Anglian Water rules out Summer hosepipe ban for Peterborough after winter wash out

Anglian Water has ruled out a hosepipe ban this summer – after a winter wash out.

Peterborough has barely seen two consecutive days without rain for several months now – but the wet winter (and autumn, and spring) will bring good news when the summer arrives.

But even if the wet weather had hit the city this year, Anglian Water said they would still be prepared with enough supply.

Anglian Water takes water to supply customers from a 50/50 split between reservoirs and groundwater sources, known as aquifers. After the wettest 18 months on record and with 10 named storms since last autumn, both groundwater and reservoir levels are in a tip-top position for the year ahead – with reservoirs across the region being over 90% full on average.

Even though recent months have been a far cry from the heatwave of 2022, it is the same resilient infrastructure which prevented a hosepipe ban in 2022, that allows Anglian to capture and store water when it’s plentiful, and save it for a not-so-rainy day.

Ian Rule, Director of Water at Anglian Water, said: “It’s clear from this winter that our climate is going to continue to change at an alarming rate meaning periods of drought and flood are going to become more common place. While we always welcome a wet winter to replenish our supplies – this winter has been extreme but it does mean we’re in good shape heading into this summer.

“We’ve known that the East likely to see the impacts of the climate emergency more keenly than anywhere else in the UK, and building resilience to climate change, as well as preparing for 720,000 new residents to move to our region, has been at the heart of our long-term planning since the 1990s. In fact it is one of the reasons – alongside driving down leakage to industry leading low levels - why we didn’t need to implement a hosepipe ban, unlike other parts of the UK, in the last long hot summer.”

The company is also preparing for the future, given the projections for our region.

The most immediate solutions include the expansion of a strategic pipeline network and preparations for two new reservoirs in the region. This forms part of the company’s next business plan, worth £9bn, currently with Ofwat for approval.

Anglian’s flagship strategic pipeline is well underway. It is the largest water infrastructure project of a generation. Once completed it will see hundreds of kilometers of large diameter water main laid, which will bring water from the wettest areas in the north Lincolnshire to the driest areas in the south and east of Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex. It will allow water to be moved around in a more agile way to wherever it is needed most. Once complete, the new network will be longer than the M1.During the next five years, planning will also continue towards developing two new reservoirs - one in South Lincolnshire and another in the Fens. By the end of next decade, they will supply water to three quarters of a million homes.