Anglian Water completes £1.4 million project to reduce flooding in Holywell Row, near Mildenhall

An underground tank capable of holding nearly 5,000 baths' worth of rainwater has been installed as part £1.4 million project to reduce flooding.

Anglian Water has completed the project in in Holywell Row, near Mildenhall, which began in November and has introduced the tank designed to temporarily hold excess rainfall during storms.

The tank, off Wildmere Lane, can store up to 390,000 litres of water during heavy rainfall — preventing it from overwhelming the drainage network.

The water will then be safely transferred to Mildenhall Water Recycling Centre where it will be treated and returned to the environment.

The improvements mean the village will be better equipped to handle the extreme weather conditions becoming more frequent due to climate change.

Sarah Lovitt, customer co-ordinator for the project, said: “We’re really pleased to have recently completed our work in Holywell Row to protect the local community and the precious environment from future flooding events.

“As a result of climate change, we’re seeing more bouts of extreme weather, so it was important that we prepared the area to store extra storm water before it’s treated and returned to the environment.

“We’d like to thank our customers for their patience over the past few months while we completed this essential work.”