Anglian Water has been given the green light by the department of environment, food and rural affairs (Defra) to bring forward £300 million of investment in environmental restoration projects.
Anglian set out a total of £800 million in its PR19 business plans to invest in protecting and enhancing the region’s environment – more than double the amount spent between 2015-20.
The projects, which are part of its Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP), include reducing the amount of phosphorus entering waterways, restoring chalk streams in Suffolk and Norfolk, and creating natural treatment wetlands.
The chalk stream work will restore natural features in the rivers to encourage and boost biodiversity.
Chief executive Peter Simpson said accelerating spending maximises the benefits of the schemes. “Balancing the demands of our customers with the needs of the environment is something we take incredibly seriously. As we begin to plan our recovery from Covid-19, our responsibility to bring environmental and social prosperity to our region has never been clearer. This is our opportunity to focus resources on enabling the greenest recovery possible, something we know is so important to our customers.”
Anglian created its first treatment wetland in 2018 to filter and clean used but treated water before it returns to the River Ingol.
The natural filtering process improved the water quality as well as boosting biodiversity with birds, amphibians, bats and water voles attracted to the site.
The company identified 34 more sites that could benefit from a treatment wetland across its region.
Spending on environmental enhancements was a key priority for the company, which said the customer engagement it undertook for its 2020-25 business plan consistently showed high support for such schemes.