What is VMR?
Thames Water Utilities are undertaking major mains replacement projects in the LB Camden and City of Westminster areas. The aim of these works (for which J.Murphy & Sons Ltd have been appointed) is to replace all the current mains, which dates back to the Victorian era, on their West End network until 2010. This is a London wide programme with similar projects being undertaken in neighbouring Boroughs.
Leakage accounts for a third of the overall water supply (it also occurs on customers' pipes) and Thames Water repair over 200 leaks every day. The problems are that:
➢ Half of Thames Water's pipes are 100 years old and another third are 150 years old.
➢ Pipes are corroded by the London clay soil.
➢ Traffic loads are well beyond the expectations of the original designers.
➢ The pipes burst and leak frequently.
➢ Constantly fixing leaky pipes causes disruption.
➢ The existing pipes have simply reached the end of their useful life.
Thames Water have therefore started putting in a new network, which is the only sustainable way to reduce leakage. More than 1100 miles of pipes will be replaced by 2010 and the leakage savings will be over 173 million litres per day.
More details are available on the Thames Water website.
If you are a business in the Covent Garden area and wish to be kept up-to-date and attend presentations about this programme, you can join the Covent Garden Business Forum.