Anglian Water Services

As the flattest, driest and fastest growing region in the country, we’re facing significant challenges. With a growing population and more extreme weather, sewer networks are under extra pressure. In addition to this, every year, our teams clear around 37,000 blockages— 80% of which are completely avoidable. Wet wipes remain the biggest offender because unlike toilet paper, wipes don’t break down the same way causing serious blockages that lead to floodings and pollutions. Through our Just Bin It campaign and the launch of our proactive enforcement programme we’ve brought to life the scale of the blockage challenge. With the help of hedgehog-like devices that have been deployed into our network, we’ve been able to track the source of the problem to inform our work with customers to change their behaviours in hotspot communities. It's thanks to these devices that we've already seen a significant reduction in the number of wipes in our network in areas such as Northamptonshire. Following successful trials, this week we've been deploying our hedgehogs in other hotspot areas like Spalding. But the work doesn't stop there. Which is why, we've launched our Just Bin It toolkit. It includes everything you need to spread the word about only putting the right things down the toilets and sinks. Find more information here: https://lnkd.in/egYeGwW6 #WaterRecycling #Blockages #JustBinIt

It's been a year since Mark Thurston joined as our CEO and what a busy one it's been! As we embark on delivering our largest ever programme of investment, this past year has been all about laying the foundations for a successful AMP8. In his latest video, Mark shares a few reflections from his time at Anglian Water so far and looks ahead to the future⬇️ #Investment #Growth #Resilience

We’ve reached a major milestone on one of the UK’s largest environmental infrastructure projects: pipelaying is now complete across the entire southern section of our Strategic Pipeline. This 127km stretch, from Bexwell to Colchester, forms a key part of a region-wide network designed to move up to 55 million litres of water a day from wetter to drier areas – helping secure long-term water resilience and easing pressure on sensitive sources like chalk streams.   Delivered in partnership with Costain Group PLC, Farrans Construction, Jacobs and Mott MacDonald through the #StrategicPipelineAlliance, this milestone marks a critical step in our £11bn investment to future-proof the East of England’s water supply, support regional growth, and meet the challenges of climate change.   The next five years will define how we secure water for future generations. Strategic infrastructure like this pipeline will be essential for the significant growth in our region and building resilience in the face of changing climate. As we experience hotter, drier summers and record-breaking demand - like the 30 percent surge in water use we've seen this June – this pipeline marks a big step forward. We’re putting water resources in place, ready for when they’re needed most. Read more about our pipeline here: https://lnkd.in/eA_wGi_U   We’re proud to be building a resilient, sustainable future – for both people and nature.   #WaterSecurity #Infrastructure #ClimateResilience #Investment

Our region is one of the fastest growing in the country, which is why we're planning to deliver a huge programme of infrastructure and environmental upgrades over the next five years and beyond. But to do so, it’s crucial that we work with the most experienced partners across our portfolio, programmes and major projects. That’s why we’re really pleased to welcome AtkinsRéalis, Mace and Turner & Townsend as they form a joint venture as our new Programme Delivery Partner.   We already know that working collaboratively across the value chain helps drive consistency, efficiency and innovation – allowing us to deliver the best value for money for our customers and protect the environment that we work in. Collaboration has been at the heart of our delivery strategy for more than twenty years, through our industry-leading alliancing models, and as we’ve entered into AMP8 we’ve been shifting up a gear across the board. Our approach to capital investment delivery is no exception. This new strategic partnership with aligns with our broader ambition to transform our business and deliver much-needed investment for our customers into the future.   As our Programme Delivery Partner, AtkinsRéalis, Mace and Turner & Townsend will work with us to deliver our capital programme – our biggest investment ever into our region – including our two new reservoirs in the Fens and Lincolnshire. The £1 billion, 15-year agreement is one of the largest contracts of its type to date in the water industry, and will continue until the end of AMP10 in 2040. This presents a unique opportunity for us to work together to drive frontier delivery for our customers and the environment. As well as delivering the water services and environmental protection that our region needs, this will also help us to drive investment in the region - boosting skills, creating high quality jobs and enabling growth and development.   Read more: https://lnkd.in/eXnmwhv8 #Investment #Infrastructure #Partnership

Here at Anglian Water, we're no stranger to the power of nature-based solutions. Against the challenging backdrop of a growing population and changing climate, green infrastructure plays an equally important role in our ambitious plans to improve our region's resilience over the next five years.    Everton Wetlands are our first-ever Integrated Constructure Treatment Wetlands (ICTW), spanning 18,320m² (which is equivalent to around 2.5 football pitches). Aside from its impressive scale, the wetlands have a three-cell system, which will naturally reduce phosphorus and iron, removing the need for chemical dosing. With a smart design that uses the natural slope of the land & gravity to keep things moving, the wetlands mean we're able to return cleaner water back to the environment during times of heavy rainfall.    Last week we welcomed the MP for North Bedfordshire, Richard Fuller to our Everton Wetlands site and had the opportunity to demonstrate how we're actively trying to work with nature, rather than against it.    #WaterRecycling #NatureBasedSolutions #Wetlands

Next week Sir Jon Cunliffe will publish the final report of his review into the water industry - a pivotal moment for the sector and a crucial opportunity to reform the industry and help rebuilt trust.    One key part of rebuilding trust will be being transparent about the industry's performance and our impact on the region. Today we published our first annual Purpose Impact Assessment, which is the next step in our journey to embed our purpose of bringing environmental and social prosperity to the region we serve.    The Purpose Impact Assessment aims to help us better understand the positive and negative impacts we have on the environmental and social prosperity of the region; impacts derived through our day-to-day operations and multi-billion investment programme. Our ambition is that the impact assessment will help people to hold us to account against our purpose.    Before he heads off to pastures new, our Chief Sustainability Officer Andy Brown talks about the work that's gone into pulling together the first version of the assessment⬇️ Find the Purpose Impact Assessment here:

Following the driest spring in over 100 years and the news of hosepipe bans being announced across the country, we wanted to provide an update on the situation in the East of England.  While the recent rain has helped river and reservoirs levels and delayed the need for restrictions, a hosepipe ban could still be needed this summer. Our region is in the driest part of the country so we’re no strangers to seeing a lack of rainfall and have had drought preparation at the heart of our operations for decades. In addition to this, thanks to our focus on leakage and the investment we’ve put in place to give us resilience in the face of climate change, we've been able to delay the need for restrictions for now. However, the last few months have been exceptionally dry, even by our standards so we're continuing to closely monitor the situation and encourage customers to be mindful about the water their using. We don’t want to put restrictions in place unnecessarily, but protecting the environment and the vital agricultural sector in the region in the face of such unusually dry conditions means leaving as much water in the environment as possible, so we have to strike a careful balance. Our teams have been working round the clock to fix leaks and bursts, with more than 250 people dedicated to managing and reducing leakage. We already have the lowest level of leakage in the industry and that has helped us be resilient in the face of such extreme dry weather. We aim to bolster that even further by putting £10million into reducing leakage this year, and renewing over 1,000 km of pipes in our network over the next 5 years - 170km of which will be renewed this year. However, the dry ground we’re seeing at the moment means our water pipes are at greater risk of shifting and breaking, so we’re seeing an increase in issues being reported to us and it’s an area we are continuing to focus resources on. We’ve also heard from lots of our customers who tell us that they have already made changes to reduce their water use to help protect the environment, which has been great to see. Whilst we might not need a hosepipe ban just yet, we’re really grateful to everyone who has played their part by using a little less water and we’re asking customers to continue to do their bit, even small changes can make a big difference. Read more: https://lnkd.in/dDQrr9a #Drought #WaterResources #Resilience 

Last month, we visited our newly constructed mushroom-powered wetlands in Benfleet, Essex 🍄   At Anglian Water we've seen firsthand the benefits wetlands can have on river water quality. But this time, we're going one step further to harness their power in a first-of-a-kind project at our Benfleet Water Recycling Centre, where we've built a new mushroom-powered wetland. Said to have even better cleaning powers than our existing assets, these wetlands are planted with mycelium, which is the root-like part of a mushroom. Whereas traditional wetlands are fed with final effluent, which is the cleaned and treated water from our water recycling centres which we are permitted by the Environment Agency to discharge directly into the environment, our Benfleet wetlands will be fed with storm water. This means that during periods of heavy rainfall, any excess water will flow directly into the wetlands and with the help of the mycelium be naturally treated before returning to the environment.    Green solutions like this, alongside a much-needed investment into new infrastructure is an important part of how we're tackling the challenges facing our region. Working in partnership with Catchment To Coast, this project is a Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs funded innovation project with a number of key project partners including Southend-on-Sea City Council and University of Essex. By working together, we can scale the benefits project like this will deliver far across the region.    #Wetlands #Mushroom #NaturalSolutions

Every year, our teams clear around 37,000 blockages—that’s nearly one every 15 minutes. Wet wipes remain the biggest offender, but it doesn’t stop there and the impact of unflushables is serious. Unlike toilet paper, wipes don’t break down the same way causing blockages that lead to floodings and pollutions. Through our Just Bin It campaign and enforcement programme we’ve brought to life the scale of the blockage challenge. Based on our findings, we estimate that over half a million wipes are flushed into our region’s sewers every day – that's around 9,500 packets of wipes. With the help of hedgehog-like devices, we’ve been able to track the source of the problem to inform our work with customers to change their behaviours in hotspot communities. So far we've seen a significant reduction in the number of wipes in our network in these areas. By investing in changing behaviours and working with customers to encourage them to only flush the 3Ps: pee, poo and paper, we can keep our sewers flowing and protect the places we love. Find out more about #JustBinIt here – https://lnkd.in/eeCNtaDa #WaterRecycling #Blockages

Sixty years of Grafham Water💧 This year marks a milestone for one of our region's most vital water resources - Grafham Water, which celebrates 60 years since construction completed. At a time when temperatures are particularly hot, our region's reservoirs are at the heart of protecting our water supply. Just a few miles from Huntingdon, Grafham is England’s third-largest reservoir. Built due to the growing need for reliable water supply in the 1960's, Grafham Water was an ambitious project which eventually formed part of our crucial Ruthamford resilience scheme, along with Rutland and Pitsford reservoirs. Today, Grafham Water supplies clean drinking water for millions across the region and has also become a haven for wildlife and a thriving recreational space. But as we celebrate sixty years of Grafham Water, we also look to the future. With a changing climate and 1 million new homes expected in our region over the next 25 years, the pressure on our water supplies is increasing. Which is why we're building two new reservoirs, in #Lincolnshire and the #Fens. Delivering infrastructure on this scale is a major undertaking but something that is an absolute necessity - which the Government has echoed with the announcement of plans to fast-track the planning process for these projects. The completion of these two new reservoirs will not only ensure we can continue to supply water for generations to come, but also deliver significant social, economical and environmental benefits to our region. Find out more about our new reservoirs: https://lnkd.in/ee8WwFn2 #WaterSupply #Reservoirs #Resilience