Anglian Water has announced plans for a £27 million upgrade to water and sewerage infrastructure in Peterborough including £10 million on storm tanks to increase storage capacity in the network.
The company said it is part of a £100 million spending drive to grow capacity across its region in the east of England to relieve the use of storm overflows during times of heavy rainfall.
Work is due to begin in November at the Flag Fen water recycling centre to redirect rainwater and hold back excess flows to prevent the site being overwhelmed.
The region, typically the driest in England, was battered with storms that saw 255% of the area’s long term average rain fall during October and more than 111% of the long term average for the 12 moths to October, according to data from the Environment Agency.
Anglian said its work will increase capacity to hold 72.5 million litres of rainwater.
Storm water will be held in the new tanks at the Peterborough site before being treated and returned to the adjacent River Nene in anticipation of wetter periods as the impacts of the changing climate are felt.
Regan Harris, spokesperson for Anglian Water, said: “It’s really important that our sites are prepared to process higher volumes of stormwater and protect the environment. That’s why we’ve committed through our Get River Positive programme that our water recycling processes will not harm rivers, with schemes like this one in Peterborough.”
Other work in the area includes expanding water network infrastructure as new housing developments are adding 4,000 homes.
The company’s Water industry national environment Nigel (WINEP) is worth £800 million for the five years to 2025 and set to be significantly larger in the following five years. Anglian’s £9 billion business plan submission to Ofwat at the start of October included £4 billion on WINEP.