The 22,500-acre Elveden Estate, near Thetford, is making the "strategic investment" to store up to 500,000 cubic metres of water - equivalent to 200 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

The waterproof lining is being installed over the chalk bedrock this week, and the vast reservoir is due to be completed by the end of September, ready to start being filled from November onwards using licensed winter water abstraction from the River Lark.

The £3m new reservoir at the Elveden Estate, near Thetford, is due to be completed by the end of September (Image: Sonya Duncan) It brings the estate's total capacity to 1.2m cubic metres across three reservoirs, with the other two filled from groundwater boreholes on the other side of the estate.

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