Anglian Water is replacing lead pipes serving Ipswich homes

Thousands of homes in Ipswich will see their lead water supply pipes replaced to comply with European regulations.

Anglian Water is carrying out the work at 45 streets over the next year costing £1.4m.

New standards are being introduced in 2013 which will halve the amount of lead allowed in tap water.

The work will start in Ashcroft Road, Beechcroft Road and Whitton Church Lane in late-October.

The European Union standard on the amount of lead allowed in water is being cut from 25 to 10 parts per billion.

John Clare, from Anglian Water, said the risks of exceeding that were "not very high".

"Ipswich has very hard water which helps because scale forms inside the pipes the same way it would inside your kettle and that stops a lot of lead getting into your water," he said.

"Because standards are tightening, we've been able to apply for funding to be able to remove this old lead pipe work.

"There's going to be some disruption, but we're not planning on shutting any roads."

Anglian Water said it was only responsible for lead pipes up to the boundaries of properties.