Almost £10 million worth of investment by Yorkshire Water into the water infrastructure is nearing completion in Ingbirchworth, providing the village with improved water and sewerage services.

The latest series of improvements have successfully reduced levels of manganese leaving the water treatment works.

Manganese is a naturally occurring metal which is particularly common in South Yorkshire as water flows down through the peaks into the local reservoir network. This can lead to harmless deposits in Sheffield’s water supply system which can, in turn, lead to customers receiving discoloured water through their taps.

The works, carried out by Yorkshire Water’s specialist partners ETM, have included the addition of a new manganese treatment plant and lime dosing plant to Ingbirchworth water treatment works. The works were originally built in 1990 and supplied up to 20 million litres of drinking water a day (mld). It now provides 90,000 customers with up to 22mld in Ingbirchworth and the surrounding areas; enough to fill 275,000 bath tubs!

The water treatment works upgrade follows the redevelopment of the sewage treatment works, where a new underground facility was constructed adjacent to the old works in 2012, improvements to the clean water pipe network and Ingbirchworth reservoir.

 Yorkshire Water Project Manager Lucy Ward commented:

 “The investment made will help to ensure a continued supply of high quality drinking water in Ingbirchworth for years to come. In addition to removing increased levels of manganese from the water, this extra level of treatment helps us provide a more resilient supply.”