ENGINEERS in the USA are tapping into the knowledge of a South Lakeland man who is an expert in 'supersized' water pipes.

John Butcher, who is retiring from United Utilities this month after 30 years, is an authority on giant pipes that transport millions of litres of water each day.

He has just returned from San Francisco’s water department where he compared notes on the recent Haweswater Aqueduct and California's Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct shutdowns, and will soon be heading to New York water department on another mega pipe mission.

Mr Butcher, 56, of Kendal, who is the regional supplies manager at United Utilities and looks after the Haweswater and Thirlmere Aqueducts, said: “Our Cumbrian water supply aqueducts are really impressive structures, but they look tiddly compared to the jaw-dropping scale of the ones in the USA.

“The American teams are just as passionate about their drinking water as we are here at United Utilities so we were keen to share our knowledge.”

San Francisco Water had taken its main aqueduct, supplying 2.5 million people, out of commission for 60 days, for a planned inspection.

"The team was investigating the condition of a 19 mile long tunnel called the Mountain Tunnel," said Mr Butcher. "The project had a lot in common with previous inspections we have carried out on the Haweswater Aqueduct in Cumbria, which also focused on assessing the condition of long, deep tunnels.

"Given we are separated by over 5,000 miles, our approaches and methodology proved to be remarkably similar, giving both teams the reassurance that we have been following worldwide best practice.

"However, the one major difference is thankfully we do not have to plan for major earthquakes here in the North West! It was interesting to see San Francisco Water's innovative approach to ensuring water supplies are maintained after a 6.8 magnitude earthquake."

New York's water department is planning similar outages of the Catskill Aqueduct, and Mr Butcher's vast knowledge will be helping the project go smoothly. He’ll be working with the New York team as a consultant for the next few years.

“It’s a very exciting opportunity,” said Mr Butcher. “I’m a self-confessed pipe anorak and the Catskill Aqueduct which feeds New York is ten times the size of our Thirlmere Aqueduct.”

Mr Butcher says that “retirement” won’t just involve working on even bigger pipes. He plans to continue to add to his world class collection of manhole cover rubbings. He is also a keen motorcyclist and he plans to spend time touring the UK and Europe with friends.