29 July 2009
A huge new sewer project near Penrith has finally got under way almost a year after being stopped in its tracks - by the Romans.
United Utilities £5.7m Hackthorpe to Penrith pipeline hit the headlines last year when engineers carrying out preparatory work found a rare archaeological site.
Fortunately the find - a Roman village - did not scupper project deadlines because time was set set aside for just such an event. However project managers decided to start work this summer instead.
The seven kilometre scheme will improve sewerage services to around 700 homes and businesses in the villages of Hackthorpe, Lowther and Clifton and make local water courses better living environments for plants and animal life.
Together with two new pumping stations and land reinstatement, the whole project is expected to be completed by contract firm Daniel Contractors Ltd by autumn 2010.
Project manager Connell O'Donnell said the pipeline would replace an existing public septic tank at Hackthorpe and a treatment works at Clifton which needed updating and were too small for the population's growing needs.
"project will also give up to 32 other households the opportunity to move off their own poorly performing private septic tanks and onto the mains sewer network. That is good news for them and the environment," he said.
Work on the pipeline has started in two places - at Penrith and Clifton - and will take place in mainly agricultural land. Its chosen route means it will have to cross the A6 twice, the A66, the M6 and the main west coast railway line although engineers are expecting to eliminate disruption by using non-dig techniques such as directional drilling and tunnel boring.
"This is an important project and is part of United Utilities current five year £2.9 billion investment programme to improve water quality and the environment," said Connell. "But we realise that, as a responsible company, we also have to take care of local communities and the environment while we build.
"We tried to design the route to avoid known archaeological sites but last year's finds at Brougham took everyone by surprise, even the archaeologists who were keeping a watching brief on our work.
"We had set aside some time for archaeological work, but in the end we had to extend it because more and more artefacts were being unearthed. That's why we opted to start construction work this summer instead."
The discovery last year turned out to be a first century AD civilian settlement, called a vicus, of national significance. Following a four-month dig by a team of 18-people, an exhibition of artefacts such as jewellery, coins, drinking vessels and gaming chips was held attracting history enthusiasts from all over the UK.
Pipeline engineers have also carried out wildlife surveys, retained a number of special hedgerows and re-located a number of trees to minimise the environmental impact of the work.
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