More than 9km of ageing pipes are being replaced in an upgrade to the water network in Birtley, Gateshead.
Northumbrian Water is investing £2m in the project, which will see the older pipes replaced with more durable new ones, protecting the quality and reliability of supplies for local customers.
The work will take place in the Portobello Road area of Birtley, including neighbouring streets.
The water company’s partner, United Infrastructure, will be carrying out the project, starting in the last week of May and continuing for around ten months.
Teams will be working in and around the area while the improvements are carried out. Customers will be contacted in advance of any work taking place near their homes and traffic management will be in place where required to minimise the impact on roads.
The work in Birtley follows the recent completion of 20km of water pipe replacement in Felling, and the start or work in the Leam Lane area of Gateshead, where a further 22km of network upgrades are underway.
Brian Hardy, Northumbrian Water’s Project Manager, said: “This work is part of a £74m investment in replacing more than 360km of older water pipes across the North East over five years, and will help to protect the quality and resilience of customers’ supplies for many years to come.
“Our team will be using methods, including a process which combines the insertion of the new pipes with the removal of the old ones, to reduce the impact of our work and reduce the amount of time we are in individual locations, but we know it will be disruptive at times and we will do everything we can to reduce that impact.”