Affinity Water has set out details of its collaborative scheme with Severn Trent to transfer 50 megalitres of water daily as part of efforts to minimise abstractions from chalk streams.
The companies submitted plans as part of the Regulators Alliance to Progress Infrastructure Developments (RAPID) for work to begin in 2025 to supply water by the early 2030s.
The Grand Union Canal will transfer water from the West Midlands to Affinity and Thames’ regions.
More than 100km of the canal will be utilitised as well as new supply pipes. Treated water from Severn Trent’s sewage treatment works at Minworth will be moved via a 16km pipeline transfer to the canal in Warwickshire. The canal would then carry water south passing through the Coventry Canal, the Oxford Canal and the Grand Union Canal. The water will then be abstracted, stored and treated again by Affinity.
Water companies in England and Wales will publish their five-yearly water resource management plans (WRMPs) this month, which align with the first regional water resource plans setting out larger-scale longer-term projects that interconnect between water companies.
Phase one of the project will move 50 megalitres daily with the option to increase to 100 megalitres in the future.
Doug Hunt, head of water resources management planning, said the work was underway to stop unsustainable abstraction from chalk aquifers by using treated effluent from the Midlands.
He explained the water will be treated again when it reaches Leighton Buzzard to meet potable drinking water standards.
The project is expected to cost £250 million, which Affinity said will mean bill rises.
Hunt explained the scheme will use existing infrastructure, meaning it is more sustainable and environmentally friendly than altternative options. “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.”