United Utilities is getting ready to start work in January on a project to upgrade water mains in Windermere.

The water company is investing around £500,000 to upgrade just over 1.1km of water mains along a section of Lake Road. As water mains are located in each side of the road both will be upgraded, one side at a time.

Paul Forshaw, United Utilities’ County Business lead for Water in Cumbria explained:

“This is a major scheme to upgrade the water mains running through Windermere. We’re replacing old mains with more durable, flexible pipework which will improve the resilience and reliability of the drinking water network by helping minimise the risk of bursts and leaks.”

The project is part of United Utilities’ region-wide £380 million programme to improve more than 925km of mains during the next five years – more than 200km of these are in Cumbria.

United Utilities’ delivery partner, M Group will start work on 12th January on the project, which expected to take up to 12 weeks to complete. Prior to works starting, site investigations will be carried out during the second week of December between the 8th and 12th December to confirm the exact location, material and size of the main.

Paul Forshaw added:

“To help with this we are planning to use a technique called slip-lining as much as possible. This is where new pipeline is inserted into the existing water main to minimises the need for digging large trenches and road closures.”

“We have planned the work to start in January to avoid the peak holiday and tourism season.”