A huge machine is helping Yorkshire Water keep disruption to a minimum during its £100 million project to improve water supplies in the district.

The firm is among the first in the country to use the 'CoverCat' bore piping rig which can line very wide water pipes without the need to dig trenches in the roads.

It is being used on the major project to improve the district's water and sewerage system which is soon expected to deliver improved services to customers.

Yorkshire Water project manager Terry Thompson said the new machine would bring significant advantages to people living close to the ring main which circles the city.

"The lining rig means that we can reline more than 200 metres of water pipe without having to dig a trench," he said.

"A single hole is excavated at each end of the section of pipe to be lined and the machine does the rest. It scrapes out any sediment from inside the pipe, and then places a brand new lining inside the pipe, leaving us with water pipes as good as new."

The method of cleaning has been before but never been available for such large pipes. Mr Thompson added: "We'll be working on the ring main, a large diameter pipe which runs around the outskirts of the city and feeds the smaller pipes taking water to customers homes. While there will always be some inconvenience while we do this type of work, this brand new rig will make the task much simpler and less troublesome for commuters."

The project, due to be completed by 2005, also in-cludes improvements to waste wa-ter overflows to improve the qual-ity of river water in the district.

Caroline Atkins, Yorkshire Water communications adviser, said: "We have kept in close contact with Bradford residents since be-fore the start of the project and we will continue to warn customers when they may be affected by the improvement scheme."