Yorkshire Water building underground reservoir between York and Malton

The new service reservoir will be built on Longfield Lane, in Harton, between Malton and York

Yorkshire Water is building a new £8.5m reservoir in North Yorkshire to help improve drinking water supplies.

Work began on the underground service reservoir at Longfield Lane, in Harton, between Malton and York, in January.

The company said it would supply customers in the area with drinking water when it was completed in May 2025.

It will also provide extra capacity for housing developments and a new prison due to open at Full Sutton in 2025.

Project manager Phoebe Ripley said it would help "the resilience of our water network, improving supplies locally".

She said: "We understand the area will be undergoing a lot of changes over the next few years, and we're keen to ensure that we're ready to cope with the demand and provide a reliable service to all our customers both now and in the future."

The reservoir measures 131ft (40m) by 196ft (60m) and is being constructed about 20ft (6m) underground.

It will hold almost 2.2m gallons (10m litres) of clean drinking water when completed.

Yorkshire Water said it had completed work on nearby roads to create passing places to reduce traffic disruption during the movement of construction vehicles to the site.