Case Studies

£30m upgrade to enhance water treatment and distribution in Central Borders for improved quality and reliability for local communities

Installation of new 450mm trunk main to provide an effective and sustainable supply to a population of 17,500 (and increasing) across Derry City

Update on construction of a large diameter strategic water main including a challenging crossing of the River Tees

Installation of new 315mm trunk main to provide an effective and sustainable alternative water supply to Randalstown and Antrim

Clean water infrastructure pipe spray lining

Anglian Water’s Strategic Pipeline Alliance (SPA) is delivering one of the largest infrastructure projects in AMP7; a new water main network, hundreds of kilometres long, which will allow Anglian Water to move water around the region from areas of surplus to areas of deficit, future-proofing supply to customers. The network is being constructed in 11 […]

The water network in the western end of the Thames Valley Supply Area is dominated by local borehole water sources. Over time, population growth coupled with general environmental drivers to reduce reliance on groundwater sources in sensitive chalk stream areas, Thames Water has sought to improve supply resilience and deployable output by linking local sources […]

Forming part of Southern Water’s (SW) Hampshire supply region, the Isle of Wight (IoW) is located just off the south coast of England and is divided into two water distribution zones (WDZ), namely IoW North and IoW South. The IoW South comprises major towns of Ryde, Sandown, Shanklin and Ventnor with multiple villages and more […]

Essex and Suffolk Water, part of Northumbrian Water Ltd, supplies drinking water to 794,000 properties. Maintaining a supply to those customers requires the distribution of up to 670 Ml/d of high-quality drinking water. In Essex, the two primary treatment works are Hanningfield WTW, a physio-chemical works near Chelmsford and Layer WTW, a biological works, near […]

Northern Ireland Water’s Cushendall Water Pumping Station (WPS) is housed on the outer perimeter of Dundonnell Water Treatment Works (WTW) situated on the outskirts of Cargan village in the middle of County Antrim. The WPS solely supplies Parkmore Service Reservoir (SR) with potable drinking water, which in turn gravity feeds three other downstream SRs (Knockans, […]

The River Lyd Pumping Station is consented to abstract up to 40 Mld from its intake source at Lifton, Devon during November through to March, pumping raw water approximately 7km to Roadford Reservoir. The pumping station was last used on a full operational basis during the mid-1990s and the original equipment had remained in a […]

With approximately 60km of new 800/900mm pipeline required to replace the existing potable water mains, some of which are over 150 years old, the Tees and Central Strategic Pipeline will directly improve water quality, network resilience and operability within the Tees Network. The pipeline will serve approximately 50,000 properties and link a number of strategic […]

The  Wells to Glastonbury Pipeline will ensure that approximately 13,000 customers have resilience of water supply by providing a secondary source and route to Windmill Hill Reservoir for the purposes of maintaining a safe supply of water to Glastonbury and Street in the event that the primary main from Cheddar WTW to Cooks Corner is […]

In the summer of 2020, the water industry was set a challenge by its regulators to identify ways to support the country’s green economic recovery from Covid-19. Severn Trent responded with a number of proposed programmes, including Decarbonising Water Resources (DWR), the subject of this paper. The objective of the DWR programme was to provide […]

The Alston Spade Mill Pipeline project forms a key part of the United Utilities AMP7 programme and will ensure that the currently untapped resource at four local reservoirs in Lancashire is utilised and will boost the available water in the network without having an additional impact on the environment. Currently the four reservoirs have been […]

While the east of England is attracting people like no other part of the UK, it is also the driest area of the country – a threat to its success that Anglian Water is determined to overcome. The Strategic Pipeline Alliance (SPA) comprises, Farrans, Mott MacDonald Bentley, Costain and Jacobs, who are delivering one of […]

There is currently limited ability within the existing Northern Resource Zone to transfer water between WTW demand zones during onerous operating conditions or during a major incident at any one of the WTWs. At Carmoney WTW recent flooding at the River Faughan disabled the abstraction plant and raised the pollution risks associated with the nearby […]

Wing WTW is part of the Anglian Water network, located in the county of Rutland in the East Midlands. The treatment site originally opened in 1977 and was then expanded to include a granular activated carbon (GAC) system in 1989. Morcott WTW, which was commissioned in 2010, is adjacent to Wing with a combined area […]

The small villages of Huisinis and Gobhaig on the Isle of Harris each consist of a few households, but in the summer months the local beach is inundated with campers and campervans. This means that the water demand fluctuates dramatically through the year. The two villages were served by single, basic supplies: Huisinis by a […]

The Ayrshire Strategic Resilience Programme involves the transfer of water from the Milngavie WTW, located north of Glasgow, to the Ayrshire and East Renfrewshire regions southwest of the city, increasing resilience for approximately one million customers. Phase 1 (Amlaird & Gorbals) was completed in 2018 and Phase 2 (Highlees) will be completed in 2021. Phase […]

The Haweswater Aqueduct (HA) was constructed by the Manchester Water Corporation between 1935 and 1955 to provide water from Haweswater Reservoir to Heaton Park Reservoir in Manchester. The aqueduct was initially designed to convey 105 million gallons per day to allow for future increase in demand and is constructed of 8’ 6” concrete lined tunnels […]

Ludham WTW supplied 2.1 million litres a day (MLD) of treated water to 2,464 properties in Ludham and Martham whilst originally being fed by Ludham boreholes, with emergency supply coming from East Ruston boreholes. This £7.6m scheme addressed area growth and abstraction licence challenges by combining different schemes to deliver an efficient solution for customers […]

The Thames Water Ring Main (TWRM) in London is an 80km long, 2.5m diameter tunnel built between 1988 and 1994 to take water from five treatment works and transfer flows via pumping stations housed in shafts along the route. It is a major part of London’s water supply infrastructure and carries an average daily flow […]

The Hereford Water Network is dependent on a single source of supply from the River Wye and Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water identified a need to assess the resilience of the network to maintain customer supply during any future loss of source supply events. The resulting hydraulic assessment identified the requirement to increase the available storage […]

Between 1893 and 1904 the Birmingham Corporation dammed the Elan Valley in Wales and constructed an aqueduct to channel water to Birmingham. At the height of the industrial revolution, between 1800 and 1900 Birmingham was booming, and its population rose substantially. Following outbreaks of smallpox and diarrhea, city officials deemed it essential to provide its […]

The Birmingham Resilience Project (BRP) is designed to provide a backup source of raw water from the River Severn to the water treatment works that serves Birmingham. During planned or unplanned outages of the primary water source, the raw water system will abstract water from the River Severn between October and March and supply 117 […]

During AMP4, Thames Water Utilities Ltd (TWUL) undertook low flow investigations for the Letcombe Brook, in the Wantage area of Oxfordshire. It was determined that the abstraction at Childrey Warren Water Treatment Works (WTW) was having an adverse impact on the river flows and the local environment. A subsequent review of options which included augmentation, […]

Keele University is situated in the village of Keele, Staffordshire, on the outskirts of Newcastle-under-Lyme. It was established in the 1940s and has grown considerably to educate approximately 10,000 students on a 625-acre (253ha) campus. The University owns and operates its own water supply infrastructure; this includes approximately 16km of pipework and a service reservoir. […]

As with all water companies, Northern Ireland Water (NI Water) work within the targets and guidelines set by their industry regulator, the Northern Ireland Utility Regulator and the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI). At present Northern Ireland’s existing potable water main infrastructure comprises approximately 26,700 km of water mains, delivering approximately 560 million litres of clean, […]

During AMP4, Thames Water Utilities Ltd (TWUL) undertook low flow investigations for the Letcombe Brook, in the Wantage area (Oxfordshire). It was determined that the abstraction at Childrey Warren Water Treatment Works (WTW) was having an adverse impact on the river flows and the local environment. A subsequent review of options which included augmentation, works […]

Balder Pipe Bridge spans the River Balder in Cotherstone Village near Barnard Castle, County Durham. The bridge abutments occupy private land on either side of the bridge with a public footpath running past the south abutment. The bridge was original designed to carry a single 24” cast iron raw water main which supplies Lartington Water […]

Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water has an extensive network of rural water supply assets in North Wales, with numerous service reservoirs and many kilometers of pipeline. Emergency repairs or mitigation measures have arisen from both freeze-thaw conditions and dry weather over the past few years. During 2018 there were both extremes of cold weather and one […]

Loch Ness Regional is a new multi-site £22m water treatment works and infrastructure project for Scottish Water improving the water supply to their customers from the villages of Fort Augustus and Invermoriston, both to the south of Inverness. Located on the banks of Loch Ness, the project’s objective is to improve the treatment of water […]

As part of a continued effort to improve service to customers and ensure resilience and security of supply, the team at Northumbrian Water Limited together with Stantec UK carried out an investigative study of the issues related to the River Yare Strategic Crossing and identified a cost effective solution that achieved these objectives. The Great […]

The Water Supply GRID is the largest scheme ever undertaken by Wessex Water and provides important new infrastructure for the south-west region with resilience connections to Bournemouth Water, Bristol Water and South West Water via Wimbleball Reservoir – it is effectively a south-west area regional grid (see Figure 1 below). It has improved interconnectivity within […]

During investment period 2016/17, Scottish Water commenced the first phase of construction on a £120m investment project known as the Ayrshire Resilience Scheme, designed to improve the resilience of the drinking water network throughout much of Ayrshire and parts of East Renfrewshire. Once complete, this scheme will benefit more than 200,000 Scottish Water customers. Caledonia […]

The Southern Strategic Support Main (SSSM) comprises a 700mm diameter pipe line between Barrow WTW in south Bristol to Sandford, a distance of 19km, and a 600mm diameter pipe line between Cheddar WTW and Banwell a distance of 11km. The two pipelines connect at Sandford. The project commenced with a review of the outline proposal […]

At the height of the industrial revolution, Birmingham’s population was booming. Between 1800 and 1900, the city had grown substantially. An innovative solution was needed to provide its residents and industries with safe drinking water. James Mansergh had identified the Elan Valley as a source for water. With Birmingham located so far in land, the […]

The Elan Valley Aqueduct (EVA) is a Victorian water structure built between 1893 and 1904. The aqueduct transports water entirely by gravity from the Elan Valley in Wales to Frankley Water Treatment Works in Birmingham, and comprises a combination of cut and cover conduits, siphons and tunnels. Over 100 years on and this aqueduct still […]

The Birmingham Resilience Project aims to deliver a new water supply into Birmingham to allow extended planned maintenance shutdowns of the Elan Valley Aqueduct (EVA) as well as providing a back-up for any emergency events. The new supply will be brought into use every other year, for up to 50 days during months of October […]

Cowleigh Distribution Service Reservoir (DSR) and Lower Wyche DSR are located to the north and south of Great Malvern, Worcestershire and are overlooked by the Malvern Hills. Cowleigh DSR receives water from Powick Pumping Station and the Southern Strategic Main, whilst Lower Wyche DSR receives water from Bromsberrow WTW which is borehole site. Severn Trent […]

Of Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water’s 85 (No.) Water Quality Zones (WQZs), 20 (No.) contribute 75% of the company’s targets to improve water quality and reliability. Detailed analysis has been carried out and documented in Zonal Study reports for these zones. These identified specific schemes, ranked in cost benefit order, presented in a standard plan and […]

High Speed 2 (HS2) Phase 1 will intersect a large number of critical third-party assets along its 190km route, with a significant impact on several of the UK’s water and wastewater companies. In London, approximately 50kms of Thames Water’s buried assets are affected by construction of the new railway, including a number of highly strategic […]

New Malden pipe-track contains 3 (No.) 30” and 1 (No.) 48” trunk mains, with the oldest main being nearly 170 years old. The mains feed the Surbiton supply zone and serve as bulk transfer mains to supply south-west London. Kingston Council is going to build a new cycleway over the track; however, these mains are […]

Prioress Mill Raw Water Pumping station (RWPS) is located in Rhadyr, near Llancayo, Monmouthshire, on the south bank of the River Usk. It abstracts at a rate of up to 318 ML/day, and is the primary supply to Llandegfedd reservoir, which then feeds Sluvad Water Treatment Works (WTW). Prioress Mill RWPS has been identified by […]

Caledonia Water Alliance (CWA) has been tasked with improving the water infrastructure network within Edinburgh and the Lothians, in partnership with Scottish Water. The Scottish Water project driver is CS16WR for Water Systems Resilience; associated with improving resilience of network supply. The project objective is to provide resilience in the wider water distribution network linked […]

Thames Water Utilities Ltd (TWUL), in consultation with the Environment Agency (EA) committed to cease Kennet Aquifer abstraction at Ogbourne WTW and reduce abstraction at Axford WTW by 31st March 2017. The Ogbourne licence has been reduced to zero whilst the Axford licence has been changed to a sliding scale dependent on flows in the […]

At the height of the industrial revolution, Birmingham’s population was booming. Between 1800 and 1900, the city had grown substantially. An innovative solution was needed to provide its residents and industries with safe drinking water. James Mansergh had identified the Elan Valley as a source for water. With Birmingham located so far in land, the […]

Following a burst on the existing 24” trunk main running along the Oxford Eastern Bypass in September 2014 causing severe flooding, Thames Water made the decision to replace the high risk section of the main to prevent future pipe failures. The Optimise Joint Venture delivered the £6m project, installing 2km of replacement trunk main along […]

Heigham Water Treatment Works (WTW) is the main supply of water to Norwich and supplies an average of 42Ml/d of water sourced from the River Wensum at several locations. Potable water is pumped into the Norwich Public Water Supply Zone feeding a multitude of storage reservoirs, booster pumps and properties. The main raw water abstraction […]

An existing, but ageing, 33”-36” diameter potable water main supplying over 40,000 customers in Ayrshire was identified by Scottish Water as requiring replacement. The existing pipeline was to be replaced with a new pipeline constructed of polyethylene (PE) pipe sections butt-fusion welded into 200m long pipe strings. Caledonia Water Alliance (CWA), a joint venture between […]

The small island of Iona itself lies off the Isle of Mull in the Inner Hebrides off the west coast and is widely regarded as the birthplace of Christianity in Scotland. To the current day, Iona and its monastery has been a renowned centre of religious learning and pilgrimage and the Abbey is one of […]

There is increasing pressure on water utilities to reduce their levels of leakage. The man-hour effort required to find and locate leaks only gets greater as network managers struggle to reduce leakage to lower levels. Costs associated with the treatment and distribution of water can be high and the penalties that utilities can face for […]

In recent years there have been a number of complex bursts at the edge of the M20 motorway in Kent, where three trunk mains cross via an existing tunnel. The bursts have compromised the security of supply between South East Water’s (SEW) Trosley Pumping Station and Beech Reservoir and also flooded onto the hard shoulder […]

Between 2011 to 2013, Southern Water invested £14m replacing old water mains in the Chatham, Gillingham and Rochester. An additional £8 million is now being invested to replace a further 28km of 85-year-old water mains and service pipes to further improve water supply pipes and reduce the risk of discoloured water. The Chatham supply zone […]

Scottish Water has recently commenced the first phase of construction on a £120m investment project designed to improve the drinking water network throughout much of Ayrshire and parts of East Renfrewshire. The project involves the installation of a new large diameter strategic water main from Newton Mearns continuing down towards the Fenwick/Waterside area and finally […]

The Ballydougan to Newry Strategic Trunk Mains Project is the culmination of 10 years work and a £20m investment by NI Water to provide a strategic water main between Ballydougan Command Reservoir, supplied from Castor Bay WTW, and the Newry area. NI Water’s Water Resource Strategy identified the need for a number of strategic links […]

The construction, in the late 19th century, of the Elan Valley reservoir complex and aqueduct was one of the greatest engineering feats of its age. It was a visionary project which saw civic authorities in Birmingham identify and respond to need, ahead of their rivals, using cutting-edge techniques to transform lives in the West Midlands […]

By delivering its largest and most challenging pipeline scheme to date, South East Water has secured the water supply to thousands of homes and businesses in north Kent and provided the area with critical new infrastructure needed to promote development and growth for decades to come. All while enhancing the environment and reducing operational costs. […]

Northern Ireland Water (NI Water) is committed to improving the water supply infrastructure across Northern Ireland to provide a robust and reliable network. Their Water Resource Management Plan (WRMP) 2012 details how the company proposes to manage its water resources into the long-term future. The WRMP looks 25 years ahead and states how the company […]

Southport is a large seaside town that lies on the Irish Sea coast approximately 20 miles north of Liverpool. With a population over 100,000 Southport is the eleventh most populated settlement in the north-west of England. At the turn of the 19th century the area became popular with tourists due to the easy access from […]

Northern Ireland Water (NI Water) has responsibility for providing potable water to almost 1.8 million people across Northern Ireland via some 27,500km of watermains. The company currently operates almost 2,300km of trunk and strategic watermains which represent 8.3% of its potable water network (trunk mains are defined as those with a 300mm nominal diameter and […]

The existing water mains infrastructure in Northern Ireland consists of 26,500km of pipes supplying 625 million litres of water per day to 1.8 million consumers in households, farms and businesses. While consumers are served well by the existing infrastructure, many parts of the network are well over 40 years old. Lack of investment over the […]

Since the start of AMP5 in 2010, Wessex Water, in conjunction with Atkins Ltd and Servelec Technologies, has been developing its 74km Integrated Water Supply GRID to improve resilience, and ensure that a reliable supply of water can be maintained after the output from some sources has been reduced to alleviate low river flows. The […]

A challenging water mains replacement project due to narrow streets with listed buildings close to the roadside

Safeguarding the water supplies to the UK’s second city

A vital new source of water to meet peak period demands in Lisburn and Belfast and help the existing network cope with any future emergency situations

Compliance with the Reservoirs Act (1975) provision of sufficient drawdown capacity

£5m refurbishment project to an existing 33” precast concrete main in north Belfast, which was previously de-commissioned in the early 1980s

3.7km pipeline to storage & transfer capacity and be prepared for development & population growth in the region

AMP4 & AMP5 – summary and update

Wessex Water are providing additional security of supply and additional strategic storage within the water distribution network in West Dorset

Wessex Water’s 9km twin main is the first section of the trunk main to be installed in its flagship project

Delivering resilience to Severn Trent Water’s strategic grid

Open heart surgery on the UK’s largest treated water aqueduct

The Isle of Man is a self governing Crown Dependency which, through its ancient parliament Tynwald, enjoys a high degree of domestic legislative and political autonomy. Manx Utilities is a statutory board, charged with ensuring the economic, efficient and effective provision of the services and infrastructure necessary to meet the Island’s needs in terms of […]

Replacement of 1km of 3” asbestos cement main along the main street through Newton Poppleford in East Devon

The construction of a new water treatment works to serve the town of Southport and surrounding areas

Rare snail survives after completion of a 19km pipeline, transferring potable water between two Berkshire catchments

Overflow chamber stabilisation

Modernising ageing water mains in Taunton and surrounding areas

Relining of 50km of 39” cast iron main by die drawing

Wessex Water’s 8-year programme to resolve resilience issues within the water supply network

Installation of 32km of pipeline to support the Abberton Scheme

The design and installation of water mains alongside the 2km dual carriageway diversion near Birmingham Airport

Providing resilience in central Bristol through the installation of a new pipeline

Improving water quality in central Scotland

Securing supply to 40,000 residents in East Sussex

Essential capital maintenance refurbishment of a strategic raw water supply

Replacement of two existing buried steel mains to protect reservoir embankment from risk of erosion

Building a complex hydraulic model of London’s strategic assets, including 4,000km of mains, 70 service reservoirs and over 100 pumping stations

Central London’s century-old cast iron water mains replaced by one of most challenging renewal programmes ever attempted

£33m AMP5 project to clean and refurbish 218km of trunk mains within Tyneside zone

£80m investment to upgrade over 1,000km of water mains across Northern Ireland

Carefully routed transfer scheme to maximise the use of existing Wessex Water assets

Wessex Water’s elimination of standalone sources

£20.3 million investment to improve the water infrastructure in South Tyrone

48.5km of water mains replacement to reduce the risk of discoloured water

Investing in a secure and futureproof water supply

3,700 properties in Topsham and Exminster benefit from a secure and higher quality water supply

Southern Water’s water pipe flushing to remove iron deposits and other unwanted material

Strong partnering ensures efficient delivery of a water supply scheme to satisfy the future growth of Shaftesbury

Quality enhancements to 1,200km of water mains in Ayrshire through a variety of intervention techniques

£11.5m scheme to rehabiliate 30km of water mains in the Bridgwater area

Improving resilience of the Severn Trent Water strategic supply grid

Water abstraction from the River Arun safeguards supplies to customers in Sussex

£30 million project to clean and refurbish 157km of trunk mains

Wessex Water’s elimination of standalone source

The challenges met in delivering detailed design of the 55km pipeline

£8.8m pipeline scheme to improve South West Water’s security in supplying water

£15.5 million project to replace 57km of Victorian water mains in Brighton

55km pipeline project to carry 100 million litres water daily

For growth in South and East Midlands

A new process for the lining of water and sewer pipes

A strategic supply/demand scheme

New water main between Bray WTW & Surrey Hill Reservoir

£15.5 million project to replace 56.6km of Victorian water mains

Installation of new water process plant and extensive main laying

New underwater pipelines bring more water to Isle of Wight

Gatehampton to Oxford – new pipeline to secure supply

£5.5 million regional water supply project

N Ireland’s £16m North Down Trunk Mains Project

Stoke Ferry to Downham Market & Beck Row to High Fliers 18” reinforcement

Extensive Victorian mains replacement underway in the Capital

134km aqueduct supplying major city – refurbishment story continued

£80m investment to upgrade over 800kms of varied water mains

Major new pipeline commissioned early in Northern Ireland

Changing water quality standards for some 700 properties

Inspection & refurbishment as part of major programme

Water mains renewals – a challenge in historic centre

Successful trials by South East Water

Curing shortfall now & catering for predicted 25 years growth

Rising mains renewal after several bursts

£18.5m scheme with a customer focus

Water companies invest £31m to safeguard resources

Improving supply to 13,000 properties over 700 sq kms

£5.9m replacement & refurbishment of major supply route

Dwr Cymru Welsh Water on track to beat this target

Significant archaeological finds at two major projects

New water source for 90,000 in SE London but 1.2km triple pipeline poses environmental challenge

Rehabilitation of large diameter mains within city ring road network

Major rehabilitation of supply network in Swansea Valley

£28.5 regional scheme improves water quality in NE corner of UK

New lining system renovates bursting water main

Water mains rehabilitation DCWW Wales & Hereford Region

Elvington WTW to Riccall Pumping Station

27km link main Meriden to Highters Heath

Rehabilitation of 100 years old water main