[Ojay]

West East Link Pipeline, Manchester - July 2010,

£125m water pipeline scheme to link Liverpool with Manchester.





I have been tracking this project since work began in December last year, and having already visited this place earlier in the year (February), to see what all the fuss was about, during construction of the shafts and just as they had started to lay some of the pipeline.

SEE BELOW, myself and Solo1 went for a closer look late one evening, having evaded site security we managed to gain access to one of the 26 shafts along it's route.

Fast forward 5 months, and I was passing through today with AndyJ and decided to check on progress.

The pipes have been laid in some sections, with some shafts not being completed and a new one we discovered being built by pure chance as we were checking out something else in the area.

Sadly the ladders have been removed, that myself and S.L. managed to climb down into the pipe on the last visit, still I managed to take a closer look, SEE BELOW.

Although the system is far from completed, they have begun pressure testing and pumping water in from the nearby brook, again SEE BELOW.


The Project:

WATER giant United Utilities (U.U) are planning a 33-mile pipeline linking Liverpool and Greater Manchester.

The £125m scheme will be one of the biggest engineering projects the water company has ever attempted, linking Prescot reservoir in Merseyside with Woodgate Hill reservoir in Bury, Greater Manchester.

Ian McAulay, U.U’s managing director of capital programmes, said: “Pipelines like this are the motorways of the water supply network and this will be one of the biggest engineering projects we have ever undertaken".

“It is all part of our long-term plan to make sure we keep reliable water supplies on tap for our seven 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. For this reason it is important that we start construction soon.”

Merseyside is mostly fed with water from North Wales, while the Lake District’s water is channelled into Greater Manchester.

But the new pipeline will allow U.U to transfer water between the two conurbations in either direction.

The 1.5 metre diameter pipeline will be able to carry 100m litres of water a day.

Engineers will need to build 26 separate tunnels along the pipeline route to cross obstacles including the M6, M61, M66, River Irwell, River Roch and the West Coast railway line.

U.U will use special tunnelling machines that work at depths of up to 20m.

The North West’s oldest aqueduct is the Longdendale Aqueduct, completed in 1851, which carries water from the south Pennines into Manchester.

It is part of a water supply legacy begun by the Victorians who also tapped into water sources in the Lake District, with the 1894 Thirlmere Aqueduct, and North Wales, with the Vyrnwy Aqueduct, built in 1891.

Mr McAulay added: “We inherited a marvellous water supply network from our Victorian predecessors and over the decades since then we have expanded the network".

“The new pipeline will be the latest chapter in the North West’s water supply story and in 100 years our descendants will look back with similar pride.”

On with a few photos.....(Props to AndyJ for the wideangle)


One of the 26 Shafts - 98ft/30m





A closer look....





Looking down




Water being pumped from nearby Brook




And finally the original photos from February. After we both climbed down to the bottom of the shaft, S.L decided to climb across for a closer look






Thanks for looking, no doubt further updates to follow

[n10694]

fascinating, I didn't think they made plastic pipes so big.

[urban]

That's a big water pipe!!! Seen them digging up various places for this...didn't realise the shafts were so deep though. Nice report thanks for sharing.

[Userscott]

Was it really in February we were playing under there? Time flys!