Work has begun on a multi-million pound project to replace water mains across Chatham.

We are investing £14 million to further improve the water supply in parts of the town.  We are replacing almost 50km of ageing water mains with new plastic pipes and cleaning more than 100km of water mains in a ‘flushing’ scheme.

The work will be carried out in the Davis Estate, Walderslade, the White Road Estate and the Pattens Lane and Wayfield areas of the town and should be completed in December 2012. The improvements will reduce the risk of bursts and leaks and of customers experiencing discoloured tap water from harmless deposits in the old pipes.

Customers have already been sent letters explaining what will happen and a series of drop-in sessions have given people the chance to meet the team carrying out the work to find out more about how it will affect them.  A customer drop-in centre has also been created at Southern Water’s Capstone Road offices in Chatham.

While we replace the mains, we are taking the opportunity to fit black water meter boxes in the pavement outside every property. These will house customers’ water meters when our metering programme reaches Chatham in 2013.

For more information on the scheme have a look at our questions and answers.

The work is being carried out by Southern Water’s contractor, Morrison Utility Services.