Why are you laying a new water main?

At Affinity Water, we are committed to providing high quality water and helping to protect the environment for all generations. You may have heard about our campaign ‘Save Our Streams’ which aims to help customers reduce their water use through free water saving devices, tailored advice and home water efficiency checks.

The challenges of climate change, increases in population and demand for water means that some of our globally rare habitats, such as chalk streams are under threat. Chalk streams have been described as England’s ‘Amazon’ and are rarer than coral reefs or Bengal Tigers. This means we must do all we can to protect them and leave more water in the natural environment.

We take water from deep below ground, which feeds into some chalk streams on the surface. The new water main, which represents an investment of £5.8 million, will allow us to move water around our supply area more efficiently. This means we will be able to keep more water in the ground to help your local chalk stream, the River Ver, whilst continuing to provide your community with a reliable and high-quality supply of water for many years to come.

How will it affect customers?

Road closures and diversion routes will be needed to complete the project. We have identified domestic and commercial customers that will be affected by the works and will be providing information to them in advance, detailing a point of contact, the expected impact and duration. Hertfordshire Highways Department are working closely with us to ensure that road closures, diversions and traffic management plans consider key infrastructure such as hospitals and schools. This page will be kept up to date with information on the project.

Location for Phase 2

The next phase of our works will be starting on Batchwood Drive in January 2022, we wanted to let you know in plenty of time.

When we’ll be working

Dates: 10th January 2022 to early September 2022

Working Hours: 7am - 6pm (Mon - Fri), 8am - 4pm (Sat) & 9am - 4pm (Sun)

How does this affect you?

Your water: Your water supply will continue running as normal.

Noise: You may hear noise during the works; however, we’ve put plans in place to minimise the disruption. During working hours, we have a 'non-idle' policy where plant and machinery will not be left running for extended periods unless they are actively working.

Traffic Management

From w/c 6th June – w/c 11th July, we’ll be continuing the works along Harpenden Road - the road will be open in both directions with temporary traffic lights in place. The position of the traffic lights will move as we progress along the length of the road. It's likely that there'll be some traffic disruption and you may want to allow extra time for your journey.

From w/c 11th July for around 6 weeks, works will be taking place at the Stonecross/B651 Junction with St Peters Street/A1081 with some traffic restrictions. This will be clearly signed from all directions.

• Road closure (phase 1): From 11th July there'll be a full road closure at the junction on Stonecross and the A1081, with a traffic diversion in place.
• Road closure (phase 2): Following on from the completion of the phase 1 closure, there'll be a full road closure at the junction on Harpenden Road/Avenue Road (the section in front of Amrit Indian restaurant) with a traffic diversion in place. See map below for more details. The diversion route is approved by the Highways Authority and is the safest route for all vehicle types. It's likely that there'll be some traffic disruption and you may need to allow more time for your journey.  We know that this may be inconvenient, but we've worked hard to make sure we don't have the diversion in place for longer than we need to.

Access: Vehicular and pedestrian access to residents will be provided during the works. We'll let you know if we need to temporarily block access to any properties, and keep you updated. Where we need to, areas of the road and footpath will be coned off before we start digging, to make the area safe for the public and our teams.

How can I find out more?

For any questions relating to this work, please get in touch via our website at affinitywater.co.uk/feedback quoting project reference P021771

Diversion Map- Phase 1 and 2

Approximate dates: 11 July for around six weeks

The map below shows the location of both road closures highlighted in red and the diversion route is highlighted with blue arrows.