Guildford: Thames Water invests £93.1m to secure water supplies

Thames Water will build a new water pipeline that it said would "keep taps flowing for 9,000 homes"

Thames Water is spending millions on upgrading water supply in Surrey.

The supplier is investing £93.1m into its sites and infrastructure which they said would "ensure a safe and secure water supply" to people in Guildford.

Surrey County Council declared a major incident earlier in November when thousands of people in the area went without water.

Thames Water apologised and said their Shalford treatment works faced issues caused by Storm Ciarán.

'Build resilience'

Thames Water said the investment is part of their plans to improve infrastructure across Guildford and will include multi-million-pound upgrades at Shalford, Netley Mill, Ladymead and Mousehill water treatment sites.

The provider said the upgrades would "reduce supply interruptions".

Currently, Guildford operates as an "island" water supply zone, which means its water comes from surrounding reservoirs and treatment works.

As a result, there is no back up water supply if there are issues onsite.

In 2024, work will begin to build a water pipeline, which will transfer water from a reservoir in West Guildford to a treatment site in East Guildford.

Paul Wetton, a director at Thames Water, said the investment would "build resilience across the area and keep the taps flowing for our customers".

The service provider is hosting two community drop-in events about Guildford's West to East transfer pipe.

The events are on 23 November in St Marys Church, 59 Quarry Street, Guildford at 16:00 to 20:00 GMT and 25 November in Chilworth Village Hall, New Road, Chilworth at 11:30 to 17:00 GMT.

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