Kirkham tunnel boring machine ‘Betty’ completes £5.5m stormwater tunnel project
Betty the tunnel boring machine has re-emerged from a tunnel at Kirkham as part of a £5.5m project.
Named by a local school pupil, Betty has completed construction of a 300m long stormwater storage tunnel more than four metres below ground sic weeks after starting. Before it was launched, the tunnelling machine was sent on its way by 11-year-old Anne-Marie, a pupil at nearby St Michael’s C of E Primary School. She was selected to name the machine after winning a poster competition.
When operational, the tunnel will hold more than two million litres of stormwater – the equivalent of around 26,000 bathtubs. It will give Kirkham’s wastewater network additional capacity during times of heavy rainfall and help to improve water quality in Wrangway Brook by reducing storm water discharges. Wrangway Brook is a tributary of the River Ribble. Across Lancashire, United Utilities continues to deliver a wide range of projects from infrastructure improvements to rainwater management, which are enhancing water quality in the Ribble and its tributaries.
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Simon Holding, County Business lead for Wastewater Services in Lancashire explained: “This storage tunnel will act as a holding area for the extra water that enters the sewer network in times of heavy rainfall. Wastewater from Kirkham travels through the sewer network to the pumping station at Freckleton before going on to the Wastewater Treatment Works at Clifton Marsh, Preston. Creating this extra capacity means that it isn’t all hitting either the pumping station, or the wastewater treatment works all at the same time and the system is less likely to be overwhelmed.”
The tunnel runs from land behind the railway station and will link into new pipework that has already been installed. The project will be completed this summer.
United Utilities is making progress on the largest investment in water and wastewater infrastructure in the North West for a century. The company is spending more than £13.5bn to protect and enhance over 500km of rivers, lakes and bathing waters whilst safeguarding drinking water supplies for millions of customers.