Anglian Water pledges £1.5bn in resilience plans

To keep the taps running, Anglian Water said long-term investment was necessary

The water company supplying the East of England said it needs to invest £1.5bn into its infrastructure to tackle the challenges of climate change.

Anglian Water supplies drinking water to 4.3 million customers across the East of England including in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Northamptonshire and Suffolk.

The East of England is the driest region in the UK and the company said without the investment the region could face a "deficit of 593 million litres a day by 2050".

It said its plans proposed to "facilitate housing and economic growth by keeping taps running".

The company said that according to the Met Office's latest State of the Climate report, extremes of temperature in the UK were getting much more frequent.

In order to tackle challenges this will throw up, it said its new business plan proposed an investment of £1.5bn over the next five years, "building on 30 years of investment in drought resilience, and is just one part of a £9bn plan for the region".

The plan is currently being discussed with the water regulator Ofwat, but Anglian Water said "securing the right level of investment [would] be critical for the water company to deliver the infrastructure the East of England needs to grow and thrive".

A new reservoir is planned on land north of Chatteris, near Doddington and Wimblington in Cambridgeshire

Geoff Darch, the head of supply and demand strategy at Anglian Water, said: "The scale of the work we’re proposing hasn't been seen since the infrastructure revolution 200 years ago, but with the same aim of facilitating housing and economic growth by keeping taps running, as extreme weather is set to become more commonplace.

"It’s vital now that we secure the investment we need, as the climate continues to change more rapidly, and we prepare for more homes, jobs and growth as 720,000 new residents move to our region.

"None of which is possible without a sustainable water supply. Investing in resilience now means that we’re ready to capture and store water when it’s plentiful and save it for not-so-rainy days."

Anglian Water and Cambridge Water have proposed a new reservoir in the Fens to help meet the growing demands on water supply in the East of England.

Located between the towns of March and Chatteris, in Cambridgeshire, it is expected to be operational by 2036.

Anglian Water is currently in the early stages of developing the project which would supply 43.5 megalitres of water per day.

Another reservoir is planned in Lincolnshire.