PICTURED: One of the new tunnelling machines and some of the wall sections being produced at a factory in Bucks. Right: The River Misbourne (image by Brenda Spargo/BFP Camera Club) A charity has slammed HS2 for its “imminent intention” to start digging under the Chilterns AONB amid fears it could damage fragile chalk aquifer under the Misbourne Valley. The Chiltern Society has warned that the chalk aquifer – which it says provides drinking water to thousands of people in the region – is “under threat” from HS2’s planned operations for the 10-mile long Chiltern tunnels. It said in a statement on its website: “When plans to tunnel beneath the Chiltern Hills were first announced in 2010, the Chiltern Society and others raised concerns relating to the potential for significant damage to both the chalk aquifer, which supplies drinking water to many thousands of people regionally and in London, and to the Rivers Misbourne and Chess, which are internationally rare and threatened chalk streams that rely on the aquifer to support this very special habitat, and the diverse wildlife that it supports.