Water supply infrastructure

Water stored at the reservoir will need to be treated ready for public supply, before being transferred into Anglian Water and Cambridge Water supply networks.

Treating the water

A new water treatment works will make the water safe for people to drink. This facility includes screens to filter out debris from the water, equipment to remove impurities from the water by adding solutions that make these particles bigger, and then more equipment to filter these out through different screens and materials. The filtered water is then cleaned to make it safe to drink, before being transferred to homes and businesses.

Supplying treated water

Both companies’ 2024 Water Resources Management Plans identify where the treated drinking water should be sent to, for supplying to homes and businesses via our existing network of pipes. The treated water will be transported to each place via a new underground pipeline.

Find out more about the Water Resources Planning process here.

We’ve identified the following water supply infrastructure that would ensure clean water reaches our customers’ taps.

Water Treatment works

Anglian Water supply at Bexwell

We’ll transfer treated water from the reservoir to Anglian Water customers via an underground pipeline. This pipeline would be approximately 30 kilometres in length, travelling to a service reservoir near Bexwell, northeast of Downham Market.

Cambridge Water supply at Madingley

We’ll transport treated water to Cambridge Water customers via an underground pipeline. The pipeline would be approximately 45 kilometres long, running south to a connection point and new service reservoir at Madingley, northwest of Cambridge.

Cambridge Water supply at Bluntisham

So we can connect to the other Cambridge Water supply point in Bluntisham, we’re proposing a short pipeline that would spur off from the Madingley route corridor, about halfway down.

Find out more

You can see the areas of land we’ve identified for our phase two proposals by viewing our interactive map.
You can find out more information about our proposals for each source by reading our associated water infrastructure proposals document.
You can find out more about the process we followed to identify preferred options for our associated water infrastructure by reading our Options appraisal report.

This diagram shows the typical process for treating water stored at the reservoir before transferring it on to the connection points for supply This diagram shows the typical process for treating water stored at the reservoir before transferring it on to the connection points for supply