How we are investing in your water supplies

We want to provide a resilient water supply to our 2.3 million customers across the 9,000 miles of pipes in our network, so what are we doing to push through obstacles such as population growth, climate change and an increase in water demand?

We have experienced times when our ability to deliver water has been challenged. So, this is why we’re investing more than £489 million in upgrading old water mains, installing new pipelines, improving our water treatment works and maintaining our reservoirs between 2020 and 2025.

So, what have we done so far?

Expansion of Keleher Water Treatment Works

Our water treatment works near Bray, which supplies drinking water to Berkshire, Surrey and Hampshire homes, was expanded to abstract and treat more water.

The £25 million upgrade to our water treatment works meant that we doubled the amount of water we can treat to 68 million litres a day - enough water to fill 27 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Arlington Water Treatment Works

The water treatment works near Arlington, which turns river water and groundwater into clean, safe drinking water, received a £7 million upgrade.

Investing in the treatment works means we can continue to supply clean water to our customers in Sussex and Eastbourne 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Engineering schemes

The large and complicated network we have needs constant care.

Between 2021 and 2023, we completed 4,482 repairs where we replaced small sections of pipe, equivalent to 21.30 kilometres.

We have also replaced larger sections of pipe, 115 kilometres to be exact, which is equivalent to more than 1,000 football pitches.

More information about our completed engineering schemes can be found here.

What are we planning for the future?

Broad Oak reservoir

We have plans to build a new reservoir near Canterbury, at a site we purchased in 1975.

Since the 1970s, the scale and scope of the proposal have evolved as plans have developed, and it has been featured regularly in our Water Resources Management Plan.

Once built, it will have a capacity of 5,126 million litres based on current plans, meaning it would supply up to 22 million litres of water a day or 275,000 full bathtubs.

The reservoir is required from 2035, but there is the potential for it to be delivered in 2033, providing increased resilience as well as a wealth of public amenities for the communities of east Kent.

More information about this project can be found here.

Maidenhead Water Treatment Works

Work to upgrade our water treatment works in Maidenhead is underway. The £14 million upgrade means that we can continue to provide a resilient water supply to our customers in the town and beyond.

The first new Water Treatment works in Kent for 18 years

We are in the build phase of a new, state-of-the-art water treatment works in Kent, near Maidstone. The new £39 million facility will provide up to 20 million litres of treated drinking water a day to the area once built.

Once operational, it will take water from underground sources and turn it into top-quality drinking water before pumping it into the local area for decades to come.

We also have a range of other ongoing engineering schemes, to maintain the network. To see what we have planned, click here.