A RURAL community joined forces this week to battle to save its water supply.

Yorkshire Water has announced plans to close the Keasden water treatment works and abandon the spring which feeds 37 households.

The utility giant plans to lay new pipes and bring water in from Embsay instead, pumping it up the hill to Keasden from Clapham.

On Monday, residents from every one of the affected homes and farms met with representatives of Yorkshire Water to voice their strong opposition to the scheme.

But they were effectively told the decision had been made and their protests would make no difference.

The residents felt strongly that their disapproval of the scheme should be heard, however.

They are also concerned about the finer details of the project, such as what would happen to the water supply if there was a power cut which prevented the pumps from working.

"We get a lot of power cuts. Back-up generators are all very well but anyone who lives up here will tell you, you can't store diesel because it gets stolen," said farmer Alan Price, of Long Bank.

"What will happen if we get another big snow like 1947?" he added. "Can Yorkshire Water guarantee we will always have water?"

George Wallbank, who farms at Higher Moss House, argued that the Keasden spring had never failed in 90 years, and its quality was second to none.

"The spring goes into the pipe 26 feet underground and the first time that water sees daylight is when it comes out of the tap. Alright, it hasn't had all the treatment like water from Embsay, but this water is just as good and they are wanting to take it off us," he said.

Farmer George Campbell, of Wood Gill, added: "It doesn't matter what happens - rain, snow, shine - we could have the electric go and the telephone but we would have water. It was the one thing I would be confident that we would always have. I won't have that confidence when they do this scheme."

Deborah Feldhaus, treatment asset manager for Yorkshire Water, explained that Keasden's water treatment works, upgraded eight years ago, did not meet new standards brought in by the Drinking Water Inspectorate in recent months.

The works were deemed "high risk" by Yorkshire Water because they could not guarantee the removal of cryptosporidium - a water-borne bug which causes diarrhoea, vomiting and fever.

She explained that Yorkshire Water had two choices - upgrade Keasden's treatment works or bring in extensively treated water from Embsay, with the latter being cheaper by half. Keeping the treatment works open in their present form was not an option because it would effectively mean Yorkshire Water was breaking the law and would be open to prosecution for supplying substandard water.

She said the water was pumped anyway to force it through the existing filters, so the arguments about power failures would apply as much now as when the project was completed.

Residents suggested fencing off the land around the spring to cut down the risk of cryptosporidium, which is carried by sheep, cattle and rabbits and gets into water via faecal pollution. But Yorkshire Water representatives said that would not work because there could still be seepage and the fences could be broken.

"This is the best solution for the long term. Science moves on and if we upgraded the treatment works at Keasden we could be back here again in another five years or so with exactly the same problem because there were more regulations," said Pippa McPherson, of Yorkshire Water.

Paul Pearce, clerk to Clapham Parish Council, said it was the manner in which Yorkshire Water had announced its project which angered people.

"Everyone feels that you came along and said we are going to do this," he told the firm's representatives. "You haven't asked their views at all. You have done it on an actuarial basis."

The residents felt things were getting out of hand when a reliable local water supply wanted by all those who received it and which had never caused problems in the past was under threat because of regulations.

Yorkshire Water representatives pointed out that they did not make up the rules, and that the new standards were a nationwide issue.