We have awarded the contract for the delivery of the West East link pipeline to J Murphy and Sons.  The £125 million scheme will be one of the biggest aqueducts that we have ever built and will link Prescot Water Treatment Works in Merseyside to Woodgate Hill Reservoir in Bury.  This will provide a strategic link for our water resources supplying Greater Manchester and Merseyside.  The 55km, 1.2m diameter pipeline will be able to carry up to 100 million litres of water a day in either direction.  16 separate tunnels at depths of up to 20 metres will be built along the pipeline route to cross obstacles including the M6, M61, M66, River Irwell, River Roach and the West Coast railway line; 5 golf clubs are also impacted.  

Ian McAulay, managing director of United Utilities capital programmes, said "It is all part of our long-term plan to make sure we keep reliable water supplies on tap for our 7 million customers in the North West. The engineering challenges are big but the project is vital to give us more flexibility in the future during times of drought or when we need to carry out maintenance on other major aqueducts in the region."

The plans are already being discussed with more than 200 landowners and the eight different councils along the proposed route of the pipeline. Murphy's hope to be in a position to start work on the scheme early in the New Year, for completion by spring 2011.