THOUSANDS of York homes are to get cleaner water supplies through a project to replace Victorian cast iron pipes with plastic pipes.

Yorkshire Water says it wants to reduce the risk of contamination by lead, which is contained in the city's cast iron pipes, many of which date back to the 19th century.

A spokesman said the replacement Polyethylene plastic pipes will help the company to comply with tighter European regulations.

The project will be carried out in the Acomb and Clifton areas and is set to be completed by March 2017.

"Polyethylene plastic pipes have a life span of around 100 years and will also help reduce the amount of leaks that occur in the city’s water pipe network," he added.

Public health manager Luke Montgomery said: “We operate our water treatment works to control the risk of lead from pipework, and whilst our water sampling programme shows the vast majority of samples taken from lead pipes are safe, we believe the best option is to remove lead pipes from our distribution system completely.”

The project forms part of a £13 million Yorkshire wide scheme that will improve water supply to 20,000 homes and businesses throughout six towns and cities in the region.

The spokesman said engineering specialists, Morrison Utility Services (MUS) and Balfour Beatty, would be working on behalf of Yorkshire Water to install the new pipes.

"Usually, teams will dig two holes, one at the boundary of a property and one at the point where the communication pipe connects into the water main in the street," he said.

"The communication pipe will then be refurbished between the two points. It's likely that MUS will be working on a number of pipes in one street at the same time, which means there will be various holes open at once."

Project manager Brigitte Sorby said the company would communicate with affected residents throughout the project. "Around two weeks before work starts in an area customers will be sent letters and an information leaflet," she said.