Anglian Water is all a-bat protecting precious wildlife as workers prepare to build a huge, new network of pipeline to tackle future water shortages. 

The new pipeline will stretch from Lincolnshire to Essex, bringing water from the wettest parts in the north of the region to the driest areas in the south and east, and will be longer than the M6 once completed.  

It is expected the ambitious pipeline investment scheme will help to tackle the 30 million litre a day water shortage facing the East of England as a result of climate change and a growing population. 

Protecting the environment is at the heart of the Anglian Water’s core purpose. The water company is using a range of methods to make sure bats – who have made their home along the new pipeline network – are safeguarded during development. 

Work on the planned 99km section from Grantham to Bexwell involves disturbing some established bat highways – regular routes used by bats to hunt food. 

So, to help the tiny mammals create new food routes, dozens of bat boxes are being built in woodland to encourage them to roost away from the pipelines. 

Workers will also avoid night shifts in areas where the nocturnal creatures fly and will stop work when a bat roost is found until it can be re-sited. 

Further north, where construction is already under way, other novel methods are being used to protect the bats. 

Special camouflaged fences have been created to keep ‘commuter routes’ open for the bats. The camouflage fences fill gaps where foliage has been removed, so the night flyers don’t lose their way because landmarks have disappeared.   

Last year, workers preparing a section of pipeline in Lincolnshire discovered some of the UK’s rarest bat species - barbastelles.  

Andrew Weston, from the ecology team leading the initiative, said: “As well as delivering a much-needed network of new water mains – to keep fresh, clean water flowing across the region and tackle the threat of future water shortages – we’re committed to maintaining rich, diverse, environmentally-friendly landscapes in the areas we work.  

“We’re placing the bat boxes in areas of woodland unlikely to be felled in the future, so that bats are able to establish roosts within the woodland.” 

Bats in the UK only eat insects and even the smallest bat species, the common pipistrelle and soprano pipistrelle, can chomp their way through up to 3,000 insects such as midges in one evening.   

The aim of the new pipe network is to transfer water from the wetter parts of the region to the drier areas. 

The 99km Grantham to Bexwell section runs from Wilsford Heath, south of Ancaster, via Peterborough, to Bexwell, near Downham Market in Norfolk – and will eventually join with planned pipelines to the north and south to help move water across the east of England to areas where it’s needed most. Pipelaying is due to start early next year.  

The mammoth project is part of Anglian’s Water Resources Management Plan, which looks 25 years ahead to make the East of England more resilient to drought.   

Without taking this action, the region would face a water deficit of 30 million litres a day by 2025 due to the combined impact of a rapidly growing population, climate change, and being located in the most water-scarce part of the UK.