Yorkshire Water has appointed BarhaleEnpure Joint Venture to carry out upgrade works at Ponden reservoir near Stanbury, West Yorkshire, to provide a major boost for future water resilience in the area.

BarhaleEnpure brings together two of the UK’s leading infrastructure, and non-infrastructure specialists. The joint venture will conduct a major overhaul and upgrade of the pumping equipment and processes to ensure that Ponden reservoir is able to continue to supply raw water to Oldfield WTW at maximum capacity. Improvements to software and telemetry will also allow the Ponden Pumping Station to be controlled locally or remotely from Oldfield.

Covering approximately 10 hectares and with a capacity of 865,000 m³, the Ponden reservoir was originally built as a compensation reservoir to regulate the flow of water to nearby mills in the Worth Valley. It now provides an important supply of raw water to both Sladen Valley Water Treatment Works (WTW) (gravity-fed) and Oldfield WTW (pumped).

Principal deliveries include the replacement of the two existing pumps and motors with new variable speed pumps each capable of delivering 52 l/s of water at a maximum reservoir drawdown of 11m. BarhaleEnpure will also add surge protection; replace the existing Motor Control Centre and starters with Variable Speed Drives in a new purpose-built kiosk adjacent to the existing pump station building; and install and integrate a new security system.

Contracts Manager at Barhale, Nick Smith, explained that the work will help to future-proof water supplies in the area and deliver vital upstream improvements.

“These works are an important step to ensuring the reservoir continues to fulfil its role for years to come, protecting water supplies and delivering assurance for customers.”

David Hobman, Project Manager at Yorkshire Water, added; “We are investing heavily across the region to ensure that we continue to deliver secure, safe drinking water now and in the future. With Barhale’s efforts, the work at Ponden will help to ensure the resilience of our network.”

Work on the project is expected to complete by March 2025.