Tapping into enhanced water supply in Wiltshire

We’ve invested £7 million to upgrade and safeguard the water distribution system in the north of the county.

What we did

Our teams moved on to a rural water treatment centre just south of Malmesbury to set about upgrading equipment at the site, helping to safeguard the quality and resilience of the provision to local villages.

The first phase of the project was completed by September 2024, ensuring that local supplies will continue uninterrupted while the upgrade is proceeding.

Further improvements to equipment and infrastructure in the area will get under way this summer and continue for the next two years. Watch our video to learn more about the project.

Programme manager Kirstie Hearn said: “Wessex Water gets more than 80 per cent of its drinking water from groundwater sources, so centres such as these are important sites within our distribution network in the north of our region.

"The tower there, which along with a service reservoir nearby, receives water from its onsite balancing tank and provides supplies to north Wiltshire communities, including many local towns and villages.

"We planned this scheme carefully to ensure that supply will be maintained to our local customers throughout the two-and-a-half year span of the work.

"This project will allow us to ensure resilient water supply even in the event that one of the water sources needs to be shut down for maintenance or quality issues"

What else are we doing?

We plan to almost double our overall investment to £4.2 billion in the next five years to address a wide range of issues that are very important to customers and communities.

These include replacing ageing pipes, building new assets and ensuring security of supply to cope with growing demands of population growth and challenges of climate change.

We are currently working through the details of our overall business plan 2025-30 after receiving a final determination of the proposals from the industry regulator Ofwat.

Previously unveiled in the plans were moves to safeguard rivers and groundwater sources through demand and leakage reduction work so that 16 per cent less water is abstracted from the environment.

Measures in eight priority areas for customers, among providing safe reliable water and sustainable abstraction to ensure we have enough water to meet the needs of people and nature were also part of the plan.