements are needed as some of the pipework in Yorkshire was first laid back in the early 20th century, and natural deposits, caused by internal corrosion have formed on the inside of pipes. In some cases these deposits can lead to discolouration of the water we supply and reduced pressure.
We'll always inform you before we start any work if we think there will be any disruption to you or your water supply. Typically, you'll only be effected if we carry out improvements to your water mains - there are three different types of work we undertake to improve mains:
Replacing pipes
If the water mains pipes are beyond repair we replace them with new, more durable plastic pipes. If your property is to be served by the new main, a service pipe will be laid to the boundary of your property.
Cleaning the pipes
If the pipes are in good condition we simply clean them to remove the natural deposits that can cause your water to be discoloured. We've pioneered a new method of cleaning water mains by blowing pieces of flint and granite at high speed through the pipe, which removes sediment. We call this 'whirwind'. We've learnt this technique from food manufacturing - it lets us carry out our work quickly, reducing the length of water stoppages and time spent working in the roads.
Relining existing pipes
If the pipes are in poor condition once we've cleaned them we reline them with a protective resin. Once the lining is hardened, the mains pipe is disinfected and we take samples of the water as soon as the pipe is put back in use to make sure it's safe.
Download diagrams showing the ways we upgrade water mains (
160 kb)
We're leading the water industry by pioneering new, less intrusive ways of working with the ultimate aim of carrying our work without the need to have roadworks or turn water supplies off -
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