Anglian completes first stage of drought resilience scheme

The first part of Anglian Water’s scheme to boost resilience in the east of England by moving water across its region has been completed and trialled.

The £28 million flow reversal scheme allows the transfer of treated drinking water in Anglian’s Ruthamford network.

The company called it a “major piece of the puzzle” to ensure resilient water supply in the west of the region.

It used industry-first technology including specialist large-scale pumps that were trialled to reverse water flow within a single pipeline.

Paul Valleley, director of water services at Anglian said: “We knew the concept of transferring potable water through this network was always feasible, but the trial entailed a significant amount of work to ensure customers water supplies were not affected or water quality compromised. Over the first half of this winter the trial has proven to be a complete success.”

Anglian supplies water from a reservoir in this part of its network to neighbouring Affinity, allowing the latter to reduce abstraction from chalk streams.

The flow reversal concept was originally developed in the 1970s to accommodate growth in new towns and has been adapted to meet needs of booming populations in dry regions.

Anglian said engineers originally planned to lay 37km of new pipeline linking the two areas together but instead were able to reverse the direction of flow through the existing pipes.

The company has plans to build a £500 million pipeline to move water north to south from areas of surplus to water-starved parts of Anglian’s network.

Valleley said of the project: “It will be one of the largest strategic pipeline projects the UK has ever seen, ensuring we can keep taps running for years to come, and tackle the challenges of a changing climate and a rapidly growing population.”