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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Jasper Jolly

Thames Water plans to restart desalination plant – after drought has ended

A worker walks between giant transfer pipes at Thames Water’s desalination plant in east London
The Thames Water desalination plant in east London has provided only seven days of drinking water. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

Thames Water is preparing the UK’s only mainland desalination plant to restart operations later this year – but it will not be ready until the winter, long after the current drought is likely to have passed.

The utility company said that it was hoping to start operating its plant in Beckton, east London, “by the end of the year”, in order to help build up reservoir supplies over the winter for next summer.

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