The £630,000 project in Waltham Forest, London started last weekend (13 August) and will see the water company lay 1.8km of robust plastic piping in place of 100-year-old cast iron pipes.

As part of the project, which is expected to take around four months, pipes in Lea Bridge Road, Leyton, will initially be replaced before work can be done in other areas.

According to Thames Water, the plastic pipes will significantly reduce the volume of water that is lost through leaks and help to avoid future disruption to services.

Thames Water’s head of capital delivery, Lawrence Gosden, said: “The pipe we are replacing is old and leaky. Not only does this waste water, it also inconveniences people when we have to dig up the road and do repairs.

“While we apologise for the inevitable disruption work of this nature causes, replacing old and leaking mains is essential as our water resources come under increasing pressure from climate change and population growth.”

There are no planned road closures although traffic management will be in place. Customers whose water supply will be affected will be notified in advance.

In the past five years Thames Water claims to have installed 1,300 miles of new pipe, helping to reduce leakage by 27%.

Carys Matthews

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