After a 4,000 mile journey, some very heavy metal will be arriving in Liverpool this week.

A ship called The Perge, laden with more than 3000 tonnes of monster pipes for the region's £125 million Liverpool-Manchester water pipeline, will be docking in Liverpool on Wednesday, August 18.

The 580 pipes, many of which are over 15 metres in length and 1.2 metres in diameter, were specially manufactured in Istanbul. They will be used to construct the first section of the historic 55km pipeline in St Helens.

Stretching from Prescot Reservoir in Merseyside to Woodgate Hill Reservoir in Bury, the United Utilities pipeline will serve as the region's water 'motorway', capable of transporting more than 100 million litres of water a day.

Specialist tunnelling machines have been at work in Merseyside, digging tunnels and trenches in preparation for the pipes' arrival. It will take five days to unload the ship's content onto wagons, for transportation to site.

John Higham from United Utilities said: "The shipment is a major milestone for the project. After two years of planning, it will be a fantastic feeling to see the first pipes finally go into the ground.

"The pipeline is crucial to the future of the region's water supply. It will give us more flexibility during times of drought or when we need to carry out maintenance on other major aqueducts in the region. The engineering challenge is huge, but out preparation has been extremely thorough, and we are now looking forward to seeing the pipeline take shape."

Most of the pipeline's route passes through rural land in order to minimise traffic disruption. United Utilities has been liaising with 200 separate landowners, including five golf clubs.

Engineers will build 20 separate tunnels along the pipeline route to cross obstacles including the M6, M61, M66, River Roch and the West Coast railway line.

The pipeline is expected to be completed by 2011.

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NOTE TO EDITORS

The vessel is due to discharge on S10 berth Seaforth Dock from 7am on Wednesday, August 19.