Anglian Water is seeking public opinion on the first stage of a major new £350 million pipeline programme which will keep taps running in the East for generations.
It will be the inaugural project for Anglian Water’s Strategic Pipeline Alliance, made up of construction and engineering giants Costain, Farrans, Jacobs and Mott MacDonald Bentley as part of a contract worth over £350 million which was announced last month.
The first section of water main will run for 24km between Lincoln and Ancaster and eventually it will join future pipelines to bring water from the north of Lincoln to communities around Grantham.
Ultimately the new strategic water mains will take water to the south and east of the region, where it is less readily available. The new pipeline will also strengthen local resilience by reducing the number of homes and businesses which rely on a single water source.
At around 500km in its entirety, the new pipelines will be longer than HS2 - making them one of the largest infrastructure projects for a generation.
The pipeline is a critical, long-term project that will address the water supply and demand balance, one of the most fundamental challenges Anglian Water faces in its region. It is needed to handle a rapidly growing population and, in a water scarce area, to prepare for the impacts of climate change.
The programme is part of Anglian’s Water Resources Management Plan which looks 25 years ahead to make the East resilient to drought in the face of these challenges. Without taking action, the East of England would face a water deficit of 30 million litres a day by 2025.
Construction is due to begin in the spring of 2021 and initial public engagement with local communities, via an online forum, will run until 20 July.
Strategic Pipeline Alliance Director, James Crompton, said:
“This scheme marks the first stage of one of the largest strategic infrastructure programmes the UK has seen since the major gas pipeline installations in Wales during the 1990s.
“Ours is the driest region in the UK, and without this programme of work, alongside continuing to drive down leakage as well as installing 760,000 upgraded water meters to help our customers better understand their water usage, we’d be facing a water shortfall of millions of litres a day.”
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