THE battle against climate change is a fight for survival for the bosses of Peterborough water provider Anglian Water.

For a rise in sea levels of just 0.4 metres will see vast tracts of the east of England flooded, leaving up to 60 vital water service installations and 1,000 pumping stations out of action at a cost to the business of £500 million.

Now the Huntingdon-based company has just raised £40 million from its investors – the Osprey Consortium, which is made up of Colonial First State, CPP Investment Board, Industry Funds Management and 3i – to help pay some of the costs of defending the company's interests against rising sea levels and intensive storms.

Adding to the firm's problems is that the fact that East Anglia is already the driest region of the UK, with the lowest rainfall, but is the fastest growing with many thousands of houses to be built, adding to the demand on services.

In particular, the cash will help to fund the £115 million plans to extract 50 million litres of water a day from Rutland Water

The grim reality of the threat facing Anglian Water was spelled out by chief executive Jonson Cox at the recent Prince of Wales May Day Summit to tackle climate change.

He told delegates at the Kingsgate Conference Centre, in Parnwell Way, Peterborough: "Climate change is the single largest long-term risk to our business. We have got to get it right today for tomorrow.

"The services Anglian Water provides are particularly vulnerable to climate change, as the region is so low lying, is the driest part of the UK with two thirds of the average national rainfall, and has the highest rate of housing growth planned, with two million new homes to be built by 2016 and three million by 2020. In Peterborough, 25,000 new homes are planned by 2021."

In addition to ensuring more water is made available for customers, the firm is doing its bit to reduce its impact on the environment.

Mr Cox said: "Anglian Water is on target to reduce its carbon emissions by 10 per cent by 2010 and has set its suppliers a challenge to calculate their carbon footprint and take action to adapt accordingly by March 2009.

"We have also received more than 500 pledges from our suppliers to calculate their emissions by March 2009 and adapt accordingly."

Mr Cox said: "The consequences of failing to invest in the short to medium term could be severe and hinder the delivery of a reliable and resilient supply of drinking water and effective wastewater services at an affordable price.

"More extreme weather events are already having an impact. More than 85 per cent of the incidents managed by our wastewater incident team in 2006/7 were weather-related, far more than in previous years.