The pipe will carry 35 million litres of water a day when complete

The pipe, nearly 30km in length, will run from Bewl Water in Lamberhurst to the Darwell Reservoir in Mountfield and then onto water works in Ninfield.

South East Water and Southern Water are laying the pipe which will carry 35 million litres of water a day.

The project, to help areas such as Bexhill and Hastings, will cost �25m.

'Forces of nature'

It is due to take six months for the pipe to reach the Darwell Reservoir.

The pipeline is being built to prevent a repeat of the drought which hit parts of the South East last year.

Geoff Loader, from Southern Water, said: "Last autumn was the driest for over a century.

"Darwell Reservoir fell to less than a third full and there were huge expanses of dry earth where it should have been a lake.

"We cannot really allow that situation to go on and we do need to try and be able to deal with the forces of nature and supplement those water supplies if we can."

The companies say they have gone to great lengths to make sure wildlife is not affected.