Anglian Water are set to invest £490 million into Suffolk as part of their 2020-2025 plan to improve their services in East Anglia.

The plan has been released in response to specific challenges in the east of England which include rapid growth in housing and the economy, and changing climate.

Nearly 50% of the money set aside for improvements will go towards significantly reducing leakage across the county.

A further £68m will be put towards creating new interconnecting pipes which will be able to move water around the region more easily.

This is an attempt to reduce the impact of droughts, with longer and drier summers predicted to become more regular.

The report said: “We believe this is the right plan for our customers, and our region.

“It builds on our historic achievements, acknowledges where we have further to go, and creates a platform that allows our region and our customers to prosper.

“It also responds positively to the priorities on resilience and affordability that Government set out in its Strategic Policy Statement to Ofwat.”

Anglian Water aims to connect some rural areas to sewage networks for the first time.

Little Bealings and Belstead will see a £3m investment so that their villages are connected, while £4m will be spent to protect the raw water borehole in Little Saxham.

The plan continued: “Our plan has been driven by our customers’ priorities.

“We will deliver the most stretching performance in areas that matter most to our customers and improve performance across the board.”

The plan also sets aside £7m to go towards environmental matters. This includes £2.5m to help farmers to reduce pesticide levels in the counties raw water sources.

A further £600,000 is to be used to help address ground water pollution and £46,000 is set aside to prevent phosphate pollution in rivers.

This can cause algal growth that can be harmful to fish and makes water harder to clean.