Yorkshire Water is starting work on the latest phase of £16.7 million mains upgrade to improve Sheffield’s water pipe network.

 Crews working on the revamp of Sheffield's water mains to help further boost drinking water quality in the city are set to begin work on 5 February as they launch into the latest phase of the project.

The massive three-year project - which began back in October 2008 - will see 643km of large and small water pipes across the city replaced, relined or cleaned, benefitting 300,000 local residents.The eight week programme of work will see contractors Balfour Beatty Utilities replace a 400 metre stretch of Victorian-era 10 and 12 inch water pipes. Rehabilitation methods include scraping and relining, pressure jetting and lining, jet cleaning, swabbing and renewal.

During the course of the project Yorkshire Water has come across a problem it has never encountered before. In the 1950's a lot of the larger cast iron mains were coated with cement internally but without the benefit of CCTV the old water corporations had no means of checking whether the process had worked. Sixty years later, Yorkshire Water has found that, rather than lining the inside of the pipe, a lot of the cement had just sunk to the bottom, restricting the pipes' circumference and leaving the metal exposed.

The company is using new technology to extract the cement with remote controlled units which use high-pressure jets of water to cut through it but without damaging the pipes. An estimated 16 miles of pipe have been lined with cement in southern Sheffield.

Dave Standish, project manager at Yorkshire Water, commented:

“We’re very grateful to people in Sheffield for their patience and understanding whilst we’ve been working on this scheme. Their support has enabled us to make fantastic progress and most people seem to appreciate the work is vital if we’re to enhance water quality and reduce the number of incidents of discolouration.”

As well as inviting world-famous pavement artist Julian Beever to create a 3D image in the city centre to help raise awareness of the project in July, Yorkshire Water has also donated a total of £3,000 to local causes as a thank you and to give something back to the Sheffield community.