Ambitious plan to help ease water shortage in the east

Just 24 hours ago, parts of the Midlands looked like they were in the midst of winter, but despite the wind and rain, reservoirs in Northamptonshire are at record low levels.

An ambitious scheme is being planned to push millions of gallons of water from one part of the region to another. It is hoped that it will help ease water shortage in the East Midlands.

From today, customers who get their supplies from Anglian Water are facing a hosepipe ban - and if they break it- they could be fined up to £1000.

In the West Midlands, water shortage is not a problem and there is no ban, so Severn Trent Water is looking at emergency plans to flow water over the to the east.

Excess ground water will be pumped out of five bore holes across Birmingham into the River Tame. It will travel up the River Trent to Torksey before being extracted at Elsham water works and distributed.

Severn Trent water are using a nine-mile pipe to pump water from the bottom end of the River Leam all the way up to the reservoir- an average of 12 and a half million litres every day.

The water may be on the move but with more dry weather on the way, the ban looks set to stay.