BATTLE lines are being drawn on a water company’s plan to install an 8.1km pipeline through Hampshire.

Southern Water has applied to lay a raw water pipeline from a field east of Totford, near Alresford, finishing at the Test Valley Trout Farm, near Itchen Abbas, to improve the reliability of water supply during droughts.

The application has been quick to receive objections, with people concerned over the impact on the county’s chalk streams.

Objector Richard Buckby said in a letter to the county council: “I am very concerned about the effect of this pipe on the water flow to the Candover stream. It would be extremely detrimental to the environment. It would damage the River Itchen, which is one of the most important chalk stream rivers in the world. Also, it would have a serious effect on the trout fishing. An activity that brings a lot of money into the local economy. l object very strongly to this application.”

Criticism also came from Lord Mark Ashburton whose family owns The Grange at Northington and much of the land through which the proposed pipeline passes.

READ MORE: Southern Water applies for 8.1km pipe to help during droughts

Lord Ashburton’s objection reads: “The Itchen and its tributary, the Candover Brook are chalk streams which enjoy the highest status in the UK as special areas of conservation and are habitats of internationally recognised importance. This application threatens the long-term health and survival of these habitats by abstracting water from the Candover aquifer during periods of severe drought when the river flows are already dangerously low. Southern Water argue that the chalk aquifer will recharge during the following winter and early spring, but there is no guarantee this will happen.”

In its latest application, Southern Water said the pipeline is needed to “contribute to the maintenance of water supply reliability in drought conditions, this ensuring a resilient supply for customers and socio-economic activity".

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The planning application states the scheme will be a “temporary measure up to the end of 2030, until new permanent supply solutions are in place”.

The majority of the pipeline, 7.2km will be a permanent below-ground pipeline, with five temporary above-ground sections of pipeline and other temporary accesses, hardstandings, and plant, including a temporary water booster pumping station.

Objector Michael Le Brocq, of Church Lane, Northington, argued the installation will “destroy” the character of the rural community during its construction due to noise, traffic and visual impacts.

Mr Le Brocq’s wrote: “A substantial and lengthy civil engineering project will destroy that character during construction and adversely affect it during operation. The logic of this project seems dubious given the alternative measures being built elsewhere to secure the necessary water supply.”