LATEST financial results for the water company supplying Dorset reveal how turnover increased by 0.2 per cent from £222.5m to £222.9m.

The figures, which cover the six months to September, also show that Wessex Water’s profits after tax increased by £3.3m to £60.4m.

Last month industry regulator Ofwat confirmed Wessex Water beat its leakage target for 2009/10 despite the harshest winter in 30 years and was the top performing water and sewerage company.

Over the past two decades Wessex Water has invested more than £3.4bn in the south west economy.

Chairman Colin Skellett said: “The last five-year capital programme was delivered on time and under budget. We were the most efficient in the industry and our out-performance was returned to customers in April so they didn’t face huge bill rises.

“We will be investing a further £1bn – more per year than ever before – to improve water and sewerage infrastructure between 2010 and 2015. The investment will provide a further boost to the south west’s economy and provide employment for around 2,000 people.”

The company is proposing to put in place more than 300 schemes to reduce sewer flooding and increase sewer capacity to deal with the effects of climate change.

Additionally work will begin to construct a new water supply grid which will help manage water more effectively across the region.