The situation

Part of making sure that our 1.8 million customers have access to safe and reliable drinking water 24/7, 365 days of the year, is transferring water around the network to where it’s needed. With climate change and growing populations putting increasing pressure on water resource availability in our area and across Southern England, being able to move water to areas of supply deficit is becoming ever more important.

What we’re doing about it

With that in mind, we’re investing in two new water transfer mains between our Northcombe and Prewley Water Treatment Works, which will provide strategic links between these key supply sources.

One of the mains will transfer raw water to Northcombe WTW. Currently, Northcombe WTW is solely reliant on Roadford Lake for its raw water supply. The new main provides an additional supply of raw water from Meldon Reservoir and Vellake. This will help share the demand for water across multiple locations and help us protect these water supply sources into the future. The second main will run in the other direction – from Northcombe WTW to Prewley WTW – and will transfer treated water when demand is higher. Moving water around the network like this will make the water supply more resilient in this area. With the kind cooperation and generosity from landowners, our contractors and engineering, environmental and planning design teams are currently busy designing the scheme. This includes a computer model of the regional distribution pipes, so that we can build these new mains in a way that will fully optimise their transfer potential. The design will be finalised in 2023.

Start of works

As of 9^th May 2023, the preparatory work will have officially begun. Between May and the end of June we’ll be clearing vegetation to prepare for laying the pipes this summer.  Ecologists have advised us on how to work sensitively in areas inhabited by dormice and reptiles, and we’ll be working within strict licenses where this is concerned

We’ve been working closely with landowners and farmers to identify the most suitable path for the pipe and best places to access the site. The route has avoided significant environmental effects by responding to the findings of various site surveys, including assessing ecology and archaeology.

You’ll be able to see large diggers, cutting tools and people on the ground using hand tools to clear a 12m-wide channel for the new pipes.

Don’t worry, the fields, fences and hedgerows will all be returned to how we found them after the project is complete. We are losing some of the commercial forestry woodland, however we’ll be making improvements to other areas in order to offset any habitat loss.