Ribble Valley village to be connected to public water supply (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Ribble Valley village to be connected to public water supply

6:20pm Friday 19th March 2010 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(0)

115 homes and businesses in Slaidburn are to be connected to a public water supply for the first time ever as part of a £2million project by United Utilities.

The firm announced the scheme after revealing villagers were at an increasing risk of becoming poorly as a bacteria from sheep faeces could enter its private water supply system.

United Utilities believes there is a risk of the micro-organism cryptosporidium, which can cause violent stomach upsets and diarrhoea, reaching the water supply to the picturesque Ribble Valley village.

Historically, Slaidburn’s water has been sourced from a number of springs and a local brook via a private network of pipes and is owned by the Slaidburn Estates.

And, according to the Warrington-based utility firm, this network is coming to the end of its useful life and needs a complete overhaul.

Slaidburn councillor Rosemary Joan Elms said there had been problems with the water supply in the past.

She said: “We have had issues in the past where there have been burst pipes and we have had to wait quite a while for them to be fixed and there have also been some issues with dirty water.

“There is a problem of contamination in all private water supplies and there has been outbreaks of illnesses in the Ribble valley before so it will be a great benefit to have a controlled regular supply of clean water.”

Bosses at the water company said the new water supply wouldl be far less likely to be discoloured and that they would be able to reduce the amount of chlorine that was added to the water.

Daniel Smith, project manager for United Utilities said: “This is an unusual project for us to undertake, having to create a whole network for an entire village is very special.

“It's definitely a good news story for the residents and I hope they are very pleased to receive a clean reliable supply that they can enjoy and rely on for many years."

The works, which involve replacing the ageing cast iron with nearly seven kilometres of new modern plastic mains and approximately three kilometres of service pipes, have been agreed with the Slaidburn Estate and Ribble Valley Borough Council.

Two Aqueduct connections and a brand new booster pumping station will be built, supplying water to the villagers from the Hodder treatment works.

The utility firm is holding a public consultation at the village hall between 2pm and 7.30pm in Slaidburn on March 22.