Business Green: Madeleine Cuff   Water companies forced to prepare for repeats of 2018’s ‘Beast from the East’ and record-breaking summer heatwave

Anglian Water has proposed a major £6.5bn investment plan to protect water supplies against the growing threat of extreme weather events, the supplier announced yesterday. The water utility said the five-year, £6.5bn strategy is one of the largest investments ever made in the region’s water network, and will help protect local residents and businesses against the impact of extreme weather events caused by climate change. The move came on the same day as the Met Office confirmed this summer was the joint hottest on record for the UK and the hottest ever recorded for England.

Anglian Water serves the East of England, which produces much of the UK’s food supplies but receives only two thirds of the national average rainfall. Extreme weather events this year, including the freezing weather brought by the ‘Beast from the East’ and this summer’s heatwave, have underlined how climate change is set to impact water supplies in the future, explained Anglian Water CEO Peter Simpson.

“The ‘Beast from the East’ and this summer’s heatwave are the kind of extreme weather challenges we’ll see more of in the future as a result of global climate change,” he said. “The plan we’ve proposed, and the millions of pounds of investment within will tackle these challenges head on to ensure that, as was the case this year, our customer supplies are not impacted by severe weather. And despite the likelihood of lower levels of rainfall in the future, it will ensure there are plentiful supplies of safe, quality water for our growing population.” Click here to read more