Plans to install water pipes from the mainland to the Island have entered the final phase of development.

The £4.5 million scheme, which began last autumn, is tunnelling two mains onto Sheppey near the crossing.

It comes just eight months after Southern Water declared a major incident in the area when taps ran dry in around 30,000 homes.

Cllr Peter MacDonald (Ind) admits the project will be key in avoiding last summer’s problems.

The Sheppey Central representative said: “It’s something that has been completely overlooked for a while now.

“The area definitely needed two sources, given the first one was put in many years ago and was obviously rusting out.

“With all the housing that has been built, and appears to still be coming, we need a reliable and sensible water supply with the huge amount of water that is being used.

“So two pipes should do just that, and that’s going to make it an essential project because we can’t have the shenanigans that went on last year with all the drought issues.”

He continued: “I still think that in the long-term a well is something that is needed in Sheppey – that way we would get some soft water and not be so reliant on a pipeline, so some strategic planning is definitely needed further in the future.”

Southern Water, which is yet to announce an exact time for work to be fully completed, says drilling began across the 600m stretch of the Swale on February 12.

Further work has since focused on inserting a pipe inside a broken 18-inch main, as well as enlarging a hole big enough that a 40cm diameter pipeline can be inserted into it.

In December, the project was halted due to "unforeseen issues".

Project manager Nick Marshall acknowledged the project has faced environmental obstacles.

He said: “There were huge challenges to overcome – our work was being conducted in ecologically sensitive areas.

“We also had to prove to regulators such as Natural England that we were taking every measure to protect wildlife, with rock, sand, mud, crushed coral and clay under the seabed causing a series of adjustments to our engineering solutions.”