A £6million scheme to stop a 400-year-old aqueduct through north London from leaking and risking floods has been completed.
The work was caried out by Thames Water on a 3,000ft section of the New River alongside Eade Road at Woodbury Downs, near Manor House.
“This was a major refurbishment,” Thames Water’s project manager Sayed Alam said. “It was completed seamlessly from start to finish, with minimal disruption and little impact to the environment.”
The aqueduct was first opened when James I was on the Throne in 1613 and was an engineering wonder of its age, bringing fresh water to London from the source of the River Lea in Hertfordshire.
It has been serving London for 412 years but was feeling its age, with water seeping out in places.
The work was essential to ensure the New River was resilient enough to meet the pressures of London’s growing population and to safeguard the water supply for generations to come.
Repairs took a year to complete, using a state-of-the-art piling rig to insert corrugated sheeting the aqueduct wall, with minimal noise and vibration during construction.
The New River transfers raw water each day from its source on the River Lea to Coppermills treatment works between Tottenham and Walthamstow. It flows southward from Hertfordshire through Enfield, Palmers Green, Bowes Park, Alexandra Park, Hornsey and Finsbury Park, feeding into the treatment works and the Woodbury Downs reservoirs.
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