April marked the beginning of the next five-year business plan for Anglian Water - a pivotal moment for the region as the water company embarks on a programme of work worth £11bn – its largest ever and almost double that of the previous five-year period.
At the heart of the plan is a redoubling of efforts to tackle storm overflow spills with £1bn of funding being ploughed into tackling the issue from every angle.
This work includes a multi-million-pound programme spent on increasing capacity to hold stormwater at water recycling sites by building new infrastructure known as storm tanks to reduce the likelihood of storm overflow spills.
The work will be fast tracked over the next two years and allow the water company to capture and store over 30 million litres of rainwater – equivalent to 375,000 baths - ensuring it can be safely cleaned and treated before being returned to the environment.
Emily Timmins, Director of Water Recycling at Anglian Water said: “Alongside providing safe, clean drinking water, we know that reducing spills and pollutions is the number one thing our customers care about. This is why our business plan prioritises this over everything else.
At the heart of the plan is a redoubling of efforts to tackle storm overflow spills with £1bn of funding being ploughed into tackling the issue from every angle
“We’re seeing more bouts of extreme weather in our region – and we know this is only going to continue as our climate continues to change, so we need our network to be prepared to meet this challenge.”
Anglian Water will also be upgrading a number of their water recycling centres (WRCs) across the region, to strengthen the water recycling process and installing additional phosphorus removal treatment. Commonly a byproduct of soaps and cleaning products, excess phosphorus can be detrimental to river health if not enough is removed by the wastewater treatment process.
Thanks to sustained investment from the water industry into schemes like these over the last 30 years, the concentration of phosphorus in rivers has been reduced by 80%. However, Anglian Water is redoubling its efforts to reduce current levels by a further 50% in the next five years.
Emily continued: “This new investment builds at pace on the work we've already started. It contains our largest ever investment – £1bn – into tackling storm spills, and these new storm tanks are a vital part of this.
“We’ve prioritised this work to deliver the biggest benefits first, because we recognise and share the desire of customers to get on with addressing this issue.”
