Anglian Water has announced the first part of its largest-ever recruitment drive to expand its team of leakage technicians and engineers.

The water company is on the hunt for candidates to fill 200 roles across the region, with positions being advertised over the next two months.

Various different levels of role will be advertised, including assistant technicians, leakage technicians, as well as a number of engineering roles. Some roles do not require any previous experience.

Anglian Water’s focus and innovative approach at tackling leakage has made it an industry leader. Since privatisation, Anglian Water has reduced leaks by 38% – despite putting a third more water into its network to meet the needs of a growing population.

Head of Leakage for Anglian Water, Sean McCarthy, said:

“We’re already one of the leading employers in the region and we’re delighted we can provide these jobs after such a difficult 12 months, living through the Covid pandemic. We’re looking for people who want to join our team of dedicated staff and help us tackle one of our biggest challenges as a business.”

As part of its AMP7 investment programme, between 2020-2025the water company will be investing £77m in reducing leakage, with the aim of reaching world-leading low levels.

In 2017, Anglian Water became the first water company to use thermal imaging drones to pinpoint hard to find leaks. Since then the company has continued to push the boundaries of technology to wage a war on leakage, by using satellite imagery, naval hydrophones and fibre optic technology to find and fix leaks.

Sean McCarthy added:

“Because we’ve achieved so much already, our job is now harder than ever. We’ve tackled the quick wins, the easy to find leaks, and we’re now in the realms of using the latest technology to help us find much smaller leaks before they’re even visible to the naked eye. It’s a big challenge and a really exciting time to be expanding our leakage army to help us meet these tough targets.”