20 October 2009
Representatives from United Utilities and Balfour Beatty have visited a school in Kirkdale to promote safety awareness whilst essential water mains improvements are ongoing in the area.
Ray Melia, a Project Engineer for United Utilities, and Lesley Miller, a Customer Relations Advisor for Balfour Beatty, visited Faith Primary School on Bute Street and treated pupils to a fun and interactive lesson on not only how to stay safe during roadworks but also how the water cycle works.
The pupils were encouraged to get creative and come up with clear and colourful safety awareness posters.
Ray said: "We talked to the children about being aware of hazards during utility works and how to stay safe.
"They were very responsive and I was so pleased to see that they understood the important safety messages, which equally apply to any roadworks - not just water mains work.
"The posters were really well done and I was very impressed with the children's efforts."
The water mains improvements in Kirkdale started in August and are due to be completed in early December.
Engineers have been replacing old cast-iron water pipes with modern plastic ones to improve water quality and the security of supplies to thousands of homes and businesses.
Some of the pipes are more than 100 years old and act as main 'arteries' of the water network.
There is work that still needs to be done on some parts of the network and in busy main roads including Queens Drive, Breeze Hill, Hawthorn Road, Vauxhall Road, Scotland Road and Great Homer Street.
Henry Bennett, a Project Engineer for United Utilities, said: "We have worked closely with the council's highways department to plan the best way of carrying out this work to minimise traffic disruption whilst keeping our workforce and the general public safe."
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