Cambridge Water has officially opened its new nitrate removal plant at Fleam Dyke.
The Mayor of Cambridge Cllr Robert Dryden officially opened the £3million building at Fleam Dyke Pumping Station, near Fulbourn on Friday last week.
Phil Newland, managing director of Cambridge Water, said:
“At Cambridge Water we’ve been providing high quality water to all our customers for more than 160 years.
“The new nitrate treatment plant will enable us to continue to provide some of the highest quality water in the UK to our customers.
“Alongside this we are also working in partnership with farmers and landowners to reduce the use of nitrate rich fertilisers on the land.”
Nitrates are naturally present in soils but they are also added by farmers in fertilisers to improve their crop yield. Because nitrates are soluble they can be washed into rivers and streams or seep through the ground into underground water sources.
While fertiliser application has improved over recent years, the legacy of nitrates in groundwater has meant a steady increase in nitrates in raw water supplies over the last 30 years.
With the UK government demanding a 50% reduction in storm overflow spills by 2029, the era of reactive management is over. Speaking in the House of Commons on 21 July 2025, then environment secretary Steve Reed said, “This Government will cut water companies’ sewage pollution in half by the end of the decade.”
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