The Challenge

Haweswater aqueduct supplies water to approximately 2.5 million people in Cumbria and Lancashire, but it needs vital work to ensure operation continues without disruption or other problems in the future. It was built between 1933 and 1955 so there are quite large improvements needed throughout the system, which is over 100km in length.

With the large extent of the work that’s needed, there could be major disruption for residents living near to underground repair sites. Much of the planned work involves creating new tunnels with a specialised tunnel boring machine.

In documents submitted to Lancaster City Council, there are clear concerns voiced regarding disruption, “Due to the scale of works involved, there are potential disturbance effects on residential properties due to for example, noise or dust impacts… Construction would be undertaken in a manner that minimises, as far as practicable, the potential effects on the normal functioning of farms and landholdings. Potential effects would be assessed and appropriately recorded in the Environmental Statement…”

The Solution

In order to minimise disruption to residents and enable this crucial work to be carried out as quickly as possible without any unforeseen problems with drilling and tunnelling Rotadrill were able to offer assistance.

We used dynamic sampling, SPTs and Geobore S coring drill techniques to drill multiple boreholes across the proposed site using water flush and compressed air flushing techniques.