Affinity Water trails strategic transfer scheme ahead of its Water Resources Management Plan

Ahead of the launch of its new Water Resources Management Plan (WRMP), Affinity Water has trailed that it plans to invest in a multi-million-pound scheme to bring water supplies down from the Midlands to its Central supply region and into the Home Counties the Grand Union Canal.

Subject to approvals, the £250m first phase will begin in 2025, with the intention of supplying 50 Ml/d by the early 2030s. In Phase 2 a further 50 Ml/d will be supplied.

Affinity explained the scheme will:

• take treated water from Severn Trent’s Minworth site, via a new 16km closed pipeline transfer to a location on the canal near Atherstone in Warwickshire;

• the transfer would then utilise the existing canal, passing through the Coventry Canal, the Oxford Canal and the Grand Union Canal, with a small number of pump and lock upgrades to enable this transfer; and

• water would be abstracted at a location nearby Leighton Buzzard and stored, before being treated at a new water treatment works, and then transferred to the Affinity Water supply area.

The Grand Union Canal transfer is a key part of Affinity’s commitment to reduce abstraction from chalk groundwater sources in sensitive areas.