Midlands & East Anglia

£40 million pipeline for Boston

Covenham To Boston Transfer Pipeline

The construction of a 61km underground drinking water pipeline is currently underway in Lincolnshire.

The £40 million project has been implemented by Anglian Water and once complete will see the pipeline transport water from Covenham Reservoir through to Boston. The scheme is vital for the continued development of Boston and will provide much needed drinking water as the town expands over the next 25 years.

Anglian Water Special Projects Enabling Manager, Steve Swan, said:

“The population of Boston is expected to rise significantly over the next 25 years and that will put pressure on existing supplies.

“We want to make sure supplies are protected in the unlikely event of a problem with the water treatment works supplying the town and this pipeline is our response. It is also a major investment in Lincolnshire and its future.

“The reservoir at Covenham has more than enough water to supply its local area and other parts of the country, so a pipeline from there to Boston was an obvious solution.”

The Covenham to Boston Transfer Pipeline project is one of Anglian Water’s largest capital investment projects and falls under the company’s ‘Love Every Drop’ campaign, which is a scheme to place water at the heart of sustainable living. Once work is complete, the Covenham to Boston Transfer Pipeline will transport up to 26 million litres of water every day.

Work began in January 2012 and the project has been divided into two phases in order to reduce the impact of the construction work on the landscape.

Covenham To Boston Transfer Pipeline

Phase One will see the construction of a 40km pipe that will stretch from Covenham to Anglian Water’s reservoir at Miningsby. The pipe will measure 500 metres in diameter and has been constructed from high-density polyethylene (HDPE). Phase One is scheduled to reach completion in early 2013.

Phase Two will begin in 2013 and will see the installation of 21km of pipeline measuring 450 metres in diameter. Phase Two will connect Miningsby to Boston and once completed the pipeline will connect to Boston’s existing pipe network.

A new pumping station will also be installed as part of the project.

JN Bentley is the construction contractor on the project, whilst Mott MacDonald is providing design work for the scheme. As framework contractors JN Bentley and Mott MacDonald have previously worked with Anglian Water to provide design and construction services for the company’s 41km Wing pipeline.

As part of the project, JN Bentley and Mott MacDonald are working towards reducing the scheme’s proposed embodied carbon emissions by 50%. To help achieve this goal, the two contractors have developed two new products in order to reduce the use of concrete on the project. Due to their combined efforts in this area, the project has already achieved a provisional ‘excellent’ rating from the CEEQUAL assessment scheme.

Steve Swan commented:

“Currently 8km of pipe has been installed on Phase One and we’re on programme. This is clearly a big job but we and our contractors are determined to keep disturbance to a minimum and make sure people are kept informed throughout.

Covenham To Boston Transfer Pipeline

“Much of the work will take place on farmland and away from people’s homes. However, there will be increased traffic in some places from time to time. There will also be work compounds along the route and some of the work may well be visible to a lot of people.

“We have made alterations already to improve the scheme so we can provide a better route for the pipeline. In Hundleby we altered the route of the pipe to reduce disruption to an environmentally sensitive area and we’re also taking care so that we don’t disturb the great crested newts that live along the way.

“We live in a region with low rainfall, faced with a growing population and the threat of climate change. If we are to meet these challenges and continue to thrive then projects like this are vital.

“Our job is to provide the region with a safe, secure supply of high quality drinking water. To do that into the future, we need to plan ahead and continue to invest in our network. This scheme is proof of our determination to do just that.

“This scheme will give us more flexibility to supply water to the areas between Covenham and Boston and if we encounter a drought we will have greater resilience in the future.”

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