Anglian Water installs new storm tank in Latchingdon to protect local rivers

Anglian Water’s @one Alliance is due to begin work this month to install a new storm tank at its main water recycling centre (WRC) in Latchingdon, Essex.

The scheme is part of a £100million investment portfolio, which will see a number of additional storm water storage tanks being built across the region to better protect the environment when the heavy rain hits.

Drains and sewers in the area do a fantastic job in taking away sewage and rainwater to the local WRC where it is cleaned and treated before being returned to the environment. However, in extreme weather with lots of rainfall – like what the region has seen in the past few months – the sewer network can quickly get overwhelmed with excess water.

The water company will be installing a new storm tank at Latchingdon’s WRC to provide resilience to extreme weather caused by climate change and to protect the local environment from flooding and pollution.

The new storm tank will be able to hold an additional 538,000 litres of water during extreme weather, until it can be fully treated and safely returned to the environment.

Once completed, the storm tank will build resilience to extreme weather events caused by climate change and protect the environment by helping to reduce the use of storm overflows, providing additional protection for rivers - many of which in the East of England are unique chalk stream habitats.

Regan Harris, spokesperson for Anglian Water said: “We know how important rivers and the environment are to our customers and local communities. We are really pleased that this scheme will help protect nearby rivers and increase our resilience to climate change.

“As a result of climate change, we’re seeing more bouts of extreme weather, sudden downpours and rising sea levels so it's really important that our sites are prepared to process higher volumes of stormwater.”

The upgrades are taking place this month and will be completed by summer 2024. All building work will be taking place on site at Latchingdon WRC on Maldon Road. More information on the project can be found here.