The £15 million project to install the new water mains under the Solent began with drilling tunnels to connect the pipe ends to the water network on the land.

A state-of-the-art drilling machine which tunnels underground without disturbing the land and wildlife was used – a bit like a mole

The drilling machines set out on their journey from construction sites in Lepe, in Hampshire, and Gurnard, on the Isle of Wight.

The pipe ends, which will eventually connect to the new pipes under the seabed, were then pulled into the newly-dug tunnels.

Back on land huge connections were put in place to connect the new pipe ends to the existing water main networks.

Every nut, bolt and pipe is put securely in place to ensure the millions of litres of water pumped across each day won’t be able to leak out.