Ahead of the launch of its new Water Resources Management Plan (WRMP), Affinity Water has set out its plans to invest in a multi-million-pound scheme to bring new water supplies down from the Midlands to its Central supply region and into the Home Counties.

Scientists, geologists and engineers at the company plan to use 100 km of the Grand Union Canal (GUC) to channel water from the Midlands in the ground-breaking new scheme - the first phase is costed at approximately £250 million.

The scheme is one of a number of Strategic Resource Options (SROs) - which will be unveiled when it formally launches its WRMP later this month.

The fifty-year WRMP says that the GUC Strategic Transfer is one of the “most innovative” SROs options and that it will utilise existing infrastructure to take water from Birmingham to Leighton Buzzard and into the Affinity Water supply area.

It will take treated water from Severn Trent’s Minworth site, via a new closed pipeline transfer of approx. 16 km to a location on the canal near Atherstone in Warwickshire.

The transfer would then utilise the existing canal, passing through the Coventry Canal, the Oxford Canal and the Grand Union Canal, with a small number of pump and lock upgrades to enable this transfer. Water would be abstracted at a location nearby Leighton Buzzard and stored, before being treated at a new Water Treatment Works, and then transferred to the Affinity Water supply area.

Using Severn Trent’s Minworth Treatment Works additional treatment would enhance the quality of the treated wastewater to enable a portion to be diverted to support the Grand Union Canal Strategic Transfer.

In a new podcast outlining the plan, Dr Doug Hunt, Affinity Water’s Head of Water Resources Management Planning said:

“The GUC is really important to us as it is the first of the major schemes, we are proposing to manage our water resources, and the first of our SROs. It will allow us to reduce abstraction from chalk groundwater sources in sensitive areas. We want to stop unsustainable abstraction from the chalk aquifers.”

“The water will interact with a number of rivers and small reservoirs that the Canal and River Trust own and operate, and the water will be treated again when it gets to us at Leighton Buzzard to meet strict potable drinking water standards. Wastewater is already present in our water systems, the water used in this scheme will be treated to a high standard, and as it travels down the Canal it will interact with natural biological processes”.

Ellie Powers Affinity Water’s Head of Water Resources and Environment added:

“We operate in a supply area which is uniquely home to 10% of all globally rare chalk streams. Although we have sufficient water to serve our customers now, we need to reduce abstraction from boreholes near these rare chalk habitats in the longer term. We need to reduce abstraction from our chalk groundwater sources and have identified the reduction targets within our ‘environmental destination’.

“The combination of population growth, demand for water, climate change and the need to leave more water in the environment, particularly for our vulnerable chalk streams, means we need to identify and implement some significant changes to the way that we manage both the supply and demand for water in our area”.

GUC scheme represents “better value” than other options

Dr Hunt explains in the podcast about why the GUC scheme represents “better value” than other options:

“It’s environmentally more friendly, it’s sustainable, what we are doing is using existing infrastructure, and working with the canal community. As well as keeping carbon emissions and energy low, the great thing about a canal is that it is a big open channel, so you don’t have to pump very hard to move water through it. They have already tunnelled through the hills, so we don’t have to pump over the hills. It’s a great way of getting large volumes of water moved great distances without much pumping.

“The second part of it is that the actual infrastructure we need on the canal is quite limited. We only have to put a few new bits in, and we can create a lot of value to the Canal users, such as enhancing car parks and putting nice wetlands in. We think it has public value and it is a helpful community resource. This is better for our communities and the environment. The Canal and River Trust and Severn Trent have been great partners on this, and they are working with us”.

However, referring to the first phase, which is costed at approximately £250 million, Mr Hunt acknowledged that this will mean a rise in customer bills, commenting:

“My job is to make that rise as small as possible and we’re really looking to find the most economical way. We’re really trying to hit that sweet spot to do what’s right for the environment, and to reduce abstraction in chalk where it is not sustainable, but we are also mindful of keeping bills as low as possible and making sure it all works efficiently and is innovative.”

Affinity Water will be working with other water companies in the region through two groups Water Resources East (WRE) and Water Resources South East (WRSE) who will also be publishing their own regional plans.

Click here to listen to the podcast by Dr Doug Hunt, Affinity Water’s Head of Water Resources Management Planning