Ackworth Water Tower is located at the top of Castle Syke Hill, just off the A628 Pontefract Road.
As the village of Ackworth grew significantly in the 1970s, with several large new housing developments, water pressure became a problem. The solution was to give Ackworth a water tower of its own.
Previously the water tower at Pontefract had provided the pressure regulating facility, but Pontefract too had seen significant housing development and some parts of Ackworth were literally on the end of the line, about 5 miles from the Pontefract tower.
The immediate effect of the pressure improvement was a series of mains bursts over many months all the way down the water main under the A628 as it ran through Ackworth. The water main had obviously deteriorated over time but the low pressure had concealed the problem. Any repair cascaded the problem to the next weakest point. Eventually a full water main renewal, at considerable discruption to local traffic, was the solution.
The Ackworth Water Tower field now plays host to an annual steam rally!
Ackworth Water Tower is located at the top of Castle Syke Hill, just off the A628 Pontefract Road.
As the village of Ackworth grew significantly in the 1970s, with several large new housing developments, water pressure became a problem. The solution was to give Ackworth a water tower of its own.
Previously the water tower at Pontefract had provided the pressure regulating facility, but Pontefract too had seen significant housing development and some parts of Ackworth were literally on the end of the line, about 5 miles from the Pontefract tower.
The immediate effect of the pressure improvement was a series of mains bursts over many months all the way down the water main under the A628 as it ran through Ackworth. The water main had obviously deteriorated over time but the low pressure had concealed the problem. Any repair cascaded the problem to the next weakest point. Eventually a full water main renewal, at considerable discruption to local traffic, was the solution.
The Ackworth Water Tower field now plays host to an annual steam rally!
