Community leaders from moorland villages facing the loss of their treasured spring-fed water supplies are vowing to fight to safeguard their "heritage".

Yorkshire Water is proposing to spend about £3 million building a pipeline from the East Ness borehole near Nunnington to serve homes in and around Gillamoor, Fadmoor, Hutton-le-Hole and Carlton.

Residents there are currently supplied with water from local springs.

But Yorkshire Water says it risks action by the Drinking Water Inspectorate if it does not tackle problems such as high aluminium and pH levels, and the presence of bacteria.

The firm is also concerned about cryptosporidium, which causes a disease which can prove fatal for elderly people, the young and those with suppressed immune systems.

Yorkshire Water says locals may have built up resistance to organisms present in the water, but incoming residents and holidaymakers may be in danger of falling ill.

However, Coun Hawson Simpson who chairs Gillamoor Parish Meeting, suggested the firm should consider upgrading existing treatment facilities rather than going to the expense of piping in water from elsewhere.

"The fact is that water companies can treat almost any water there is for almost anything.

"If they can take sewage in London and turn it into drinking water, there's no reason why they can't take our supply off the moors and treat it.

"The only things that can get into it are sheep dirt and peat - there's no nitrates or anything."

Coun Simpson referred to a similar battle to hold on to their spring-fed supplies in the early 1980s, and pledged: "We beat them then and we will beat them again."

He added: "This water was given by the Lord Feversham of the day, who arranged to draw up water for Gillamoor and Fadmoor. We regard this water supply as our heritage."

Coun Robert Ibbotson, who chairs Fadmoor Parish Meeting, said: "I think it's a staff-cutting exercise - Yorkshire Water wants to have one treatment works with one set of staff."

Hutton-le-Hole parish councillor Chris Jones said: "We never hear anyone complaining about upset stomachs or diarrhoea or anything like that. In fact, most people seem to live to a ripe old age in this area."

Coun Jones, a life-long visitor to the area who moved to Hutton-le-Hole four years ago, said: "It's one of the joys of living around here, to have decent water.

"When people come to visit me, they always remark how pleasant the water is and what a lovely cup of tea it makes."

Coun Jones said discoloration caused by peat was sometimes a problem, but this did not worry the locals.

Fadmoor Parish Meeting member Coun Clive MacDonald-Smith said: "Our water is environmentally-friendly. It isn't full of limescale."

And Coun Harold Dobson, of Farndale West Parish Meeting, said: "I've had 75 years supping it now and I've never felt better."

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