Anglian Water has commenced work on a £12 million upgrade to the water network in East Ruston, near Norwich.

The project will secure resilient water supplies for people in Norfolk and protect the much-loved local environment at the same time.

The scheme is expected to be completed in the next two years and will see 16km of new water pipes installed between East Ruston water treatment works and Horstead water tower.

The project will help to reduce the amount of water taken from the local environment by more than 2 million litres per day, protecting the local Broad Fen, Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) while keeping taps running for years to come.

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The investment forms part of Anglian Water’s Water Resources Management Plan, which details its plans to maintain water supplies across the East of England for decades to come. This includes changes to its how the company sources its water, which will leave an extra 85 million litres of water a day for the rivers and streams in the region.

Sarah Underhill, Head of Water Resources and Drought for Anglian Water, said: "Projects like the one in East Ruston means that we can reduce the amount of water we take from the most sensitive places, protecting our local fens and marshes, while also ensuring everyone in our region has a resilient supply of clean drinking water now and in the future.

"It is the continued investment in resilience schemes like this over the past 30 years, as well as driving down leakage to world leading low levels, and managing customer demand that means we still put the same amount of water into supply today as we did three decades ago, despite serving around a third more people."

Without taking action now, the region would face a water deficit of 30 million litres a day by 2025 due to the combined impact of a rapidly growing population, more extreme weather – like this year’s drought – as a result of climate change, and being located in the driest part of the UK.