YORKSHIRE Water is planning to invest £15 million in improving supplies in North Craven.

The plan, currently awaiting approval from Yorkshire Water's board of directors, is for a new 52km water main to carry supplies from Embsay water treatment works to Settle, Austwick, Ingleton and Bentham.

The scheme also involves building new service reservoirs to store treated water at Embsay, Giggleswick and Ingleton, plus new pumping stations at Anchor Bridge, Gargrave, and Clapham.

The use of water from Embsay would also see the closure of the existing water treatment works at Settle, while the use of spring sources at Austwick would be abandoned.

"This area has not been connected to the Yorkshire Grid and extra resources are needed during the summer when demand for water increases as a result of the influx of tourists," a Yorkshire Water spokesman told the Herald.

"As happens in remote areas all across the country, we use a few tankers per week, very much like a milk collection operation, to bring water in to help maintain these supplies which are susceptible to dry weather.

"This investment will support water supplies for the rural area of Settle, Austwick and Ingleton at times of peak demand and will also remove the need for tankering water into the area from 1999 onwards."

The company has already invested £2 million in increasing the capacity of Embsay water treatment works, and utilising this will make the Settle works and Austwick springs redundant.

No firm sites have yet been put forward for the new service reservoirs, but once approval has been given they would be quickly identified, and planning applications submitted.

Much of the work would be on private land, although there is a need to cross several roads.

"We have taken care to design the work so that sites of special scientific interest and sensitive environmental and archaeological sites are avoided," said the spokesman.

Yorkshire Water will shortly be producing a leaflet about the scheme, which is expected to take 10 months to complete.

This project comes on top of the £1m Settle area water mains rehabilitation scheme due to be completed on March 31.

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