£7m investment in Caistor’s water treatment centre

The drains and sewers in Caistor transport used water to the centre off Navigation Lane, where it is cleaned before being returned safely to the local environment.

However, in extreme weathers the local system can become overwhelmed and that is when flooding happens.

Nicola Harvey, from Anglian Water, which is undertaking the work, said: “We are investing £7 million to install new equipment to tackle the growing issue of extreme weather, as well as to strengthen the current water treatment process and upgrade the site to handle larger flows.

“The plan is to install new filters, dosing equipment and storage tanks to increase capacity by almost 300m³ litres.”

As a result of climate change, the region can expect more bouts of extreme weather, sudden downpours, and rising sea levels.

There is a rapidly growing population across the East of England, meaning the region is expected to grow by 175,000 homes in the next five years.

Anglian Water say more homes mean more hard, impermeable surfaces and therefore an additional risk of flooding.

Nicola added: “All of these factors mean that we need resilient infrastructure that can rise to the challenge and help us protect the environment at the same time.

“Being able to store excess water on our sites means that less ends up in our rivers, seas and some of the unique habitats in our region.”

The Caistor scheme is part of a larger programme of work totalling more than £100 million across the region, which includes installing new storm water storage and Phosphorus removal treatment at 110 water recycling sites.

Work will be completed by August 2022 and will take place on the existing site so there will be minimal disruption to residents.