Four huge mains which have been supplying water to Liverpool since Dickensian times are set to be replaced in a  £6million project by United Utilities to thread  5km of new, plastic pipes through the current cast-iron versions.

The oldest of the mains pipes which have supplied water to around 400,000 people in Liverpool for decades was laid in 1856 - the year the Crimean War came to an end.

Dan Smith, United Utilities project engineer, said:

“The Victorian engineers who laid these mains all those years ago would be amazed they have lasted so long”

 “They’ve been patched-up slightly over the years and were given a new inner coating in the early 1990s, but remain a credit to the trailblazing engineers who designed and laid them all those years ago using handheld tools.”

The four mains, varying in size from 36-inch to 44-inch, will be modernised by engineers sliding the new pipes through the old ones. Work on the scheme has just started and involves very little disruption, with most of the pipe-laying taking place in fields between Prescot water treatment works to Knowsley Park.

Machines will be used to push the new pipes through the old ones - the new plastic mains will reduce the risk of leaks and improve water pressure. 

 The project is the latest multi-million pound investment in Liverpool from United Utilities.

Work on the water company’s £200 million extension of the city’s wastewater treatment works at the docks is coming to an end and 8km of pipes in Huyton have been replaced, at a cost of £20 million.