18 June 2012 Last updated at 14:27 ET

Melchbourne pumps to help during droughts

The first pump was installed at Grafham Water in Cambridgeshire

Two pumps are to be used to pipe millions of litres of extra water to Northamptonshire during droughts.

The eight tonne pumps being installed at Melchbourne in Bedfordshire will move up to 40 million litres of treated drinking water a day from Grafham Water in Cambridgeshire.

It is part of an £8m scheme to help Anglian Water bring more water into the region in times of need.

Pumps are also to be installed in Wellingborough as part of the project.

Steve Swan, from Anglian Water, said: "Water from Grafham already supplies places as far afield as Milton Keynes, Bedford and Northampton."

The firm said the project was initially put in place to take the pressure off the drought-hit reservoir at Pitsford, but heavy rainfall in April had seen water levels return to normal.

"This scheme and others like it are vital if we are to increase the ability of our network to deal with any future droughts," said Mr Swan.

Grafham Water supplies 320 million litres of water a day and up to 80 million litres are currently sent to parts of Northamptonshire.

Anglian Water said the pumps would be brought into service in October after testing.