What is United Utilities doing to reduce the likelihood of discoloured water?
United Utilities has over 40,000 km of mains in the ground and supplies water to approximately seven million people in the North West of England. The Company has an investment programme to replace approximately 800 km of cast iron mains each year. This will reduce the amount of corroded iron in the system. The pipes have been prioritised with the worst affected areas being completed first. In areas where there is a localised discoloration problem United Utilities carries out controlled flushing of the distribution system to reduce the build up of deposits. However, flushing needs to be carried out carefully to avoid making the problem worse. The quality of water leaving the water treatment works continues to improve with more effective removal of naturally occurring iron and manganese from the water. During the next five years United Utilities will continue to replace cast iron mains and will start a cleaning programme of large diameter trunk mains. In addition before carrying out plan
