An innovative technique which extends the life of water pipes and removes the need to dig up the road is great news for people in Wetherby, where a new material has been used by Yorkshire Water for the first time ever on a live project in the world.

Instead of digging up and replacing 2000 metres of water pipe on Lime Kiln Lane in the town, Yorkshire Water’s service partners, Morrison Utility Services, used a technique known as lining, where a plastic coating is sprayed on the inside of a pipe. The coating extends the life of the pipe and can have a positive effect on water quality.

The £100k project saw the relining of a huge water main and means the quality of water supplies to Kirk Deighton, North Deighton, and Little Ribston will be greatly improved.

Project manager Ross Housley said:

“These pipes didn’t need replacing thanks to this innovative technique. We avoided lots of disruption to traffic by not having to dig up the road and the whole process took only 14 days, instead of potentially 12 weeks, to complete.”

The new liner, called Scotchkote Liner 2100, can be inspected with just CCTV ten minutes after application and the pipes can be used again just one hour later, which is much quicker than when the traditional liner is used. This means a huge cost saving and the new liner reduces the carbon footprint by up to 75%.