The Grand Union Canal - a truly innovative supply option

The Grand Union Canal (GUC) Strategic Transfer is one of our most innovative Strategic Resource Options (SROs). It utilises existing infrastructure to transfer water from the Midlands, down to our Affinity Water supply area. This transfer will take treated water from Severn Trent’s Minworth site, via a new closed pipeline transfer, to a location on the canal near Atherstone. The transfer will utilise the existing canal structure, passing through the Coventry Canal, the Oxford Canal, and the Grand Union Canal. Water will be abstracted at a location near Leighton Buzzard and stored, before being treated at a new Water Treatment Works onsite, and then transferred to our Affinity Water supply area. The scheme won't impede navigation and will improve the resilience of the canal, with the transfer offering multiple benefits for the existing canal users and owners, the local community and the local environment.

Our plan is to deliver the transfer as soon as possible, ideally by 2032, although it could take one or two years more.

Although there will be some minor disruption as the works take place we will work closely with the Canal & River Trust and the local community to deliver wider benefits such as:

  • Improving access and parking
  • Flood alleviation
  • Habitat creation
  • Planting reedbeds
  • Realignment of the river channels connected to the canal
  • Connecting and improving paths

Doug Hunt (Head of Water Resource Management Planning) strolls along the GUC at Three Locks and tells us more in this podcast about the scheme and why it hits the sweet spot for Affinity Water, between engineering, cost and environment .


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