MORE than 40,000 Eden residents are poised to have better quality tap water pumped to their homes and business.

A £30 million United Utilities improvement scheme will see villages around Penrith, Appleby and Ullswater connected to water supplies from Haweswater as a new pipeline is laid through the heart of the county.

For decades, the small communities have been supplied from fellside sources which United Utilities say will soon fail to meet new European standards.

The works, which are due for completion by December this year, will see water supplies pumped through 65km of new pipeline from Watchgate water treatment works near Kendal. Two new pumping stations will be built at Watchgate and at Boredale, near Hartsop, to help the water negotiate the hilly terrain.

Two new service reservoirs will also be built at Demings Moss, near Shap, and at Berrier to store up to 13 million litres of treated water.

UU project manager Ahmad Saumtally said: "This is a very important project to secure the quality and future reliability of water supplies for many rural communities in Cumbria.

"It is a big project that presents a big engineering challenge and we are very conscious of treading carefully through some of the most scenic countryside in Cumbria."

The pipeline will have to negotiate areas of ecological and archaeological importance and has been re-routed away from Askham Fell to avoid a Roman road and other ancient monuments in the area.

Aside from avoiding sites of archaeological interest the pipeline will also have to traverse rivers and major roads.

Pumping stations and other structures will be disguised as farm buildings to blend in with the countryside and redundant water treatment buildings will either be donated to the community or demolished.

The project is part of a £3 billion investment programme across the North West from 2004 to 2005.

n See Boredale plant go-ahead, P5