Anglian Water has unveiled a huge investment programme for the year ahead, worth £425m – the third year of its £5 billion 2015-20 AMP6 programme.

The money will be targeted at maintaining and improving customer services across the East of England. The funds will be ploughed into the areas that customers say matter most to them including reducing leakage even further, providing top quality drinking water, protecting against severe weather such as drought and flooding, and tackling the impacts of climate change.

The company has also announced that bill increases will be pegged at 2.2%,  the level of inflation - customer bills are still lower than they were four years ago. Anglian Water cut bills by 7% in 2015 - the biggest reduction of any major water company in the UK.

Schemes planned over the next 12 months include:

• £17 million to keep leakage levels at industry-leading lows. By 2020 Anglian will have invested an additional £60 million on leakage, bringing the five-year total spent on fighting leaks to £128 million.
• £35 million at Heigham Water Treatment works in Norwich to protect the environment along the River Wensum and secure supplies for the growing city of Norwich.
• £50 million improving, maintaining and refurbishing hundreds of water treatment works and water recycling centres.
• £48 million maintaining, refurbishing and renewing parts of the 37,000km water pipe network.
• £36 million maintaining, refurbishing and replacing parts of the 70,000km sewer network. £3million of this will be used to survey and cleverly refurbish kilometres of sewers in places like Southend, Ipswich, Beccles, Caister, Runton and Long Bennington.
• £18 million to extend and upgrade water recycling centres to accommodate the growing population in the region.
• £16 million to replace 14km of water pipe in the Belstead area of Ipswich
• £15 million keeping sewers clear of fatbergs and wipes
• £8 million to connect hundreds more rural homes to the mains sewerage network for the first time, totalling £70 million by 2020.
• Around £10 million to adopt and refurbish private pumping stations that are now the water company’s responsibility.  
• £8 million to reduce flooding from sewers as part of a £45 million focus that will protect hundreds of properties from flooding by 2020. £1.5 million will also be put up for match funding to get more partner flood schemes off the ground.
• £1 million will be invested in innovation over the next two years to create the water network of the future. The initiative will centre on Newmarket, and will become Anglian Water’s ‘Shop Window’ for pioneering new technology before rolling it out to the wider region.
• £1.3 million to protect the region’s coastal waters by investigating sources of agricultural and urban pollution, and to work with the farming community to protect the rivers and boreholes that provide raw drinking water.

Jane Taylor, Head of Customer Services at Anglian Water, said:

“Bills are still lower than they were four years ago thanks to the price reductions we promised back then. We’re always doing everything we can to be even more efficient at running the business, which translates into value for money for our customers.”

“To strike the right balance we’re continuing to keep costs as low as possible long term while still investing heavily in the things customers care about most.”