Yorkshire Water is starting a £23M programme of work to create sixteen new clean water supply reservoirs across the region.

The company operates dozens of supply reservoirs across the region,  the majority of which buried underground. Varying in size, the underground tanks are used to store treated drinking water before feeding through to customers’ taps.

Many have been in operation between 25 and 100 years and whilst they are regularly maintained, Yorkshire Water said that the additional investment would enable further improvements in water quality.

Engineering specialists Mott MacDonald Bentley are carrying out the work, which starts next week in the village of Adwick Le Street, near Doncaster, where a new underground supply tank will be constructed. The new tank, which is expected to be complete around September 2011, will replace the existing storage chamber which will eventually be decommissioned and grassed over.

John Bond of Yorkshire Water’s community engagement team, commented:

“We’re committed to providing our customers with some of the best drinking water in the world.

“As well as investing in our reservoirs, our treatment works and thousands of kilometres of pipeline to deliver water to customers, we also recognise that it’s vital that we boast ultra-quality underground tanks in which to store our treated water.

“Whilst our current storage tanks are serving us exceptionally well, we’re always looking to improve our network and this investment should help us to do that, further ensuring that our customers continue to receive superb quality water supplies.”

The scheme is the latest big-investment project the company has launched, with the project running alongside a separate £60million scheme it launched back in April 2010 to improve its reservoirs across the region.

To find out more about the scheme, visit yorkshirewater.com/suppy-reservoirs