Every day, three people in a laboratory at the water treatment plant in Norwich reach for a plastic cup, hold it under the tap and take a good swig.

The panel of experts are there to check that the taste of the water, which has been sourced and treated from the River Wensum, is of the same high quality as the day before.

The practice is one among several safeguards at the plant on Waterworks Road, which also incorporates a range of technical measures to ensure the water remains uncontaminated.

The return of rain had an immediate impact on the processes needed to maintain the water’s quality, as the river’s chemical balance changes.

And while many were relieved by the rain, which has brought more normal summer temperatures with it, Paul Naylor, regional supply manager at Anglian Water, said it had not been “anywhere near” enough to help the region recover from its drought.

“Quite honestly, the rain wasn’t anywhere near sufficient or adequate to make any difference,” he said.

“Yes, it’s positive that the hot, dry temperatures appear to be easing up, but the small amount of rain, or even in some areas, the high-intensity rainfall that caused the flooding, doesn’t really make much difference from a water resources perspective.

“We need long periods of sustained, steady rainfall - and going into winter too - before it really starts to turn the situation around.”

Earlier this month the Environment Agency declared that eight parts of England are now officially experiencing drought conditions, including East Anglia.

But while hosepipe bans have been introduced in places like Sussex and Kent, the East has remained free of restrictions.

Mr Naylor said this was due to his company’s efforts at reducing leakage, as well as a high degree of connectivity between its different water-sources and a range of fall-back options for when particular sources run low.

Past and future investments by Anglian Water will also play a key role in ensuring the region, which is the UK’s driest, remains water-secure.

The company is proposing to build two new reservoirs over the coming years - one in the Fens, at a still-undecided location near the border of Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, and the other in south Lincolnshire.

Those projects will be accompanied by a new pipeline running from the Humber down to north Essex - calling in at Norfolk on the way.

And in 2020, the company opened a new £36m filtration membrane plant at its Norwich site.

“It’s helped us through the winter and the summer. It just gives us the ability to cope with changing water quality more robustly,” said Mr Naylor.

“Certainly, if a drought does now emerge and become more severe, it will come into its own in terms of helping us both through the drought, but also if we then get periods of very flashy rainfall that alters the quality rapidly, it will allow us to take water [from the river] when previously we might not have been able to.”

Looking to the autumn, Mr Naylor said: “I think everybody needs to be responsible when it comes to water use…

“We all need to use the water that we need. We need to maintain hygiene, we need water for living… but we just need to be sensible about it.

“It’s not for us to lecture to people what they do with their water, other than to urge people to take a responsible attitude towards it and use it wisely, as we seek to do the same.”

Pipeline from the Humber

As well as the two new reservoirs which Anglian Water are hoping to build, the company is also looking at what they call a “strategic pipe interconnector”, which will transport water from the Humber down through Lincolnshire and into East Anglia and north Essex.

It will not come directly from the Humber estuary, but instead from a mix of groundwater and surface water sources near Grimsby and Barton-upon-Humber.

Once finished, it will mean that excess water from the wettest area covered by the company can be brought to the dryer south, via Lincoln, Grantham and Peterborough to Bexwell, near Downham Market.

From there, it will pass further south into Bury St Edmunds, Ipswich, before finishing its journey at Colchester.

The section running through Bexwell will mean that water shortages in places like King’s Lynn and Wisbech can be more easily remedied.

And by 2030, Mr Naylor said it would be “highly likely” that the company would be looking to connect the pipe more fully with the rest of Norfolk’s water infrastructure.