News
Shrewsbury water pipe work reaches final stages
29th July 2016
Shrewsbury is now the proud owner of five kilometres of brand new water pipes as Severn Trent has worked over the last year to replace old, ageing ones in the town. All that’s left to do now is connect the new pipes up to the existing network, and then the company's £2 million investment will be complete.
This final part of the work starts on Monday (1 August), and once complete, the town will have a more reliable supply of water, as Gareth Mead, from Severn Trent, explained:
“Some of our water pipes in the Meole Brace and Roman Road area of Shrewsbury had grown old and become brittle, meaning they could have cracked or burst at any time. By laying brand new pipes, we’re helping to prevent the disruption and inconvenience that can be caused by a burst water pipe, which may cut off the water supply and stop taps and toilets working in the area.
“Now that the majority of the new pipes have been laid, we have the tricky job of testing them, and connecting them up to our existing water pipe network.”
Work starts on Monday (1 August) on the Meole Brace side of the railway bridge for six days using manually controlled traffic lights at peak times. The company will also need to carry out some night time work on the bridge on Wednesday 3 and Thursday 4 August. In addition, engineers will also be working through the night on the grass verge close to the Moneybrook Way junction on Monday 1 and 2 August.
Gareth added: “We appreciate that any work in the road can cause inconvenience to commuters, but we’ve planned this carefully to help minimise disruption. It’s really important that we make sure water supplies for our customers are reliable going forward, and we’ve worked closely with Shropshire County Council to make sure that there will be no disruption to the upcoming Shrewsbury flower show.
“We’d like to ask the local community for their patience while we finishing putting the new pipes in place. But once all of the work is complete, the area will have a modern water network that will last for many years to come.”