Improving Drinking Water Quality

Anglian Water submits plans for 57km pipeline to keep taps running

Work is expected to start later this year on the new water mains.

Anglian Water has submitted plans for the most northernly section of its new multimillion-pound strategic water mains network. The £400 million scheme, which will deliver hundreds of kilometres of large diameter interconnecting pipelines, is the largest drinking water infrastructure project the UK has seen for a generation. This Elsham to Lincoln section will run for 57 kilometres. It includes new pumping stations and a water storage tank and will link up with new pipelines to the south, stretching all the way to Suffolk and Essex. Subject to planning consent, work is expected to start later this year. There are four councils along the planned route: North Lincolnshire Council, West Lindsay District Council, City of Lincoln Council and North Kesteven District Council.

The mammoth project is part of Anglian’s Water Resources Management Plan, which looks 25 years ahead. The pipelines will take water from wetter parts of the north to drier areas in the south and east of the region. They will also strengthen local resilience by reducing the number of homes and businesses which rely on a single water source. The entire network is expected to go into service in 2025. Without taking this action, the East of England would face a water deficit of 30 million litres a day by 2025. That’s a shortfall of 4,380 Olympic swimming pools of water, every year. James Crompton, director of the team delivering the pipelines, said: “The strategic pipeline is essential to address the predicted future imbalance, where demand for water greatly outstrips the available resources. “With 175,000 new homes to be built in the next five years in the east of England, it is vital we ensure we have resilient infrastructure in place to support local authorities in delivering their Local Plans and we look forward to working with them as we develop and deliver our plans.” As a business with environmental and social prosperity at its core, Anglian Water applies green thinking to every aspect of its capital programme. The strategic pipeline will make use of the latest technology, some never used before in the UK, each one designed to reduce the carbon footprint and any environmental impact associated with the scheme delivery. The Elsham to Lincoln pipeline has been specifically designed to avoid where possible sensitive ecological sites and areas where environmental surveys have found protected species like badgers, water voles, bats and Great Crested Newts.

The entire network has also been designed to have the lowest carbon footprint possible in line with Anglian Water’s pledge to reach net zero carbon by 2030. James added: “Our commitment to protecting the environment is as vital as securing customer supplies. This project will help meet our targets to reduce the amount of water we take from the environment by 84 million litres a day, but our infrastructure needs to be sustainable too.

“Climate change isn’t just a risk in terms of the challenges it poses us, it is also an opportunity to challenge established practice and to do things differently and more efficiently, for wider gain. “This scheme is an excellent example of how we’re doing both for the long-term benefit of our region.”

Advanced water quality monitor installed in the Serpentine

The popularity of open water swimming has led to increased awareness of water quality issues. For this reason, Meteor Communications was asked to demonstrate its remote water quality monitors to the UK Government’s Environmental Audit Committee. The same technology was recently installed in the Serpentine.

Looking to find ways to keep improving water quality, the managers of the Royal Parks have installed an ESNET (Environmental Sensor NETwork) system). The Serpentine is monitored by the Environment Agency which collects samples for bacteriological analysis every week between May and September. However, the continuous water quality monitor was installed to improve understanding of the factors affecting water quality. Covering an area of around 16 hectares, the Serpentine was created in 1730 by the wife of George II, Queen Caroline. Originally fed by the River Westbourne and Tyburn Brook in the 1730s, the lake’s water was later pumped from the River Thames. Today, water is pumped from two boreholes from within Hyde Park. The water quality monitoring system from Meteor Communications was installed earlier this year, measuring key parameters including Blue/ Green Algae, Chlorophyll, Temperature, Conductivity, pH, Turbidity and Dissolved Oxygen. Measurements are taken continuously in real-time with updates every 30 minutes to the MeteorCloud™ web portal, with instant alerts for any issues that may influence bathing water quality. “The ESNET system will provide essential data for the future management of the lake,” explains the Royal Parks’ Dr Pawel Szynkarczuk. “We need this empirical data to better understand short- and long-term trends, as well as the factors affecting water quality. For example, a key advantage of a continuous time-series dataset is the ability to correlate water quality incidents with potential impact factors such as ambient temperature and heavy rainfall. “The Environment Agency’s laboratory tests are more focused on bathing safety, whereas the wider variety of parameters monitored by ESNET will provide greater insights into the factors affecting water quality generally. The ESNET system will therefore allow us to make informed decisions, whilst also enabling us to measure the impact of any improvement measures.” Water quality improvement measures currently include litter/debris removal as well as aeration at 24 points around the lake. However, the large population of wildfowl in Hyde Park is the likely cause of any water pollution, with raised nutrient levels during summer being an area that is carefully monitored. The challenges are compounded by visitors feeding the ducks and geese. Raised nutrient levels in the summer were carefully monitored, and an initiative is underway to try to alter visitor behaviour.“We have a campaign entitled ‘Help Nature Thrive’, which is designed to discourage overfeeding – it’s not good for the birds and it certainly isn’t good for water quality,” explains Assistant Hyde Park Manager, Ian Nightingale. “In the past, we have had to address raised nutrient levels on two occasions by dosing the water with a modified bentonite clay which binds with free reactive phosphorus. While this method appears to be effective, it is expensive, so the provision of continuous monitoring will enable us to fully evaluate the cost/benefits of any future water quality improvement measures.”

The ESNET system has been installed at the Environment Agency’s water sampling point, adjacent to the lake’s bathing area, and the water quality sensors are built into a compact water quality sonde which is permanently located beneath the water surface. In order to maintain the highest levels of accuracy, the sonde is routinely swapped out with a pre-calibrated sonde by Meteor Communications.

The entire system runs on very low levels of power, with a small solar panel meeting the power requirement of the entire ESNET system. “This is very important,” explains Meteor MD Matt Dibbs. “These systems are usually installed in remote locations for customers such as the Environment Agency and utility companies; frequently these sites have no pre-existing power or communications capability. “We were recently consulted by the Environment Audit Committee and provided them with a live demonstration; explaining how ESNET systems are monitoring UK rivers and providing alerts when potential pollution incidents could threaten bathing water quality. We hope that the Serpentine ESNET system will deliver similar benefits; helping the Park managers to improve the lake’s water quality.”