I have today received a statement from Mr Christopher Hayton, Head of Public Affairs at Anglian Water Group regarding the recent weather and its impact on water supply.
"You will have no doubt seen coverage on the news this morning of the challenges being faced by water companies across the country following the extreme weather seen over the last week.
I wanted to write and inform you of the work that is well underway across the Anglian Water region to respond to these conditions and maintain a reliable and secure supply of water to our customers.
We are seeing some localised impacts to water supplies in parts of our network as a result of pipes being damaged by the freezing and subsequent thawing of the ground, however I’m pleased to report that there are currently no widespread losses of supply in the region. Where customers are impacted, we are working to restore supplies as quickly as possible and will use bottled water if needed.
We have opened our Company Incident Room to coordinate our response and ensure our leakage and network technicians are deployed efficiently across the region to repair our pipework and maintain supplies.
As the largest water company by geography, this is a mammoth task and we are taking all possible actions to free up our resources to respond to this challenge. This means postponing and rescheduling non-essential works wherever possible.
Many of the bursts and leaks we are seeing are on customer’s own pipes and we are utilising social media to encourage customers to check their pipe work for any signs of damage and take action where needed.
Our water recycling teams are also working hard across the region to ensure our sewers and water recycling centres are working as they should and processing the increased flows that are being seen as a result of snow melt water.
We will be communicating regularly with customers in areas that are likely to be impacted as a result of this challenging situation and will also be updating water retailers so that they can liaise with their business customers and other key stakeholders across the region.
I will keep you informed of any developments as we respond to this situation over the coming days, and will be happy to respond to any questions you, or your constituents, may have."