Engineers meeting today will debate a £1.1 billion scheme to move water from other parts of the country to save Sussex from future droughts.

Plans to pump water from some of the wettest parts of the country to some of the driest, including East and West Sussex, were assessed by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and will be discussed at a conference in London.

In plans originally drawn up in 1994, a network of pipelines would feed from major rivers in Wales, the Midlands and the North of England and cross the country to the drier eastern regions.

Brighton's water could travel almost 300 miles from raindrop to tap.

According to the plans, a reservoir in the Elan Valley in Wales would be expanded to feed extra water into the River Wye, which would then be siphoned through a pipeline to Brighton via Bournemouth.

The pipeline from Wales to the South Coast would cost an estimated £400 million to build.

John Lawson, the institution's water board chairman, said the option of a national network, similar to the grid that supplies the country with electricity, deserved to be reconsidered.

He said: "All ICE is saying is that these things need to be looked at again.

"We could phase it in and it would take many years to complete but we are looking at it from a long-term point of view."

Mr Lawson, who works for contractors Halcrow, added that the recycling of sewage effluence, which could then be pumped back upstream after treatment, could also be a serious option for the South Coast.

But water companies remain steadfastly opposed to the idea of a national system, which was rejected earlier this month by a House of Lords science and technology committee.

Bernadette Redfern, of industry magazine New Civil Engineer, which has organised today's conference, said: "It's fair enough that water companies won't look at a national grid but this needs to be looked at by the Environment Agency.

"What the engineers are saying is how can we make a decision on building reservoirs when there hasn't been a proper cost benefit analysis of other options?"

But a spokesman for South East Water has warned of yet further increases to water bills.

He said: "Moving large volumes of water over longer distances would need massive pipelines and use huge amounts of energy as water, unlike gas and electricity, is very heavy.

"It would also have a high environmental impact and an economic one too as, ultimately, the cost of building a national water grid would have to be reflected in customers' bills."

A Southern Water spokeswoman said: "We are working hard with other water companies in the region to transfer water over shorter distances to make sure everyone has enough to meet their needs."

The plans will be discussed at an Ensuring Sustainable Water Resources conference.

Wednesday, June 28, 2006