YORKSHIRE Water has launched a £1 million project to protect a pumping station near York from flooding.

A spokesman said the water pumping station alongside the River Ouse at Moor Monkton was the company's biggest and helped ensure more than half a million people across the region received clean drinking water.

"The company will be investing £1 million at the site, constructing a flood wall around the pumping station at a height of around 1.6 metres," he said.

"The wall will wrap around the site and the materials have been chosen to blend-in with the existing structures."

He said the station pumped river water to treatment works to the north of York and Leeds, where it was cleaned before being piped to more than 500,000 people - equivalent to 10 per cent of the company’s customers.

He added that once the project had been completed, the station would be protected from a flood with a 0.5 per cent chance of happening in any one year.

Project Manager Rob Hoyle said that after detailed planning and carrying out investigations, work had started on site in the autumn.

"The pumping station is a very critical part of the local water network, so it’s really important that we protect it from being flooded by rising river water in the Ouse which is only metres from the site," he said.

“We’ll do everything we can to minimise disruption, but local residents may notice some additional construction vehicles in the area”.

The spokesman said contractors Mott MacDonald Bentley were carrying out the work on Yorkshire Water’s behalf, and it was expected to take six months to complete.

He added that the project was just part of Yorkshire Water's commitment to protecting water supplies, in which it had invested about £1.8 million over the past five years.