Huge underground reservoir drained for 'deep clean'

Every day millions of litres of water flow through the reservoir to customers across the region

A huge underground reservoir has been emptied for the first time in a decade so it can be inspected, repaired and cleaned.

The concrete cavern - one of 500 underground water stores used by Anglian Water - is near Huntingdon, although its precise location is secret.

Up to 360 million litres of water pass through it each day to customers in Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, and Hertfordshire.

Inspecting engineer Edward Sidgwick said the reservoir was being given a "good deep clean".

"I love this job, I don't know what it is but I enjoy it," said engineer Edward Sidgwick

Mr Sidgwick, 47, who has been working at underground sites like this one for 12 years, said: "I love this job. I don't know what it is but I enjoy it.

"We want to ensure our customers get a good glass of water, so we check structural integrity, have a good deep clean and disinfection, then it is filled back up and tested.

"Each structure is different... this one is good and not bad for its age.

"It has an almost a clean bill of health and will be 100% when it is back in use again," he said.

Joshua Daniel says the "impressive structure" has been built to last

Joshua Daniel, 34, a water supply manager with Anglian Water, said the work could take anything between six and 13 weeks.

He said it was "great to get inside" an "impressive structure that has been built to last".

The structure of the reservoir is inspected and any repairs required carried out

Regan Harris, from Anglian Water, said it cost about £20m a year to inspect and clean the underground networks to keep taps running.

"It is all about how we move water around region," she said, adding that Anglian Water would be focusing on making systems in the East "more resilient", including building a pipeline to move water to dryer parts of the region.

"If we don't invest in that now we won't have enough [water] in the future," she said.