Institute of Water Magazine - Winter Edition 2012 by Institute of Water

WINTER2012 ISSUE176

IN THIS ISSUE: AMP6 PREVIEW CONFERENCE PREVIEW 2013 FLOOD MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE OF WATER JOURNAL IOW 176.indd 1

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CONTENTS

Introduction

and sanitation provides an essential step out of poverty and globally WaterAid is now working in 27 developing countries to support local partner organisations to ensure sustainable access to safe water and improved hygiene and sanitation for some of the world’s poorest communities. We are delighted that each edition of your Journal will include a feature page on the work of WaterAid and the activities that you have been taking part in. Over the 2012/13 period we plan to help 1.5 million people gain access to safe water and 2.3 million access sanitation, the activities you support through the Institute of Water and within your companies will support our plans and for that we are truly grateful. To find out more about getting involved with WaterAid please contact Dan Barton dan@instituteofwater.org.uk or 0191 422 0088 or contact WaterAid’s Water Industry Partnership team at WIPTeam@wateraid.org or 020 7793 4920.

As a Patron of the Institute of Water I have the honour of writing the introduction to this issue of the Institute of Water Journal. The support of the Institute and you, its members, is vital to WaterAid as we continue to develop and work towards realising our vision of a world where everyone has access to safe water and sanitation. It is with a heavy heart that we recognise that one in ten people in the world still do not have access to safe water to drink and one in three do not have a hygienic toilet. This leads to the unacceptable fact that water-related diseases are claiming the lives of nearly 2,000 children every day: more than AIDS, malaria and measles combined. As water professionals you understand the importance of safe water and sanitation services. You, and the wider water sector, enable the UK population to live healthy lives thanks to our access to water at the turn of a tap or the pushing of a button.

This issue of the Journal sees the last of this year’s Rising Star ‘Meet the Regulators’ articles, where Cigolene Nguyen and Niall Darrant provide a unique insight into water quality regulation across the UK. It also looks ahead to 2013 to the Annual Conference in Edinburgh (16-17 May) and Drilling & Tapping at IWEX (16-18 April). Other features include a response to OFWAT’s price-setting methodology, an Investor’s view and a focus on mentoring. Not forgetting the usual News-inBrief, Members Update and news and pictures from around the Areas. Finally, thank you for your ongoing commitment and support of our vision, your generosity has allowed us to reach those in most need, giving them a brighter more prosperous future.

Barbara Frost

Chief Executive, WaterAid

Features 11 14-15 16 17 18-22 62-63 74-75

37-60

Professional Development Conference Preview Drilling and Tapping Mentoring Meet the Regulators Investor Relations Flood Management AMP6 Preview

Regulars

4-5 6-7 8-9 10 12 82-90

News in Brief Members Update Engineering News Soc Env News WaterAid Area News

Water is a vital resource to be valued, used wisely and treated with respect. Access to water

Institute of Water HQ: 4 Carlton Court, Team Valley, Gateshead, Tyne & Wear NE11 0AZ Website: www.instituteofwater.org.uk President: Nick Ellins Chairperson: Kathy Auld Chief Executive: Lynn Cooper Editorial, Marketing & Communications Manager: Dan Barton Tel: 0191 422 0088 Fax: 0191 422 0087 Email: dan@instituteofwater.org.uk Advertising: Martin Jamieson Tel: 0845 884 2333 Email: martin.jamieson@distinctivepublishing.co.uk Designed and produced by: Distinctive Publishing Tel: 0845 884 2385 Email: production@distinctivepublishing.co.uk

The Institute of Water is the only professional body solely concerned with the UK water industry. We can support and develop your career whoever you are and whatever you do. We do this by providing a unique learning, developing and networking framework. For details on how to join visit www.instituteofwater.org.uk today.

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All change at Saint-Gobain David Smoker has been appointed as Business Development Director for the Surface Water Management Division of ACO Technologies plc, based in Shefford, Bedfordshire. Neville Smith

SAVING WATER CHALLENGE

ACO has a broad range of surface water management systems designed to provide the optimum solution in storm water control and sustainable drainage systems. David had been with Saint-Gobain for over 10 years, joining them as UK Sales Director in 2001 before becoming Business Development Director in December 2005. For the last five years David has been the ‘face of the Saint-Gobain Evening’ – one of the highlights of the social programme of our Annual Conference. After stepping in at the last-minute in Cambridge, David played an active role in organising and running the evenings in Newcastle, Belfast, Swansea and London – see if you can match the photos with the venues.

Alan Gwilliam takes over from David as the Company Rep for Saint-Gobain PAM. Alan, pictured below, was appointed as Commercial Director in December 2008, having been with the company in a variety of key commercial roles for more than 20 years. His role covers market development for all of the company's products encompassing water & sewer pipes, soil and drain, and access covers and gratings – and now also Institute of Water Company Rep, including responsibility for the Saint-Gobain Evening. Having seen the photo of David at the most recent event, Alan said it looks right up his street!

Portsmouth Water Customers have help save nearly 900,000 litres of water every day by joining the Saving Water Challenge. Trying to use the shower for less than 4 minutes was one of many challenges they asked customers to get involved in this summer as part of an ongoing challenge to use water more wisely. Customers have responded to the challenge and over the last two years 20,000 water saving devices have been given out helping water usage reduce by nearly 900,000 litres every single day. Neville Smith, Managing Director, said: "Even though we have had one of the wettest summers on record it is still very important that customers understand the importance of saving water and the role it plays in protecting our natural environment. I would like to say thank you to our customers for embracing the Water Saving Challenge and helping save nearly 900,000 litres of water every single day. The challenge does not stop now and customers can still continue the challenge by visiting our website." Meanwhile Portsmouth Water again received fewer complaints per 10,000 customers about the service it provides to its customers than any other Water Company in England and Wales. Whilst Portsmouth Water saw a small increase of 47 written complaints over last year, overall the Company received 8.1 written complaints per 10,000 customers which is by some way the lowest in the industry across England and Wales. The average for the industry is 53.2 per 10,000 customers.

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NEWSINBRIEF

FULL SPEED AHEAD FOR NEW £44M WATER TREATMENT WORKS AND RESERVOIR Work by Anglian Water to build the new reservoir and water treatment works near Newton-onTrent is progressing rapidly. Once complete this new source of water will help secure the supplies for predicted growth in Lincoln and the surrounding area. Construction began in May, after final planning permission was granted by West Lindsey District Council. Four months later and the site’s huge storage reservoir has now been built. Once full, this raised 20 acre ‘lake’ will be able to hold almost 300 million litres of water, with 20 million litres being treated and piped to customer’s taps every day. Work on the bank of the river Trent itself is also progressing quickly. The abstraction tunnel – which will take water direct from the river – has been successfully drilled some 12 metres beneath the ground into the bank of the river. From there water will be pumped through two kilometres of pipe, around an ancient Roman monument and up to the storage reservoir. Paul Valleley, Director of Water Services for Anglian Water, said: "The site is really starting to take shape and we are on track to have Hall Water Treatment Works up and running in 2014. While big engineering solutions like this new reservoir

AW Reservoir Water intake on banks of River Trent

and treatment works are part of the solution, we all need to think carefully about how we use water. By being a bit more efficient in our water

use at home and at work we can all do our bit to make sure that there is enough to go around now and in the future."

WELSH WATER GRADUATES CLEAN UP AT WATER-FREE CAR WASH Ten Dwr Cymru Welsh Water graduate trainees have raised an impressive £250 for The Prince’s Trust by organising a water-free carwash for other members of staff at their head office in Nelson. The team, which managed to clean a total of 50 cars, used special car cleaning products that don’t require any water at all, but still leave an impressive finish. The event, which helped to promote ways in which we can all become more water efficient, was organised by the graduates to raise money for The Prince’s Trust Million Makers Challenge, for which they have been tasked with raising a minimum of £10,000 for the youth charity which helps develop key skills, confidence and motivation, enabling young people to move into work, education and training. Sophie Straiton, one of the graduates who helped organise the event, said: "We wanted to think of an innovative way to raise money whilst also incorporating the important water efficiency message that Welsh Water continuously promotes. We are so pleased with the amount we have raised

and thank all members of staff for their support. We are well placed to hit our £10,000 goal now. I have no doubt, with the generosity of our colleagues, friends and family, that we won’t have any problems reaching our final target."

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Welcome to Dan Barton (no relation to Richard!) We are very pleased to welcome Dan Barton as our new Marketing & Communications Manager, replacing Lyndsey who left at the end of August. Dan joins us from Zenith People where he has been Marketing Consultant for the past two years, developing, implementing and managing marketing and communication strategies and campaigns whilst creating cohesion across business development activities. Reporting directly to the MD, Dan had full responsibility for all marketing, brand and communication activities. Dan is used to working with a limited marketing budget and has been implementing a strategy to increase awareness amongst the candidate market; part of that strategy has been to create a new website. Dan graduated with a BA (Hons) Business with Marketing in 2008 and his first job was Corporate Communications Assistant with Northumbria Police.

Dan believes he has fresh ideas, innovative concepts and the ability to think outside of the box and he beat off strong competition from 31 other applicants to land the role. At the time of writing, Dan is working his notice at Zenith People but he will be in post by the time the Journal is published. You can hear more from Dan in the next issue of the Journal. Lyndsey has left to take up a new post of Director of Marketing and Communications in the Students’ Union at Durham University. Lyndsey had been with us for 6 ½ years and felt she was ready to take on fresh challenges. She has played a big part in raising the profile and the status of the Institute of Water, which is undoubtedly in a better position than when she first joined. Our thanks go to Lyndsey as well as our best wishes for the future.

Alex Rae, FIWater

Fellow Membership is awarded to people who have served well in an eminent position in the Institute of Water or in the water sector or who have attained an exceptional level of proficiency in their field; Alex meets all three criteria. In addition to his service to the Institute, Alex played a leading role in getting Scottish Road Works Register to adopt the VISTA approach, now launched as "The Scottish Vault'. A world first, it allows anyone on the register to interrogate

Norman Whereat MBE (1923-2012)

Former National Chairman Norman Whereat passed away in August, aged 88, after a long illness. Norman became a member in 1963 and 20 years later was elected as National Chairman in Brighton. Norman served us well at both local and national level and was granted Honorary Membership in 1986 in recognition of his service to the Association and to the Industry. He was very much involved in building the reservoir on Gloucester Road and the pumping station on Cheltenham Road which now serves all of Cirencester. His son, Edward, said they used to call him ‘Mr Water’ because he used to know every inch of pipe around the town and the area. Norman served as Mayor of Cirencester from 1999 to 2001 and again from 2005 to 2007 and racked up an impressive list of achievements throughout his life, including receiving an MBE for his charity work in 2010 and being made the first freeman of Cirencester earlier this year. Norman is survived by his wife Vera, sons Edward and Paul and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Alex Rae has been made a Fellow of the Institute of Water. Alex trained as an engineer with Scottish Special Housing Association (which included design of roads and sewers) before moving to Central Regional Council’s Water Services in 1975. Alex spent the rest of his career in the water industry before retiring from Scottish Water earlier this year. For most of that time, Alex has been a member and he has served on Scottish Area Committee for over 20 years, holding the positions of Area Chair and Area Representative. Alex also served on our Membership Committee for a number of years and is an Engineering Assessor. His commitment to IWater is unquestionable and he has given up much of his own time to developing others within the general membership and committee. Alex has organised various activities including a trip to France. His quiet demeanour and professionalism makes him well liked and respected in the industry and the Institute.

ObituarIES

Richard Ackroyd CEO, Scottish Water

(1959-2012)

the Susiephone web site and view on-line and download the buried assets of other members. Alex championed the system and worked tirelessly on it in the initial trials. Alex was presented with his certificate at the recent Scottish Area Autumn Seminar. In a letter of thanks, Alex wrote: "It was a tremendous surprise to have been elected as a Fellow of the Institute of Water at the Autumn Seminar last weekend; I was for once speechless. I just wanted to let you all know that it is something that I will treasure going forward and hope to continue my involvement with the institute of Water for many years to come. Thank you one and all for this honour."

We were shocked to learn of the sudden death of Richard Ackroyd, Chief Executive of Scottish Water for almost five years. Richard came to Scottish Water from Yorkshire Water and guided the business through its most successful period of growth and development. This culminated with its 10 year anniversary, its highest level of success and its nomination for Utility of the Year in the prestigious Utility Awards in December. Richard was a big supporter of the Institute of Water and spoke at our Scottish Area Autumn Seminar in September this year. Richard leaves a wife and two young sons: our thoughts are with his family, his friends and all his colleagues at Scottish Water and across the wider UK water sector.

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MEMBERSUPDATE

RISING STARS LEARN ABOUT INVESTING IN INFRASTRUCTURE Pamela Taylor, Institute of Water Patron, offered two places for our Rising Stars to attend Water UK’s third ‘Investing in Infrastructure’ conference in London. More than 70 delegates from sectors which included energy, renewables, road, rail, telecoms as well as water attended this pan-utility event, chaired by our Vice President, Chris Loughlin, Chief Executive of South West Water. Cigolene Nguyen, Risk and Value Appraiser, Dwr Cymru Welsh Water and Tim Wagstaff, Demand Planning Project Manager, Essex & Suffolk Water, jumped at the opportunity.

Cigolene reported: The speakers on the day were outstanding and the day was an enjoyable and thought-provoking experience. Conferences such as the Water UK Investing in Infrastructure are vital for the utility industry as some utilities are faring better than others. Shared learning between utilities is essential to overcome the challenges resulting from the economic downturn and the involvement of all stakeholders in the debate is of real value. It was a great success to invite Politicians, Investors and Utility Leaders to share their points of views on the situation and explain how they feel the situation could improve. Vince Cable - and indeed several other speakers mentioned that leadership, consistency and longterm planning are needed to ensure investment is secured. You also need to gain public understanding and buy-in to your projects to make them successful. If you are clear about you want to achieve and you demonstrate you have a plan on how you will achieve it, then investment and returns will follow.

She said of the experience: "The conference has changed my outlook on the long-term financing of the industry, especially when I heard that investors are willing to invest but fear the direction will change. They strongly believe that there are returns to be had from investment in infrastructure. The day has also reinforced my belief that risk-management is key for the water industry to demonstrate long term investment (and returns) planning."

60 SECOND INTERVIEW Each issue we feature a 60 second interview with a well known figure from the Water Industry. In this issue, Institute of Water Director Bob Mills takes the hot seat. Bob is currently the Director of GA Valves a company he formed in 1989, after working for over 40 years in the valve industry. Bob has been associated with the Institute of Water for over fifteen years and has been a Board member for approximately ten of those years. He currently serves on both the Board and Engineering Board. The best part of my running my own business is picking the team to work with you and enjoying the success of the team in achieving the goals each year (in fact 23 years to date). The worst part of running my own business is complying with the many regulations and conforming to a serious amount of administration of ISO9000. I am a Director of the Institute of Water because by working with the rest of the board and HQ team I’m hoping to pass on some of benefits of my years in a Senior Management position. This applies in particular when I join with colleagues on assessments for IEng & CEng.

My failsafe way to de-stress is to do a routine task and think of a favourite holiday location visited, i.e. Bora Bora in the Pacific. I do my bit for the planet by ensuring as much waste as possible is recycled - both domestic & business.

Bob Mills

I’ve learnt the hard way that trying to do everything at once does not work. Prioritise!! My proudest moments were: a. Happy marriage. b. Achieving CEng status.

If I could be anyone for a day, I would be I’m happy in my own skin.

My favourite tipple is a pint of Northern Beer.

The best advice I have ever been given is:

I believe the biggest challenge for the water industry is ensuring, as a supplier, the industry levels out the peaks & troughs of purchasing at beginning & end of AMP Periods.

a. Do not worry over something you have no control over. b. Be objective not subjective. c. Personnel matters receive priority.

My last holiday destination was Crete.

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More candidates attain registration as Engineering Technicians

Christopher Walters Dip Poll Con, EngTech TMIWater Network Asset Management Technician, Dwr Cymru Welsh Water I joined Dwr Cymru Welsh Water in December last year after spending 6 years with ExCAL UK Ltd, a specialist environmental consultancy, where I worked on many multi-disciplinary projects ranging from the design and delivery of Engineering Projects that achieved specific environmental objectives to the hydrological and hydrogeological monitoring of private water

supplies and abstractions. During this time I gained an extensive knowledge of engineering principles and achieved a part time Diploma in Pollution Control which provided a substantial underpinning of professional practice.

Niki Mather EngTech TMIWater

In December 2011 I was appointed by Dwr Cymru Welsh Water (DCWW) as an Asset Management Technician with the Network Asset Management Team (NAM) which investigates and assesses all known sewerage and drainage issues across the company’s operating area. Shortly after joining DCWW I realised the importance of professional membership and decided to become a member of the Institute of Water and take a more proactive approach to my professional development.

I’ve now worked in the water and wastewater industry coming up to 17 years now, moving over to Northumbrian Water Ltd from Local Government back in 1997. I have gained knowledge and a number of skills from a number of roles in different departments over the years and qualifications in both Civil Engineering and Business. Worked on Team Leadership, Budget Control and more recently managed a number of small, yet technical projects.

As my Diploma wasn’t an approved qualification with the Engineering Council I decided to apply for Engineering Technician status via the competence route. The application process was a challenge as I had to select various aspects of previous projects that highlighted my competencies. I found the guidance provided by the Institute very helpful and I submitted my application. A short time later I’m pleased to say that my application was accepted and I’m now registered with the Engineering Council as a Professional Engineering Technician. I feel that achieving EngTech status makes a statement of my capabilities and indicates my commitment to achieving the highest levels of professionalism possible whilst continuing my professional development. I would strongly recommend to anyone working in the Industry to apply for EngTech status. Don’t be put off because you haven’t got an accredited qualification - experience really does count!

I’m focusing on developing my knowledge and skills further into Project Management and gain more technical experience in my current role looking after Asset Protection of both water and wastewater assets by developing a structured CPD. By registering as an Engineering Technician and gaining the industry recognition of my achievements to date, I am also looking to move forward and become registered as an Incorporated Engineer to develop further within Northumbrian Water and the Industry. Gaining this recognition has given me the push to explore the skills, develop my CPD and focus on what I can achieve in the future. I would definitely recommend this approach to other people within the industry.

"I would strongly recommend to anyone working in the Industry to apply for EngTech status. Don’t be put off because you haven’t got an accredited qualification - experience really does count!" Christopher Walters Dip Poll Con, EngTech TMIWater

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ENGINEERINGNEWS "Gaining this recognition has given me the push to explore the skills, develop my CPD and focus on what I can achieve in the future. I would definitely recommend this approach to other people within the industry." Niki Mather EngTech TMIWater

James McKenna EngTech TMIWater Network Technician NI Water I joined the ‘Water Service’ (now NI Water) in 1984 as a Class Four Operator and worked in the New Supplies department for several years. I moved on to working in the supply department - ‘City Pumping Stations’ - which dealt with reservoir and pumping station operations. I spent many years there and during that time I was seconded to the IT department working as a ‘Computer Technician’ which give me an insight into the different departments within our organisation and how important it is to have a good team of people who have the experience and dedication and pride in their work to provide a quality service to our customers throughout the company. I have been in my present position, Network Technician, since 2009 which involves starting work from home, receiving my work schedule through a ‘Toughbook’ device every morning. My daily work can involve distribution network operations, customer complaints, reservoir operations & inspections, monitoring levels, adjusting flows, standby operations and many more duties within the network area. I applied to the Institute of Water as an associate member around March/April 2012 and was admitted in May 2012. As a member I could see on the Institute web site that I would be eligible to apply to be registered as an ‘Engineering Technician’ and have my knowledge and experience together with a broad range of academic qualifications recognised. I had gained a number of qualifications over a number of years, including an HNC in Civil Engineering and an Advanced Diploma in IT and Business Systems, and was therefore able to apply through the qualifications route and have my qualifications and experience recognised by the Engineering Council. All of my certificates had to be copied and the copies signed and dated by a sponsor who was familiar with my work in NI Water. I would like to give thanks to my sponsors for their encouragement to proceed with this process: Thomas McCrudden, my Field Manager, and Maurice Crawford, Senior Contracts Manager who

is a Registered Chartered Engineer with MICE, both of whom I have known for a long time in NI Water. I would also like to thank the Institute of Water and all staff in the help with information and emails that were sent to me very swiftly and the encouragement received through telephone conversations with them. I have been advised that my work experience indicates that I may be eligible for registration at Incorporated Engineer level, which would require

me to submit a report and have a professional review. Now that I have been accepted as an Engineering Technician (EngTech) this encourages me to apply to the next level. I would recommend my colleagues in NI Water and anyone within the industry to think about applying to have their qualifications, knowledge, experience and hard work recognised as a skilled worker and apply for Engineering Registration through the Institute of Water.

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SOCENVNEWS

Sustainable management of natural resources Hubert Desgranges CEnv MIWater Hubert has worked for Northumbrian Water as a Performance Analyst for 8 years. He graduated with a BSC (Hons) in Environmental Chemistry in 1998 then followed that with an MSc in Clean Technology.

Hubert began work as a Project Leader for ASTRAN (Asia-Pacific Technology and Research Network), part of the Suez group where he was responsible for risk assessment and reservoir management projects, offering technical assistance to missions in Malaysia, The Philippines, Indonesia and China. He also did research on occurrence and chemical, physical and biological processes of various pollutants in surface water resources, with the aim of reducing water treatment chemicals downstream. An important part of this time was dedicated to understanding the various chemical, biological and physical processes in reservoirs in tropical climates. After 2 ½ years Hubert moved to Jakarta, still with the Suez group, with PAM Lyonnaise Jaya, working as a Process Engineer, responsible for four water treatment works supplying 635 MLD to 5 million customers. In 2004 Hubert moved to Northumbrian Water (NWL) where he has worked on various water and waste water related projects, including legislation aspects. One of his many objectives is to ensure NWL complies with the requirements of Ofwat and the Environment Agency and his aim is to improve on the quality of environmental reporting. The main theme of his work – given his studies in environmental chemistry and environmental management – is to incorporate sustainable management of natural resources – in this case water – and all the by-products associated with the treatment of water and wastewater. Hubert’s current role, supported by his academic background and overseas experience, made him an ideal candidate for Chartered Environmentalist. His understanding of Sustainable Development is making sure the environmental decisions we take each day consider the needs of everyone today and in the future. Hubert recognises that water utilities (better described as water and waste water managers) encompass a wide range of activities with far-reaching consequences, not only to the local environment but also to communities (local and wider) and to business and the economy in general.

Hubert applies two principles when looking at activities within NWL: ‘Source to Tap’; and ‘Sink to Sea’. Arising from these principles Hubert derives a number of considerations and contributing factors and he gave the following examples in his CEnv report: CONSIDERATIONS

CONTRIBUTING FACTORS

Where are we taking the water from?

Water catchment shared with other users. Other activities (farming, industry, leisure...) depending on the water resource. Protecting biodiversity (salmon present in rivers?)

How far is the water transported for treatment?

Locally by gravity or pumped miles away close to urban areas.

What kind of water treatment process is required?

Mild or intensive, depending on the state of the water resource and what the water is required for (potable water or cooling towers).

How is water distributed?

Pumping stations hidden from view or water towers with visual impact

How far does the waste water have to travel for treatment?

Local STW or transported miles through sewers

Selecting the most appropriate waste water treatment process

Depending on ratio and strength of domestic sewer and industrial effluent

What are the consents applied when treating waste water?

EA Biochemical Oxygen Demand, Suspended Solids and Ammonia standards and volumetric flow consents

His report said: “The above list of considerations arises from the water cycle – an important component of environmental management – and is by no means exhaustive. All of them have one or more potential impact, be it social (promoting development of communities and jobs), financial (business and the economy) and environmental (e.g. energy use; biodiversity). Every step along the water/waste water journey these impacts have to be taken into consideration as it is our responsibility to provide water and waste water services sustainably, to meet the expectations of our customers for high water

quality services with lowest damage to the environment and to promote sustainable use of resources.” In the CEnv assessment process it is little wonder that Hubert scored particularly well on his understanding of fundamental sustainable development principles, his engagement with stakeholders and seeking to influence others positively in respect of environmental issues. His assessors felt he has the potential to expand his influence; hopefully Chartered Environmentalist status will give Hubert the confidence and the impetus to do just that.

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PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

THE MENTORING EFFECT – MAxIMISING TRAINING ROI of the unconscious skillset of the trainee. All too often, due to many of the inhibiting factors in the list above, this does not happen and – retraining becomes standard practice. By Simon Phillips, UtilityPro

The ROI guru Jack Phillips defines return on investment (ROI) as a measure of the financial benefits obtained by an organisation, over a specified period, in return for a given investment in a training programme. In other words, it is the extent to which the benefits (outputs) of training exceed the costs (inputs). However, many organisations do not even attempt to measure it and, in our opinion, very wisely. The models for measuring the effectiveness of training fail to account for several “other factors” that can alter the impact that training has. For example, all of the following could impact an individual’s ability to implement what they have learned, both negatively and positively; n Their line manager n The speed with which they are able to utilise their new skills n Their personal learning style n Their aptitude for the specific training n The volume of change in the workplace n Their time in role n The habits and routines of their co-workers n The degree to which the training is followed up and reinforced. If any one of these is significantly skewed, the effectiveness of the training will be almost impossible to measure beyond what we like to call the “Happy Sheets” handed out at the end of the course. Any uplift in the financial returns of the organisation is therefore also difficult to attribute to any training. So what can we do? Well, the key is to not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Whilst absolute figures should be marked with the type of warning normally reserved for toxic waste, there is no harm in assessing general trends and seeking feedback from the workforce on their perceived improvements. For example, the improvement figures we quote for our Mastering Time training have all been gathered and submitted by the trainees themselves. It is their figures that suggest that the course routinely deliver them an additional 22 days a year to focus on their top priorities, not ours. Another useful measure of training effectiveness is the ability of the trainees to carry out a task utilising a new skill. Whilst this is a relatively crude measurement, it usually elicits some incredible data – the majority of which is negative. This is because all skill-based training requires practical application for it to become part

We spend most of our training budgets on skills based training because, despite all the challenges associated with making the training “stick”; over the long term, it does work. However, we also intuitively know that we could be doing it far more effectively. We rely, as a rule, on the other people in the workplace to reinforce the training and support their colleagues as they practice their new skills. These “other people” are a silent army of unpaid, unappreciated and unofficial mentors. Herein lays an incredibly exciting opportunity. What if we tapped in to this under-utilised resource and magnified their impact, how much more could we do, how much faster could we travel? Much of what people do in their unofficial mentoring role is unstructured and ill-defined and with almost no follow-up. The individual is left to piece together multiple “gems” and effectively construct their own way of doing things. This leads to inconsistency and increased risk in the workplace. With just a small tweak we can totally transform the workplace and enhance one metric familiar to modern Execs – workplace morale. This tweak is a structured Mentoring programme. How does mentoring help? Well, Mentoring brings value to everyone involved in its practice: mentees, mentors and the organization(s) for which they work. Mentees have an opportunity to gain wisdom from someone who has travelled the path before them. Mentors have an opportunity to invest themselves in someone who seeks what they can offer. The organization has the opportunity to share and spread its acquired learning and know-how. In addition to those who are directly involved in its practice, a recognised mentoring scheme also helps the workplace as a whole because it fosters an environment in which people work together and assist one another in their drive to become better skilled, more intelligent individuals. The measurable benefits of mentoring will follow but don’t lose sight of the very tangible soft benefits which include, but are not limited to; n Allows for increased self-awareness and selfdiscipline n Provides an expanded personal network • Offers a proven method to share ideas, try new skills and take risks • Enhances the capacity to translate values and strategies into productive actions

transition into the workforce to further professional career development • Renews mentors’ enthusiasm for their role as expert. And, for the bottom line focused amongst you, academic and industry institutions have been gathering data for well over a decade now and the highlights include; Retention n 77% of companies report that mentoring programs were effective in increasing retention n Turnover reductions of 20% with mentoring Promotion n 75% of executives point to mentoring as playing a key role in their careers Productivity n Managerial productivity increased by 88% when mentoring was involved, versus only a 24% increase with training alone n 95% of mentoring participants said the experience motivated them to do their very best Professional Development n More than 60% of graduate students listed mentoring as a criterion for selecting an employer after graduation n 35% of CFOs said the single greatest benefit of working with a mentor was having a confidant and advisor n Professionals who have had mentors earn between £5,610 and £22,450 more annually than those who have not. The single biggest advantage of a structured mentoring programme is that it helps employees contribute faster. They understand how to get things done in the system and also where they can add most value immediately. The Institute of Water has long advocated the importance of mentoring and we believe that it needs to become the way we approach any skill deficit. MBRSS UtilityPro can help you put in place a mentoring programme that will work both across organisations and support you inside your business and across organisations. As part of a trio of professional development workshops we are running with IWater at the end of October, we are running a one day workshop for Mentors to acquire the key skills they need to start making an impact immediately. For more information, just go to our website (www.mbrss-utilitypro.co.uk) or contact Abbey Olusanya on +44 (0)845 833 0452.

• Improves awareness of personal biases, assumptions and areas for improvement n Increases technical and professional expertise n Creates a culture of acceptance and inclusion n Reinforces cultural norms and values • Allows mentees to have a smoother

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2/11/12 14:21:33

WATER AID

More safe water and sanitation WaterAid’s vision is of a world where everyone has access to safe water and sanitation. Yet, one in ten people worldwide don’t have access to clean water and one in three people live without somewhere to go to the toilet. We work with local partners in 27 countries to develop practical and sustainable solutions that meet the real needs of communities. We also influence decision makers to maximise our impact. WaterAid was set up in 1981 by the water industry. With the continued and passionate support of the water industry and the Institute of Water we have since gone on to reach over 15 million people with safe water and, since 2004, 11 million with sanitation. Thank you for continuing to share our vision and appreciation for this precious resource of safe water. Having access to safe water and sanitation close to people's homes has far-reaching and wide-ranging benefits which extend way beyond the expected improvements to health and the reduction in time spent collecting water. We believe that, when they are combined, water, sanitation and hygiene education form the foundation for all other development and so provide the key to poverty reduction. Our projects enable communities to achieve a better quality of life and escape the spiral of poverty and our focus on equity and inclusion

ensures that our work reaches even the poorest and most marginalised people. This World Toilet Day, 19th November 2012 we are working to raise awareness around the devastating impact that a lack of safe sanitation has on 1 in 3 women worldwide (1.25 billion). Women and girls bear the brunt of a lack of safe toilets and clean drinking water, highlighting the untold story of harassment, indignity and violence. We want to encourage people to join us and take action by asking governments to keep their promises to provide sustainable access to safe sanitation and clean water. To find out how you can get involved visit www.wateraid.org/uk/ get_involved/world_toilet_day/default.asp Get involved with WaterAid and make a difference. To find out about WaterAid at the Institute of Water contact Dan Barton dan@instituteofwater. org.uk or 0191 422 0088 or contact WaterAid’s Water Industry Partnership team at WIPTeam@ wateraid.org or 020 7793 4920. If you are doing something for WaterAid please tell Dan; we can publicise an activity or event through our website and feature post-event reports on the website or in the Journal.

Suzanna Tuwan – Photo credit: WaterAid/ Suzanne Porter

“Before we had the well it used to take at least two hours just to collect water from the river. I had to take the children with me and they were always late for school. Now it takes less than 30 minutes to fetch water, the children are never late for school and I have much more time. Since we received hygiene education I make sure that we always wash our hands before and after we eat and after we defecate. Before this diarrhoea was common with the children, now we almost never see it. The future will be better for my children, especially my daughters. Knowing that makes me very happy.” Suzanna Tuwan Age 40, Takkas, Plateau State, Nigeria “The new latrines are much better than the old ones because they are beautiful and clean. The holes in the old latrines were big and a child could fall inside. The holes are much smaller in the new latrines. Our headmaster has also taught us to use the tap after going to the toilet. Before we had the water tank at school we used to have to collect water from the spring which took a long time. We used to have to collect the water at 7am as soon as we got to school. Now we can easily collect water and everybody at school is happy.” Raila Nannagala Age 15, Kampala, Uganda

Raila Nannagala – photo credit: WaterAid/Caroline Irby

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2/11/12 14:21:41

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2/11/12 14:21:46

Institute of Water Annual Conference & Exhibition 2013 16-17 May, The Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh

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2/11/12 14:21:51

FEATURE: CONFERENCE PREVIEW This year the Institute of Water took its flagship event - the Annual Conference & Exhibition - to the capital of England. In a year where the ‘Cool Britannia’ brand was everywhere it seemed fitting to host our key event in the world’s most talked about City of 2012. In order to follow up the enormous success of this event we had to replicate this prime location for our 2013 Conference with another prestigious location but where? Clearly we needed to match up to the vibrancy and colourful heritage of London so it was a no brainer to host our key event in the capital of Scotland in the stylish and lively city of Edinburgh! Taking place on 16/17 May 2013 (with AGM on the evening of 15 May) our Annual Conference & Exhibition will be hosted by our Scottish Area in a city famous for comedy, castles, bagpipes and of course the birthplace of Dolly the sheep! Edinburgh last played host to our Conference in 1981 so, thirtytwo years later, it felt high time to revisit this fabulous city and once again experience the famous Scottish culture. The venue is the Royal College of Surgeons, less than half a mile from Waverley Station, and our Conference will be held in the Quincentenary Building, a beautiful modern building adjacent to historic Surgeons’ Hall. As with every Institute of Water Conference we will be repeating the usual and exceptional formula of providing first rate learning opportunities with a lively social element which will allow attendees to extend their knowledge on the latest issues affecting the water industry as well as having fun and making contacts and meeting up with old friends. Following two successful years as President, Nick Ellins will step down to make way for his successor Chris Loughlin, Chief Executive of South West Water. Chris started his career as a Consulting Engineer and has subsequently worked in a variety of roles including Executive Director of British Nuclear Fuels and Executive Chairman of Magnox Electric. Earlier in his career he was a Diplomat in the British Embassy in Tokyo, working for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. So it is a great honour to welcome Chris as our incoming President and be able to take advantage of his wealth of experience, knowledge and contacts in the water industry. Next year’s Conference ‘Water for Life’ will be split into four sessions providing delegates with an excellent and overall awareness and understanding of the development of the water industry and how we as an industry can grow. Session one will look at ‘Resilience’ in the industry, with Peter Simpson, CEO of Anglian Water and Chair of Water UK, Chief Inspector of the DWI Prof. Jeni Colbourne and Lord Chris Smith, Chairman of the Environment Agency confirmed as providing their expertise in this session. Session two ‘People for the future’ will address the development of industry personnel and importance of people engagement. Confirmed speakers in this session include CEO’s of Severn Trent Water and Southern Water; Tony Wray and Matthew Wright. Joining this session will be the ever popular ‘Young Speaker session’ which has now become a notable feature of our Conference. Rising to the challenge and presenting in this slot will be Suzie Golics from South West Water. Following Thursday’s daytime sessions we will of course be repeating the ever popular Saint-Gobain Evening (N.B book quickly to avoid disappointment as this event has a cap of 120), sponsored by Saint-Gobain PAM, with all proceeds going to WaterAid. This exuberant and fun event costs a mere £15 and for that attendees are promised food and drink against a backdrop of themed entertainment. This event is held at mystery location and details are only announced on the day of the event. Following Thursday’s evening event it will be back to the conference hall bright and early to enjoy the final day of our showcase event. The final sessions will concentrate on forward planning of the industry and look towards what the future may hold. Day 2 will begin with a Keynote Address from the Chairman of Ofwat, Jonson Cox. Delegates will then have a unique opportunity to engage with another group of talented researchers from the STREAM Industrial Doctorate Centre in a poster session, introduced this year in London and very popular with

delegates. The sessions for the remainder of the day will focus on ‘Water Industry Evolution’ – featuring Steve Mogford, CEO United Utilities and ‘Customer Expectations for the Future’ – a panel session to include the CEO’s of CC Water and WICS, Tony Smith and Alan Sutherland respectively. Partnering the conference will be an exhibition where an array of companies will be showcasing their latest products, services and innovations. This addition to our conference is a great medium to meet your fellow water industry peers and suppliers and share knowledge by discussing the new developments and products in the industry. Following two days of informative presentations, debate, and excellent opportunities to hear from the best in the sector, the event will be completed by a fabulous gala dinner: the sophisticated and prestigious President’s Dinner. This high-profile Awards Dinner will be held at the A-listed 18th Century building the Assembly Rooms where we will announce the winners of a variety awards including the Allen Bolton Award, CPD Award, President’s Cup and of course the national winner of the Innovations Award. This will be topped off with fine dining and entertainment that will allow you to demonstrate your moves like Jagger on the dance floor! Members will soon be receiving (along with their 2013 Institute of Water diary) a booking form and programme in the post that will provide further information on the programme and details on the social programme. So please await this arrival and we will see you in Edinburgh (battered Mars Bars all round!)..…

For further information about the Conference and Exhibition please contact Clare Haddon, Member Engagement Manager; Email: clare@instituteofwater.org.uk Tel: (0191) 422 0088 Institute of Water, 4 Carlton Court, Team Valley NE11 0AZ

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2/11/12 14:21:54

FEATURE:DRILLING AND TAPPING

world water cup is coming home Next year sees the 25th anniversary of the Drilling & Tapping Championships and we are pleased to welcome the World Water Cup back to the UK.

1 By Barrie Light Come along to watch and support last year’s UK Champions Balfour Beatty as they compete against the USA and the Netherlands. We only host the World Water Cup every three years and what a great way to celebrate our 25 years of competitions. Let’s turn out in force and cheer the Balfour Beatty team on to win in the UK against the best of the rest. This year Sembcorp Bournemouth Water went to

UK Champions: Lee Maddox & Jason Barrett, Balfour Beatty

2012 Ladies Winners, Tracey Mitchell & Jean McAlonan, NI Water

2012 WWC Winners Holland

Dallas Texas to compete for the UK in the World Water Cup and came second to the Dutch team.

Association Exhibition, Denver thanks to our main sponsors Saint-Gobain PAM UK.

In addition to the World Water Cup, teams will be competing in the Mueller Ladies Competition as well as for the titles of Best Contractor, Best Newcomer and of course National Champion all part of the National Drilling and Tapping Championships held at the NEC Birmingham as part of Sustainability Live. (16 – 18 April 2013).

If you are interested in putting a team in to the competition next year, or would like to find out about sponsorship opportunities, please contact Clare Haddon in the first instance. Tel: 0191 422 0088, e-mail: clare@instituteofwater.org.uk

The UK winners will be representing the UK in June 2013 at the American Water Works

For more information about the competition or if you would like a demo and some form of induction at Sembcorp Bournemouth Water, contact Barrie Light on 07899 817532 or visit www.drillingandtapping.co.uk

"As a judge I have witnessed the networking, friendships and camaraderie which develops between competing teams. Having seen the spirit and enthusiasm shown by the 2012 champions from Balfour Beatty on returning to their workplace, I would encourage other companies not yet involved to give it a go!" Malcolm Holmes, Judge, Anglian Water “The drill and tap competition gave the lads and coach an occasion to brush up (i.e. practise, practise, practise!) on skills and techniques they commonly use in the work place and transfer them into a totally different competitive environment. It was an excellent development opportunity for them to meet other competitors and exchange hints and tips in such a welcoming and open forum. Although it was a national competition against other companies we were all overwhelmed at the high level of comradeship and support amongst all the teams and organisers, which as newcomers we hadn’t known what to expect. It was such a welcoming and friendly competitive event that the lads have taken away with them the desire to return and do even better next year.” Harriet Judd, Distribution Operations Team Leader, Northumbrian Water

“Drilling and Tapping is a fantastic opportunity for me to take five members of my team from the main workforce, out of the day to day job to practise and prepare for the competition and then three days away in Birmingham to compete. It is a great means to team build within our organisation, it also raises my department’s profile within our company but most of all it’s a great chance to meet and network with other people in our industry, compete against them and then relax and enjoy their company in the evenings.” Wayne Hansford, Contracts Manager, Wessex Water

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2/11/12 14:22:06

FEATURE:MENTORING

The Institute of Water Mentoring Programme wants YOU! By Clare Haddon, Member Engagement Manager, Institute of Water

José Mourinho and Bobby Robson; Barack Obama and Frank Marshall Davis Obama; Elizabeth Taylor and Audrey Hepburn - all these famous pairings have worked together to form a mentoring-style partnership, the latter being the mentor directing their protégé in a new way of thinking or developing their existing train of thought and life plan. Study and first-hand learning through personal experience are beneficial in discovering more about a topic of interest but there is something invaluable about the benefit of being mentored and having another individual helping to guide you through a process or experience by providing you with their insight and allowing you to reap the benefits of their experience.

So what are the benefits of becoming a mentor?

So what do our mentees say about the impact mentoring has had on them?

This is a great opportunity to develop and even acquire new skills which can benefit you both personally and professionally. The skills and development points which will be acquired through mentoring include:

With this in mind in 2010 we thought it would be a great addition to the benefits of Institute of Water membership to develop our very own unique mentoring programme. This initiative would help offer you, our members, an opportunity to develop professional links with other members, whilst enabling you to gain an alternative outlook to your career progression and an insight into the water industry.

n Leadership skills

n Problem-solving skills

Lucy Johnson of Primayer decribes her mentor as ‘an invaluable resource to have’. She writes: “I’ve been able to gain a different perspective away from my normal work environment as well as gain guidance on how to approach my future aspirations”. Another one of our mentees, Ajibola Fashola, credits his mentor with “helping me develop my networks and understanding of the water industry” which has been important in supplementing his University education with ‘hands-on learning’ of the water industry.

n Re-assess your own career/methods of learning

Members who have used mentors in the past have found that the relationship has:

n CV and career-enhancing

Mentoring is of course a two-way relationship from which both parties can gain benefits. One of our registered mentors, George Butler, Director of Asset Management of Northern Ireland Water, said this about the programme: “Initially I was sceptical. I am busy, lots to do already and what would I benefit from mentoring someone at the start of their career? Well, you live and learn, as I have probably learned as much as my mentee has from the experience!”

n Networking; mentoring enables you to meet someone form a different background which in turn can offer you an opportunity to expand your links with the water industry

n Enhanced their training and career development

Although it is often seen as the mentee receiving the benefits of this relationship the mentor can also reap personal and professional rewards through mentoring. Not only does this involvement provide an affirmation of their professional competence, it also develops the mentors’ network of contacts as well as offering them the satisfaction that they’ve helped develop another person’s skills and as a result potentially changing their life path in a positive way; which, like Bobby, Frank and Audrey, enables you to leave a legacy!

We have designed the programme so that is flexible to fit the requirements and availability of mentees and mentors. We hope that from the outset both parties can agree on a set plan which will provide a benchmark for learning and objectives. The Institute of Water simply acts as a medium to the relationship and we place no pressures on either party to adhere to set learning objectives or time frames as we hope that this will be dictated by you and your individual mentoring expectations. We do however provide advice when required and give both parties handbooks that offer advice and pointers on making the most of the relationship.

n Analytical skills n Communication (listening and verbal) skills

n Significantly influenced their attitudes and professional outlook

n Challenges your perception and ideas

n Guided them round major procedural obstacles and pitfalls

n The knowledge that you are contributing to the skills growth of the water industry

n Improved their results by challenging their assumptions

n Providing a legacy!

So what are you waiting for? If you would like to provide the crop of new water industry talent with the benefit of your experience and water industry knowledge or alternatively would like to register your interest in gaining a mentor then please get in touch with me clare@instituteofwater.org.uk and I will provide you with further information on the programme and how you can get involved. Clare has a BA (Hons) in Human Resource Management and has a special interest in behaviour theory and the needs of new staff. Clare is responsible for the Institute of Water’s Mentoring Scheme

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2/11/12 14:22:06

MEET THE REGULATORS WITH OUR

Rising Stars

In the last of this year’s Rising Stars Journal articles, Cigolene Nguyen and Niall Darrant provide a unique insight into water quality regulation. Although the article only covers a small aspect of the interviews conducted,

it provides a flavour of the challenges which face each of the regulators on a daily basis and their thoughts on the water industry, both operationally and from a professional development perspective.

Cigolene Nguyen, Risk and Value Appraiser, Dwr Cymru Welsh Water Cigolene has an MSc in Global Risk and Crisis Management and is clearly prepared to take risks and opportunities to further her career. Although her background is risk management, Cigolene gave a presentation on Climate Change at our 2009 Conference. Although relatively new to the sector, Cigolene wasn’t afraid to tackle an unfamiliar subject on a big stage: just the sort of attitude we expect from a Rising Star.

Niall Darrant, Mechanical Design Engineer, Black and Veatch Ltd Niall was a Young Speaker at our 2008 Conference shortly after he joined Black & Veatch. That same year he took over the role of Scottish Area Treasurer, having served on the Committee for two years. Niall’s recent move from Aberdeen to Redhill will surely provide opportunities for further progression.

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2/11/12 14:22:13

FEATURE:MEET THE REGULATORS The Drinking Water Regulators for the UK ensure that water companies deliver "wholesome and safe drinking water" to customers, in accordance with national legislation and the European Drinking Water Directive. There are four drinking water regulators appointed by the relevant ministers. Margaret Herron has been appointed for Northern Ireland. Prof. Jeni Colbourne is the Chief Inspector for England and also for Wales. In Scotland, Sue Petch has been appointed by the Scottish Ministers.

Margaret Herron Chief Inspector of Drinking Water for Northern Ireland Academic Background: BSc (Hons) in Geography from Queens University. Unknown fact: Keen supporter of rugby, at all levels. Relax: By spending as much time as possible by the Atlantic coast in Donegal. Key Message to the Industry: "We have been given the responsibility to collectively deliver a fundamental front line service; with public health considerations entrusted to us. We need to continue to deliver high level quality of water supply, whatever the challenges in the short, medium and long term."

Sue Petch Drinking Water Quality Regulator for Scotland Academic Background: BSc (Hons) in Applied Chemistry from Brunel University, MSc in Environmental Management. Unknown fact: Has project managed her own ‘Grand Designs’ project, and built up quite an impressive working knowledge of house building and the processes involved in creating your own custom home. Relax: Taming her expansive garden, walking her dog and has recently taken up sea kayaking. Key Message to the Industry: "Bearing in mind the level of improvement in water quality compliance over the last 10 years, it is important that Scottish Water sustains the high level of performance improvement and risk management."

Prof. Jeni Colbourne Chief Inspector of Drinking Water for England and Wales Academic Background: Joint Honours in Medical and Environmental Microbiology and Biochemistry from University of Surrey. PhD on the presence and significance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in drinking water. MBE for services to Public Health and the Water Industry. Unknown fact: Single handily resolved a bus strike in Melbourne, Australia by dismantling a bus humidifier to demonstrate to the bus drivers that they were not at risk from legionella. Relax: Gardening and being a voluntary swimming referee and coach. Key Message to the Industry: "The industry needs to improve its drinking water quality leadership and skill base. Executives at board level need to understand their legal duties so as to better support the industry’s technical staff in delivering self regulation without intervention of the regulator. Executives also need to actively support and make time for professional development of staff."

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19 2/11/12 14:22:18

Professional Development "To become an effective technical regulator you have to be willing to learn from others and to make continuous professional development inherent across all aspects of your daily work". Margaret believes that a sound professional and technical knowledge base of the operational nature of the water industry is fundamental to ensure that business objectives can be delivered effectively. "Employees have a duty to themselves to gain professional development" adds Jeni. "This could be done in different ways such as mentoring on the job, conventional training and such like. Companies need to be flexible and adaptable and employees need to be self starting, seeking professional development opportunities. Don’t be complicit in a weakness of the industry". Jeni was very open in her thoughts concerning professional development, and it is clear that this is something that she believes in passionately. Sue has a clear message on the topic of professional development: "Be driven by interest and don’t be afraid to take a sideways or backward step in your career path to open up new opportunities for development". Sue’s own career path has been varied, understanding the need to broaden her knowledge and experience in each role she has undertaken. For example, Sue completed a Masters Degree in Environmental Management, through distance learning to expand her knowledge outside the water industry.

Tell us about the skills required for your role and the challenges When asked this question, Jeni was very clear on the skills required to undertake the role as a drinking water regulator: "You need to understand the regulatory framework and be credible i.e. have a relevant scientific and engineering background combined with real experience of managing safe drinking water. This is not a first job role! A water quality regulator needs to have gained experience in the industry which they are to regulate. Understanding human behaviours is a critical aspect of water quality regulation. To be clearly understood, it is essential that you can articulate technical information in a straightforward way. You also need to be able to communicate well at all levels, whether it is to an MP or a labourer digging a trench! Most importantly, you need to be able to make things happen." Jeni explained that DWI has just introduced a new joint DWI/industry professional development scheme, currently being piloted by two Anglian Water staff that began working for 6 months as drinking water inspectors this October. If successful she hopes this scheme will be her legacy, so no pressure on the first two industry participants who will present their verdict on the scheme to industry in next year’s annual drinking water report! Margaret has a similar take on the skills and strengths which a regulator should possess: "You need to be able to continuously grow and enhance your technical skills at every opportunity, in order to understand and analyse. You need impeccable management skills and be well organised. Listen and be prepared to be challenged. You also need consistency and transparency as well as good communication skills to be able to regulate behaviours and culture..... Regulation is not an absolute science and there is a need for adaptability and flexibility to find ways to get to the necessary outcomes".

As the newest water regulator in the UK, Sue very much echoes the thoughts of Margaret and Jeni regarding transparency and adaptability. In Sue’s experience as a relative newcomer to the role, she believes that the ability to question and challenge the status quo is vitally important as a regulator. "Having a good team working for you allows you to focus on identifying the priorities for improving and sustaining compliance. It is important to have a good relationship with all stakeholders, but be positioned such that there is clear definition between the water quality regulator and the water company to fulfil the scrutiny role."

We often read that the different regulators have conflicting aims when it comes to regulate the industry – what is your view on this? Sue Petch: "All four water quality regulators in the UK have a common goal. This alignment harbours collaborative thinking and allows DWQR inspectors to assist with issues in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and vice-versa. The Memorandum of Understanding between us all sets out the principles of working together and information transfer. There is certainly nothing in the way of conflicting aims to speak of, as all four regulators are working to improve compliance with the Drinking Water Directive. With regards to other industry regulators, the Water Industry Commissioner for Scotland and the Drinking Water Quality Regulator for Scotland have aims which, whilst aligned, have competing priorities. Margaret Herron: "I do not see conflicting interests and all regulators agree that a collaborative approach between them is really fundamental. There are a number of stakeholders in Northern Ireland Water and there is a need to ensure that DWI NI is independent from all parties to be able to influence on the delivery of safe drinking water; however it is important to understand the other parties’ priorities and understand that not everyone can have exactly what they want and all need to agree on the right priorities while recognising the financial pressures. All of these are recorded in the Memorandum of Understanding and the Water Stakeholders Partnership Agreement." Prof. Jeni Colbourne: "This perception is a consequence of a fair amount of ignorance borne out of a surprising lack of understanding of the Regulatory Framework, particularly the Water Act which despite its age (1991) was well written, with clear accountabilities for each of the regulators: environmental (EA), economic (Ofwat) and drinking water safety (DWI)." Prof. Colbourne remarks that a considerable amount of the DWI’s time is spent on advising water companies and other stakeholders about things they should already know! It is for this reason that one of her main actions on taking up the role was changing the way that drinking water quality is reported; a wealth of information is now available on the DWI’s website thus ensuring easy access and transparency. Continued improvement in this area is a key objective and focus for the DWI.

"To become an effective technical regulator you have to be willing to learn from others and to make continuous professional development inherent across all aspects of your daily work"

Margaret Herron

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FEATURE:MEET THE REGULATORS "All four water quality regulators in the UK have a common goal. This alignment harbours collaborative thinking and allows DWQR inspectors to assist with issues in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and vice-versa. The Memorandum of Understanding between us all sets out the principles of working together and information transfer." Sue Petch

How do you see the future of Water Quality: is 100% compliance the aim and is this cost beneficial?

Do your resources allow you to coach water companies to improve water quality after an incident or breach?

All four drinking water regulators agree that 100% compliance with the standards is a basic core aim because either you do or you do not comply with the European Legislation. However; it is also understood that operational events can and will happen and what matters then is the significance of the failure and how well recovery is managed. Robust proactive and preventative action plans and risk management plans are needed to demonstrate that a company is delivering wholesome and safe drinking water to consumers.

Coaching is inherent within the regulatory approach, where every incident, audit and subsequent recommendation is explained and discussed. Feedback and opportunity for discussion in the case of enforcement is also part of coaching. Margaret mentioned that it was part of her "no surprise policy" if there is a water quality event. Jeni confirmed that the DWI operates on a very similar basis. She expressed her keenness for the industry to continue efforts to develop a culture of shared learning and openness. Even though water companies are not in direct competition in relation to the primary duty to supply safe clean drinking water there are still pockets of resistance to shared learning, for example, the regulators are not always invited to participate in industry learning events. However she was pleased to explain that the number of invitations for her and her senior inspectors to attend board meetings had increased. The DWQR also takes a proactive approach and meets with Scottish Water on a quarterly basis to discuss drinking water quality compliance. This helps to ensure any persistent water quality issues are tackled in a timely fashion and this is in fact the first step in the enforcement policy. Open dialogue and cooperation is vital, with enforcement used as a last resort.

Margaret explained about the Drinking Water Safety plans and how this risk assessment tool is being used to prioritise investment and ensure that Northern Ireland Water secures and prioritises capital investment. This is very similar to the approach being taken by Scottish Water. Sue explained that the DWQRâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s role is to ensure that where there is a risk of failing a drinking water quality duty, there is a robust plan of action in place to address that risk. To add to this, Jeni advised that the DWI will intervene through enforcement only if there is evidence of an ongoing problem and additional control measures need to be taken by the company to meet the standards. OFWATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s role is to challenge the cost of delivering the fix, not the fact that there is an issue that needs addressing.

How does the DWI ensure that all parties are informed about Drinking Water Quality and how is this monitored? The four drinking water regulators have a transparency policy with information made freely available on the internet and published in the public domain. Additionally, exchanges through Water UK and UKWIR and a Memorandum of Understanding with stakeholders such as the Environment Agency and UK Drinking Water Regulators ensure that lessons learnt are shared across the UK and wider with equivalents in Europe. Specific topic review meetings are also in place with individual water companies. Each water company is solely responsible for securing the competence of contractors and partners where the work which they are undertaking has the potential to affect drinking water quality. In relation to private water supplies the drinking water regulators similarly provide advice in the form of leaflets, tools and information workshops for local authority environmental health officers to enable then to communicate consistently and effectively with owners of private water supplies. The regulators also serve as the arbiters of complex complaints from consumers or private supply owners in those circumstances where the front line response of the water company or environmental health officer has not proved satisfactory.

What are the biggest challenges which the water companies face in 2012/13? Margaret Heron Chief Inspector for Northern Ireland: "For NI Water the process to plan investment under its current funding arrangements is a challenge. The Price Control (PC) process began as PC10 for a period of 3 years; this has been extended for an additional 2 years. Planning to get the right prioritisation to deliver the right outcomes to meet everyoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s objectives continues to require good collaborative working." Margaret will continue to focus on the continuing provision of high quality drinking water for Northern Ireland. Professor Jeni Colbourne DWI Chief Inspector for England and Wales: "For the upcoming price review PR14 water companies need to address their weakness in technical knowledge (outsourced), they also will need to align regulatory risk assessment and risk management processes with company business planning processes in order to fully understand and prioritise requirements for the delivery of safe clean drinking water that is acceptable to consumers." Sue Petch DWQR for Scotland: "There are still a significant number of water quality projects to be delivered in the Q&S 3b investment programme. Scottish Water is midway through delivering this programme, with the focus now shifting to the next investment programme (SR15)."

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FEATURE:MEET THE REGULATORS

DWI and Innovation We learnt that the drinking water regulators are keen to see innovation in the water industry. DWI Northern Ireland and DWQR Scotland are not funded to look at innovation themselves; however through the memorandum of understanding and a UKWIR agreement, all UK regions have access to information created through the industry and Defra R&D and development. The water quality regulators do not provide innovation in water supply operations

themselves, rather through better regulation initiatives they ensure that regulation is not a barrier to innovation by publishing clear criteria for the safe introduction of any new product/material/process in contact with drinking water. These are available on the DWI website and any business intending to develop a new product should look at these before starting development of the product.

Margaret Herron on Northern Ireland DWI

the main safeguard to ensure that raw water is suitable for abstraction for drinking water supply purposes, either with or without additional treatment. Government has recognised that any changes to the trading regime may need to be accompanied by the provision of additional powers for DWI to secure that drinking water safety cannot be compromised.

What lessons have been learned as a consequence of the water shortages experienced in December 2010, and how do you monitor water quality during these types of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;crisisâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; situations? The Northern Ireland Authority for Utility Regulation carried out the lead investigation following the extreme freeze / thaw incident which caused major disruption to water supplies. A recovery action place was put in place to address the problems identified. The priority was to get water to people through alternative supply arrangements and DWI needed to make sure that NI Water was managing the risks to prevent possible contamination until water supplies were restored to normal. This put pressure on the operational team in NI Water to provide sufficiently informed reports to enable DWI to be satisfied that water supplies remained safe to drink. A major incident such as this which left people without water, made people realise how precious water is.

Professor Jeni Colbourne on England and Wales DWI

What is the position of DWI on deregulation / competition within the water industry? OFWAT has the role of determining that a new water company is competent in the widest sense and grants the licence, whereas DWI carries out checks that any new water company understands and can deliver its technical duties in relation to the supply of safe clean drinking water. Competition has not been significant historically probably because new suppliers have to be technically at the same level as all other water companies and to manage the risks in relation to complex water supply arrangements it is necessary to demonstrate good communications and open sharing of technical and customer information between existing and new companies: such a culture tends to be counter intuitive in an immature competitive environment.

In light of the intense pressure placed on raw water sources in parts of England, and the need for water companies to look at alternative supplies, what issues if any, do you see this bringing to drinking water quality? The trading of water is nothing new and is catered for already within the framework of drinking water regulation. That is not to say there have not been problems and increased abstraction trading or development of new resources will bring challenges for those water companies that do not have sufficient technical understanding and sound risk management processes in place. The regulatory risk assessment process is the mechanism that provides

Sue Petch on Scotland Drinking Water Quality

As the newest UK drinking water regulator, how have you settled into the role as DWQR for Scotland? Sue reflected on her start to becoming the drinking water quality regulator for Scotland as being very enjoyable and is a new challenge. Taking the opportunity to get to the "front-line" by participating in audits with the inspectors helped Sue get to grips with her new role quickly and effectively. She also had to meet and form new relationships with stakeholders very early on. Thankfully the team was well established and already functioned effectively, which this helped immensely.

With technological advances and the drive towards automation continuing, are improvements being seen in both water quality and level of data available for scrutiny? Scotland has a large number of challenging site locations and supply areas, not to mention the challenging geography! Scotland proportionately has a large number of small sites, with the large majority now having robust forms of treatment and most importantly, automatic shutdown capability when water quality is outside drinking water parameters. Operational response and telemetry was previously viewed as an area of concern by DWQR. However Scottish Water has and continues to make significant advancements in both areas which have undoubtedly improved security of supply.

The unique opportunity to interview the drinking water regulators governing the supply of drinking water to the UK public has given Niall and Cigolene an unrivalled experience. It is fair to say that this experience has given inspiration to both young professionals, and a desire to keep pushing the envelope.

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WEHOLITE

New social housing development to benefit from innovative flood alleviation scheme

A new extra care housing development has adopted market leading Weholite technology to help safeguard vulnerable residents from the risk of flooding. Asset International Ltd (Asset), manufacturer of high density polyethylene pipe (HDPE), has been commissioned by sub-contractor, Seddon Construction, to provide a Weholite Storm Water Attenuation Tank to manage excess water and prevent flooding at the £2.85m Sorogold Street project in St Helens. The development is being delivered by Ashley House, leading developers in the health and social care property market, in partnership with St Helen’s Council. Steve Dawson, quantity surveyor for Seddon Construction, commented: “With the north west of England accustomed to significant levels of rainfall, new developments are required to address the collection of surface water. It’s also particularly pertinent to safeguard vulnerable residents from potential flooding and the associated disruption.

“When choosing a solution it was imperative that we sourced United Utilities approved products. After much research and planning, Weholite presented itself as not only the best but most cost effective solution for the project.” Weholite attenuation tanks are designed to manage peak flow rates, by storing excess flow on site during heavy rainfall and then releasing it gradually via an outfall. The tank, which is being installed under the site’s car park, has a storage capacity of 300m3 and is made up of five parallel runs of 2.4m diameter Weholite pipe, with six integral 1.2m diameter access shafts. Steve Dawson continued: “Weholite also has many other benefits. The pipe’s lightweight design enabled us to reduce the amount of lifting equipment required and as a result we were able

to keep disturbance to a minimum, which was vital because of the residential area adjacent to the site. All in all, I would say that Weholite proved to be a highly cost-effective solution.” Weholite pipes, unlike traditional materials, can be moved in 14m lengths as opposed to 2.5m sections, meaning the amount of tracking across the site from the delivery area to the tank excavation was also reduced, enabling the use of a single machine. The pipes also nest inside each other for transportation, eliminating the need for multiple lorry loads saving a considerable amount disturbance to the local area. For more information about Weholite please call Asset International Ltd. on 01633 273081 or visit www.weholite.co.uk

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Saving Selby When the River Ouse threatens to flood the town of Selby in North Yorkshire, the Selby Dam is a key flood defence for the town. A new £321,000 refurbishment aims to bring it into the 21st Century. Selby, in Yorkshire, is located on the River Ouse, which over the centuries has been of great commercial benefit to the town, but also a considerable menace during periods of heavy rainfall. In the last decade alone, the town has been placed at serious risk of flooding on a number of occasions and more than £18 million has been spent on flood defences. A key part of this defence is the Selby Dam which runs for more than six miles and is separated from the River Ouse by its pumping station, where the dam and river meet in the centre of the town. The pumping station played a vital role protecting Selby during the floods of June 2007, when it ran continuously for more than three weeks. It is estimated that as many as 321 homes and businesses are at risk of flooding when water in Selby Dam backs up and needs pumping out. Bruce Saunders, project engineer at Xylem Water Solutions, says the Selby Dam plays a vital role in defending the town. “Selby Dam is the main flood defence for the town and the pumping station is the key component, managing water levels in the dam at high tides, when it can’t discharge into the River Ouse.” The dam’s primary function is land drainage from rural farmland, with the pumping station

structure preventing the River Ouse back flowing into the dam at periods of high tide. During periods of low tide, the pumping station is by-passed underneath, with the flow passing through a central chamber, via four flap valves into a culvert which leads direct to the River Ouse. As the tide rises, the flap valves close and water backs up in the dam. Depending on the level the dam rises to, the pumps kick-in and removes the water from the dam into the River Ouse. Due to the sheer amount of rainfall in 2007, the original pumps were unable to cope with the sudden surge in volume of water, causing water levels to rise with Selby almost flooding. As a result, the decision was therefore taken to fully refurbish and upgrade the pumping station, with the installation of new, easy to maintain pumps, along with a series of additional control features and early warning systems. Prior to the refurbishment the pumping station was fitted with four vertical spindle pumps which dated from the 1960s. Although the pumps were used infrequently, with the exception of periods of high water flow, there were a number of age and maintenance issues which needed to be solved. “The existing pumps worked well but could not cope with large surges in water volume. In addition, there was the on-going problem that

the pumps were difficult to access and maintain,” says Mr Saunders. “What’s more, the shafts were greased by machines which needed checking and topping up at regular intervals, all of which added to on-going maintenance costs. In order to gain access to the pumps it was necessary to drain the respective pump cell completely.” When selecting replacement equipment, Flygt had to consider specific design criteria stipulated by the Environment Agency. Due to the design of the electrical network feeding the pumping station, electrical loadings imposed by the replacement equipment could not exceed the loadings of the existing equipment. Secondly, electrical noise on the system had to be limited to the values specified in the electrical regulations, further complicated as there was no means of totally isolating the two electric feeder cables into the pumping station from the electricity supply transformer which also fed other parts of the town. Finally, the station had to be kept as fully operational as possible during the refurbishment. A harmonic study of the electrical supply was undertaken and two 400 amp wall mounted isolators were installed, feeding fully automated temporary variable speed drive starters. This enabled the existing pumps to be replaced one

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XYLEM

at a time, whilst always providing three fully operational pumps, during the refurbishment. A new motor control centre, equipped with two Flygt 90kW PumpSmart variable speed drives (VSD) and two ABB low harmonic drives was the

solution to the electrical noise problem. Using the VSD units meant that the electrical supply constraints could be maintained and these units could offer the Environment Agency possible future energy savings by running the pumps at reduced speeds. The proposed pumps were four Flygt PL7061 large submersibles, together with the discharge columns and pipe work.

years, and the refurbishment ensures that the town now has a modern pumping station that can defend and reduce the risk of flooding to homes and businesses,” says Mr. Saunders. “In addition, the new Flygt pumps are easier to maintain and can offer energy savings when operating at reduce speeds, which is a benefit to on-going running costs and the environment.

The new control panel offers five different ways of controlling the pumps. This includes two automatic, main and backup ultrasonic controllers which automatically start the pumps as the levels rise. A third means of control is offered by automatic electrode hardwire back-up. If this fails then there is an option of starting, stopping and resetting the pumps via telemetry, from an Environment Agency control centre.

Xylem offers a broad portfolio of products, through its five market leading brands which are supported by a comprehensive range of services. Flygt TotalCare Services can be tailored to meet the unique requirements of our customers, culminating in a complete solution. The Selby Dam project incorporated a number of these services including Installation & Commissioning and Monitoring & Supervision.

If all else fails, the pump station can be controlled manually on site..

For more information on Xylem’s market leading products and how TotalCare Services can help your business, visit www.xyleminc.com or call 0115 940 0111

“The pumping station has played a very important role to protect Selby against flooding over the

“The existing pumps worked well but could not cope with large surges in water volume. In addition, there was the on-going problem that the pumps were difficult to access and maintain”

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2/11/12 14:22:57

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2/11/12 14:23:01

PALINTEST

PALINTEST DONATES FLUORIDE TESTING KITS FOR AMCHI DENTAL OUTREACH PROJECT Palintest Ltd, the leading name in water analysis products, is delighted to support the AMCHI Dental Outreach Project in India. The AMCHI project aims to provide primary dental care to remote communities in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir.

WEST HANOI CROWNE PLAZA TRUSTS ITS DRINKING WATER TO HANOVIA UV Hanovia’s UV technology is disinfecting drinking water for the Crowne Plaza Group’s flagship five star West Hanoi hotel in Vietnam.

The UV systems remove potentially harmful microorganisms from the incoming city water supply, in line with WHO* guidelines for drinking water quality. All the Hanovia UV systems are designed to provide a minimum 99.9% reduction in E.coli, Cryptospiridium, Giardia and other harmful microorganisms.

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One of the Hanovia UV system during installation at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, West Hanoi

“Although Hanoi’s city water supply is normally free of E.coli, the design consultant for the Crowne Plaza specified UV disinfection for its five star hotels in Vietnam to ensure all water meets the WHO’s drinking water quality guidelines,” commented Hanovia’s Asia Pacific Manager Ying Xu. “In this way the hotel group is providing an extra level of health and safety for its residents,” added Ying. Volunteers preparing to carry out emergency dental care

The project includes field testing of fluoride levels in local drinking water supplies, as high concentrations can cause dental fluorosis in children resulting in permanent tooth damage, pain and discomfort. Palintest Ltd has donated the equipment and reagents that will enable volunteers to perform the necessary tests simply, accurately and reliably. The AMCHI 2012 project will provide initial primary dental care for villagers, as well as education regarding methods to limit exposure to high fluoride concentrations. The field testing equipment will be crucial to the education process and on-going prevention of the condition. The AMCHI Dental Outreach Project 2012 is entirely funded by donation and donors can contribute via the www.justgiving.com/Amchi-dental-outreach page.

“We selected Hanovia’s UV systems for this installation because of the company’s high brand recognition as a supplier of quality, high-end UV systems,” said a spokesperson from STD&S Co., Ltd, Hanovia’s exclusive Vietnam distributor. “The hotel group is so satisfied with the performance of the UV systems that it has ordered more units for another hotel currently under construction in the Vietnamese coastal city of Nhan Trang,” the spokesperson added. 10 UV systems are installed in the West Hanoi hotel: four PMD medium pressure UV units and six AF3 amalgam UV units, with flow rates ranging from 162m3/h down to 5m3/h. One of the AF3 systems disinfects water for the hotel’s restaurant; the other nine treat water for all the hotel bedrooms, apartment complexes and offices. All the UV systems treat water from a storage tank that has passed through a water softener and sand filter. Water passing through the UV system serving the restaurant also passes through a RO (reverse osmosis) filter immediately prior to UV disinfection, offering an additional level of protection. The WHO describes UV radiation as “biocidal between wavelengths of 180 and 320 nm. It can be used to inactivate protozoa, bacteria, bacteriophages, yeast, viruses, fungi and algae.”

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Advanced Digestion is a key step to sustainable wastewater service Advanced Digestion (AD) is now a key part of the strategy of many of the UK’s Water companies to achieve their sustainable targets and move towards power self-sufficient wastewater service. Advanced Digestion includes a biological or thermal pre-treatment stage to help maximise the conversion of organic material to biogas. It improves pathogen destruction to produce a high quality enhanced treated sludge that can be beneficially recycled to local agriculture at reduced costs.

at Cardiff, operational savings of over £5M/y and an operational carbon saving of over 50,000tCO2/y, equivalent to the beneficial effect of a forest of five million trees. GTM (a joint venture between Imtech and Galliford Try) recently commissioned its latest thermal Advanced Digestion plant for Northumbrian Water, which is its most efficient yet. The Cambi Advanced Digestion plant at Howdon treats up to 40,000tDS/y, with capacity to treat indigenous sludge and sludge cake imported from other outlying treatment works. This integrated project includes dewatering, cake reception, thermal hydrolysis plant, three 6000m3 digesters and 6MWe CHP units. Early results show conversion to renewable power of approximately 1.1MWh/tDS, allowing Northumbrian Water to process all sewage sludge through Advanced Digestion to maximise renewable power generation. Imtech continues to further develop innovative solutions to maximise the benefit of Advanced Digestion. The company is currently developing a number of gas-togrid and food waste AD projects for various water companies.

Imtech has played a leading role in the development of Advanced Digestion. The company was selected by Anglian Water to help deliver its AMP4 Biosolids programme as part of its Special Projects team. This programme included four Advanced Digestion plants – two enhanced enzymic hydrolysis plants at Kings Lynn and Great Billing using technology developed by United Utilities and licensed to Monsal, and two thermal hydrolysis plants at Cottonvalley and Whitlingham using Cambi technology. This programme set new standards of efficiency in converting sewage to renewable power (1MWh/tDS), reliably produced enhanced quality treated sludge and helped increase renewable power from less than 15GWh/y to approximately 50GWh/y. Imtech is now part of the team delivering another four Advanced Digestion plants which will boost renewable power generation to approximately 90GWh/y by 2015, with eight of Anglian Water’s largest treatment works being power self-sufficient and exporting surplus renewable power.

Advanced Digestion has helped deliver significant increases in renewable power generation, and when integrated with efficient wastewater treatment, allows power self-sufficient wastewater service. The select club of power self-sufficient wastewater treatment plants is growing fast, and further developments in Advanced Digestion are already underway.

Imtech has also worked closely with Dǒr Cymru Welsh Water to support the development of a sludge strategy that has seen the move away from energy intensive and expensive thermal drying to Advanced Digestion and renewable power generation. Here, the company has installed an enhanced enzymic hydrolysis plant at Eign, Hereford. But the real challenge was secondary sludge digestion at Cardiff. Following successful testwork Imtech installed thermal Advanced Digestion plants at both Cardiff and Afan. These plants have worked very well, achieving almost 60% destruction of volatile solids

Visit

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Maximum screenings removal Discharge directly from tankers without buffering Fully automatic operation Eliminates blockages by effective rag removal

www.cdenviro.com CDEnviro Ltd, Ballyreagh Industrial Estate, Sandholes Road, Cookstown, BT80 9DG T: +44 28 8676 7900 F: +44 28 8676 7900 E: info@cdenviro.com IOW 176.indd 32 60D[ 7HPSODWH LQGG

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CDENVIRO

Sludge screening success with S:Max range Following the addition of the MSU-10 & SRU-10 models to their S:Max portfolio earlier this year, CDEnviro’s latest innovations have enabled them to successfully provide further solutions to the UK waste water treatment market with several applications to date.

SRU:10 CDEnviro have installed their new SRU-10 model to a leading UK water utility company in the South of England. The recent product development from the waste recycling system specialists has enabled them to achieve significant increase in their sludge handling capacity on site. Overall, the decision to introduce the S:Max equipment was to vastly improve the efficiency of their sludge screening operations, through reducing downtime of existing capital assets. The CDEnviro R&D team based the SRU-10 model on their existing S:Max technology, the successful SRU-25, with a number of product refinements, specifically designed to handle a smaller flow rate and is applicable to a wide range of sludge screening applications.

“Since introducing our new products to the market this year, we are pleased to have provided a number of significant solutions for UK water authorities as well as dedicated waste disposal contractors.” explains Matt Bunting, General Manager for CDEnviro. “We aim to continue to provide our customers with our sludge handling systems that essentially maximise productivity while minimising cost and downtime.”

MSU:10 A recent installation of an MSU:10 sludge screening unit has provided solutions for Ayrshire based waste disposal contractor, Billie Bowie. They specialise in the provision of Tanker hire, Drain Clearance, Septic Tank Emptying and liquid waste disposal services. Due to its portable nature, the sludge screen can be moved to and from sites easily and cost effectively. The MSU:10 mobile sludge screen has been designed to facilitate liquid and solid separation from a variety of applications. It can be applied to several suitable applications including; screenings removal from sludge, grit removal from sludge, pre screener for removal of larger debris/

screenings prior to further processing, temporary import sludge screen. After installing the MSU:10 system, Billy Bowie were able to deal with more rag contaminated sludge in comparison to what they could handle with their previous technology. By removing rag with the MSU:10, it has resulted in a considerable reduction of their landfill costs. Likewise, United Utilities currently operate two MSU:10 mobile screenings removal units within their Vactor Services team. The MSU:10 units are used in tank cleaning operations within their wastewater asset base in the North of England. The units have had a significant impact on the productivity of their operations, particularly costing and timing issues. This allows the Vactor Services team to better utilise their vacuum fleet, reduce waste volumes, and increase flexibility to deal with unforeseen problems. The MSU:10’s mobility ensures the right equipment is always situated where it’s needed at the right time.

The system accepts imported sludge at a capacity of up to 33l/s at 6% dry solids, the SRU:10 accepts waste from two streams; the imported waste from tankers collected from the surrounding areas, and indigenous sludges generated by the sewage treatment works. It will screen rag to 6mm and pump the screened sludge to the downstream process. Once screened, the sludge will, following a future capital scheme, go through anaerobic digesters under a controlled process to capture methane for energy production, as the wastewater industry continues to lead the way with the adoption of anaerobic digestion as a sustainable treatment technology for sewage sludge. On previous S:Max installations, this has led to huge reductions in maintenance and downtime, a more consistent process, and ultimately increased levels of end products. The entire CDEnviro S:Max range incorporates all of the specifications required by the UK water industry as standard, including ATEX zones 1 and 2 explosion proof vibrating motors, anti-pegging screen media, WIMES protective coatings and fully galvanised walkways and access stairs to ensure safe and easy operator access For more information on the S:Max range and all products from CDEnviro visit www.cdenviro.com Follow us on Twitter @CDEnviro For further information contact: Joanna Quinn Marketing & Sales Support Executive T: +4428 8676 7900 E: jquinn@cdenviro.com

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WE UNDERSTAND WATER TREATMENT AND ANALYSIS WE WE UNDERSTAND UNDERSTAND WATER TREATMENT WE WATER TREATMENT AND AND ANALYSIS ANALYSIS WE UNDERSTAND UNDERSTAND WATER WATER TREATMENT TREATMENT AND AND ANALYSIS ANALYSIS

Your Challenge. Our Solution. Severn Trent Services' customers benefit from the reach and expertise of Your Challenge. Our Solution. a global supplier Our of water and wastewater solutions with over 20 offices Your Challenge. Solution. worldwide and more than 3,000 employees. Severn Trent Services' customers benefit from the reach and expertise of Your Challenge. Our Solution. Severn Trent Services' customers benefit from the reach Your Challenge. Our Solution. a global supplier of water and wastewater solutions with and over expertise 20 officesof Which means that you can expect: a global supplier of water and wastewater solutions with over 20 offices worldwide and more than 3,000 employees. Severn Trent Services' customers benefit from the reach and expertise of worldwide and more than 3,000 employees. Severn Trent Services' customers benefit from the reach and expertise of a global supplier of water and wastewater solutions with over 20 offices - We will deliver on our promises a global supplier of water and wastewater solutions with over 20 offices Which means that you can expect: worldwide andsolutions more employees. -Which Resourceful that3,000 deliver quality and address your specific needs means youthan can expect: worldwide andthat more than 3,000 employees. - Responsible and sustainable products and services -Which We will deliver onyou our can promises means that expect: - Commitment toon your and support in meeting your targets We will deliver ourprojects promises means that you can -Which Resourceful solutions thatexpect: deliver quality and address your specific needs -- Responsible Resourceful solutions that deliver quality and address your specific needs and sustainable products and services -Our will deliver on our promises broad range of products and services is focused innovative -- We Responsible and sustainable products and services Commitment toon your and support in meetingon your targets We will deliver ourprojects promises -treatment Resourceful solutions that deliver quality and address your specific needs technologies, analytical services and contract operating services. -- Commitment to your projects and support in meeting your Resourceful solutions that deliver quality and address yourtargets specific needs - Responsible and sustainable products and services Responsible and products andis Our broad range ofsustainable products services focused innovative --Our Commitment to your projectsand and support inservices meetingon your targets broad range of products and services is focused on innovative treatment technologies, analytical services and contract operating - Commitment to your projects and support in meeting your targetsservices. treatment technologies, analytical services and contract operating services. broad range of products and services is focused on innovative WATER Our PURIFICATION ANALYTICAL SERVICES Our broadtechnologies, range of products and services services and is focused onoperating innovative treatment analytical contract services. - Dual Parallel Lateral Underdrains Potable operating Water Testing treatment technologies, analytical services and -contract services. - Secondary Biological Treatment - Ground and Wastewater Testing WATER PURIFICATION ANALYTICAL SERVICES -WATER TertiaryPURIFICATION Wastewater Filtration - Contaminated Land Testing SERVICES - Dual Parallel Lateral Underdrains -ANALYTICAL Potable Water Testing - Membrane - Legionella andTesting Microbiology Dual ParallelFiltration Lateral Underdrains Potable Water -WATER Secondary Biological Treatment -ANALYTICAL Ground and SERVICES Wastewater Testing PURIFICATION - Arsenic andBiological InorganicTreatment Removal - Asbestos Secondary Ground and Wastewater Testing PURIFICATION SERVICES --WATER Tertiary Wastewater --ANALYTICAL Contaminated Land Testing Parallel Lateral Filtration Underdrains Potable Water Testing Ultraviolet Disinfection Cryptosporidium -- Dual Tertiary Wastewater Filtration Contaminated Land Testing Membrane - Legionella andTesting Microbiology Dual ParallelFiltration Lateral Underdrains Potable Water -- Secondary Biological Treatment -- Ground andand Wastewater Testing Gas Feed and Chlorine Dioxide Systems Field Analysis and Monitoring Membrane Filtration Legionella Microbiology Secondary Treatment Ground and Wastewater Testing -- Arsenic andBiological Inorganic Removal -- Asbestos Tertiary Wastewater Filtration Contaminated Land Testing On-site Sodium Hypochlorite Generators Arsenic and Inorganic Removal - Cryptosporidium Asbestos Tertiary Wastewater Filtration Contaminated Land Testing --- Membrane Ultraviolet Disinfection Filtration and Gas Detectors -- Legionella and Microbiology Controllers -- Analysers, Ultraviolet Disinfection Gas Feed and Chlorine Dioxide Systems - Cryptosporidium Field Analysis Monitoring Membrane Filtration Legionella andand Microbiology -- Arsenic and Inorganic Removal Asbestos Gas Feed and Chlorine Dioxide Systems Field Analysis and Monitoring Arsenic Sodium and Inorganic Removal Asbestos -- On-site Hypochlorite Generators Ultraviolet Disinfection -- Cryptosporidium -- Analysers, On-site Sodium Hypochlorite Generators Ultraviolet Disinfection Cryptosporidium Controllers Gas Detectors -- Gas Feed and Chlorineand Dioxide Systems -- Field Analysis and Monitoring Analysers, Controllers and Gas Detectors -- On-site Gas Feed and Chlorine Dioxide Systems Field Analysis and Monitoring Sodium Hypochlorite Generators On-site Sodium Hypochlorite Generators --For Analysers, Controllers Gas Detectors more information on and Water Purification - Analysers, Controllers and Gas Detectors visit www.severntrentservices.com or call +44 (0)1827 266 000 For more information on Water Purification For information on Analytical Services Water Purification visitmore www.severntrentservices.com or call +44 (0)1827 266 000 visit www.stsanalytical.com or call +44 (0)2476 421 213266 000 www.severntrentservices.com or call +44 (0)1827 For more information on Water Purification Water Purification For more information on Analytical Services visit www.severntrentservices.com or call +44 (0)1827 266 000 For information on Analytical visitmore www.stsanalytical.com or call +44 (0)2476 421 213266 000 www.severntrentservices.comServices or call +44 (0)1827 visit www.stsanalytical.com or call +44 (0)2476 421 213 For more information on Analytical Services For more information on Analytical visit www.stsanalytical.com or call Services +44 (0)2476 421 213 visit www.stsanalytical.com or call +44 (0)2476 421 213

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DRAIN CENTER

Drain Center in Anglian Water win

Achieve legislative compliance without the risk of penalties.

Drain Center has won a prestigious framework (PA 2010 0101 Water Materials Distribution Framework) with Anglian Water to support the company’s supply and distribution of potable water and sewer infrastructure products. The framework, potentially lasting for 12 years, further compliments the services provided directly by Anglian Water’s Water Materials Framework Suppliers by expanding the logistics services and local product availability for Anglian Water and their contractors through Drain Center. Working from depots in Peterborough, Lincoln, Norwich, Colchester and Luton, Drain Center will offer Anglian Water complete area coverage and supply a single point of contact and a dedicated key account manager to cover all sites and partners. These locations will carry a minimum stock holding of the fast moving items as agreed with Anglian Water. In addition these branches will offer a full logistics and product solution by providing a delivery and collection service A bespoke catalogue has also been commissioned detailing all the Anglian Water frameworks Drain Center supports. Products supplied as part of the Anglian Water framework will include:

ABB Measurement Products is helping utility and industrial operators to comply with the latest potable water and effluent quality legislation, MCERTS and other standards. To find out more about our comprehensive portfolio including flowmeters, water analysers, and data logging devices, plus our verification services, visit www.abb.co.uk/water or email moreinstrumentation@gb.abb.com ref. ‘legislation’.

n Pipe and fittings (plastic, ductile iron) n Mechanical fittings n Compression fittings n Plastic chambers n Manhole covers and frames n Accessories, marker posts, plates and letters/numbers, marker tapes, extension spindles and bolt sets All prices will be at an agreed framework rate, enabling only Anglian Water approved contractors on Anglian Water schemes to order on these special terms. To gain access to this framework, the Anglian Water SEW/WAT and/ or Anglian Water Purchase Order numbers must be quoted. Purchase routes directly through Anglian Water approved Water Material Framework providers are still in place and should be used appropriately. Gary Gillingham, Drain Center key account manager utilities and civils, said: “The contract required complex partnering with supply chain partners to conform to Anglian Water’s strict requirements. “We were able to combine our unique supply chain with clear reporting and coverage. We were also able to provide on-site personnel with easy access to coding and product recognition. “Along with meeting all of Anglian Water’s supplier requirements, we offered exceptional customer service, which includes our commitment to continuous improvement and an ability to add value.” A spokesperson for Anglian Water commented: “We hope this additional stock availability will benefit Anglian Water and its partners in the coming years to drive efficiencies and increase access to our Supplier Frameworks”. There are also plans for Drain Center, in conjunction with Anglian Water, to further enhance the offering for Anglian Water partners, for example by offering ABS and PVC pipe.

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MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC

Mitsubishi Electric delivers reliability for isle of man water authority As part of one of its largest ever capital project, the Isle of Man Water Authority decided to construct a new water treatment works in Douglas, it was essential that the new plant should achieve the highest possible level of reliability. To satisfy this requirement, the Authority chose System Q redundant programmable controllers (PLCs) from Mitsubishi Electric as the basis for the plant’s control system. Mitsubishi Electric products, including variable speed drives, remote I/O systems and SCADA equipment, were also selected for all of the other related automation and monitoring functions. At the turn of the 21st century, the Isle of Man’s water supply was provided by five treatment works that had been in continuous operation for between 60 and 70 years. The plants used outmoded single-stage treatment and were becoming increasingly unreliable and hard to maintain. In addition, they were struggling to keep pace with the demand from the Island’s growing population. To address this situation, the Isle of Man Water Authority instigated Project Crystal, a major regeneration project that would ensure the supply of crystal clear water throughout the Island. It would also provide ample reserve capacity to cater for future population growth. A central element of this project was the replacement of the five existing water treatment works with just two ultramodern plants. These would use the latest three-stage dissolved air flotation water treatment system. Reducing the number of water treatment plants offered many efficiency and cost benefits but it also raised one very important issue – that of reliability. If one plant went off line, the other would struggle to meet the Island’s demand for water. For these reasons, reliability was given a very high priority in the design of the new plants and, after careful consideration, it was decided that System Q redundant PLCs from Mitsubishi Electric offered the best available combination of fault tolerance, versatility and value for money. Accordingly these PLCs have been adopted for all major control functions in the new plant that has been built near Douglas. Mitsubishi System Q redundant PLCs have been specifically developed for use in applications where it is essential to provide the best possible protection against unplanned shutdowns and outages. They essentially comprise two dedicated processors linked together as a live system and a standby system. Under normal operating conditions, the live system controls the plant, but the standby system shadows its operation.

Should the live system fail, control is automatically transferred to the standby system, this transfer taking place in just 22mS. For all practical purposes, this means that the normal functioning of the plant continues without interruption. The faulty system can then be serviced or replaced, again without disruption of the plant’s functioning. Central to the new Douglas Water Treatment Plant are three motor control centres (MCCs), each with its own System Q redundant PLC. The MCCs each serve around 20 motors with ratings up to 180 kW, which are primarily used for driving pumps. To allow the capacity of the plant to be accurately matched to the current demand for water and to maximise energy efficiency, the motors are controlled by Mitsubishi FR-series inverter drives. The MCCs are complemented by local control panels at various locations around the site. These work principally in conjunction with electrically actuated valves and on-plant instrumentation, are equipped with remote I/O using products from the Mitsubishi Melsec ST slice I/O range. This provides a hot-swap option that allows equipment to be replaced without shutting down the whole system, minimising plant downtime. The use of remote I/O greatly reduced the amount of field wiring needed for the plant, helping to

keep costs down and to simplify maintenance and faultfinding. Operator interfaces are provided using Panel mount PCs. Links between the MCCs, the PCs and the local control panels are implemented using Profibus networks. Overall supervisory control and data collection for the whole plant is provided with a Mitsubishi MX4 SCADA system that operates in conjunction with a high-speed fibre-optic network. “The installation and commissioning of the automation systems for the new plant went very smoothly,” said Roy Batty, Chief Electrical Engineer for the Isle of Man Water and Sewage Authority, “helped, no doubt, by the decision to source all major items of equipment from the same supplier. The plant is now operational and the automation system has fully lived up to our expectations and requirements for reliability – in fact, in that whole time, I can honestly say that it hasn’t missed a beat!” The Crystal Project Douglas Water Treatment Plant is, at present, supplying 25 megalitres of water every day, which meets the needs of around two-thirds of the Isle of Man’s population. It has sufficient reserve capacity to double output as the population of the Island expands.

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AMP6 P R E V I E W

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

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AMP6

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Comments and Response to Ofwat Future Price Limits – STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES MWH water sector director, Richard Ratcliff looks at the new challenges water companies now have to address as a result of PR14.

What are the key challenges and what will they mean?

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P R E V I E W

1. Greater customer focus and engagement

To deliver sustainable results for customers, the environment and investors, companies will need to address customer’s wants and needs rather simply meet Ofwat set regulatory targets. This means companies will have to engage with customers not just about their willingness to pay for services but to enable them to have a greater say in the development of business plans. Customer Challenge Groups (CCG) are being used as the vehicle to create greater engagement and enhance the legitimacy of business plans. How customers are engaged, informed and their influence demonstrated in plans represents a significant challenge to any company.

2. Define outcomes not outputs A move to customer focused outcomes rather than simply delivering outputs will help companies plan investment beyond the current five-year price control period. However, this presents challenges in terms of how companies will measure and monitor their progress in delivering outcomes. In order to drive effective long-term planning, incentives will need to be established to recognise and reward performance in a sustainable way. Over delivering or outperformance against outcomes are not likely to be rewarded.

3. Drive Innovation Long-term incentives will afford companies more freedom to innovate. The five-year AMP cycle has been seen by some as a constraint, favouring incremental innovation rather than the step-change innovation companies’ need to meet their future efficiency challenges. Companies must embrace innovation and realise value from both the supply chain and their own R&D activities and recognise this value in their future business plans.

4. Separate wholesale and retail activities Companies must now account for their activities on a wholesale and retail basis. This is a tried and tested approach in other utility sectors but currently the asset-intensive ‘wholesale’ network and treatment businesses comprise 95% of the water and sewerage value chain. So it’s not surprising that the water companies’ focus is on this aspect of the business. Having to create a separate retail control will ensure they focus just as keenly on their customers. In stating its principles, Ofwat says it will apply greater incentives targeted at companies’ retail activities, but wholesale and retail are not mutually exclusive. A greater downstream, customer focus will drive upstream efficiency challenges on wholesale activities. Although there is still a need for greater clarity of how this will all work, customers should see benefits whether they continue to have little choice of retailer or in a contestable market. This will require changes to company licences. Ofwat

has seen a resistance to changes in licences and has extended the consultation period with companies on this matter. It recognises that current uncertainties present challenges to long-term investment and business planning.

5. Move to a total expenditure approach – Totex As part of wholesale control, it is the intention to move to a total expenditure approach – Totex. Capex (Capital expenditure) and Opex (Operating Expenditure) will be treated together to equalise the incentives between the two using a menu approach. This is similar to the CIS (Capital Incentive Scheme) applied to Capex in the last price review. This approach offers companies more choice in level of risk and performance and will also create better incentives for them to reveal accurately their investment needs in their business plans. However this mechanism still needs to be defined. It is likely some elements will be adopted for the next price review, but it may be that some aspects will be phased in over time.

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a water resource deficit when compared with the cost of developing a new resource.

The future pricing principles also recognise the importance of ensuring companies have incentives to manage water resources in sustainable way. Increasing resilience through more water transfers offers companies more flexibility to meet short-term deficits.

Other incentives to water resource trading being considered are:

Addressing Totex may also encourage companies to trade water as option to water resource management, by removing bias towards Capex solutions. A Totex approach may make purchasing water a more efficient option for companies with

Stronger obligations on the companies to consider imports when planning how they will manage resources through the water resource management planning process.

Deregulating bulk water trading; Increased returns for water importers and exporters of water across company boundaries;

This next price review presents some significant challenges and opportunities to water companies and the supply chain. Customer engagement and innovation will be real differentiators to the outcome determinations. Incentives to drive companies to achieve their outcomes must be clearly defined and drive the right behaviours. Learning from previous AMPs must be realised if Ofwat is to regulate without constraining companies for the long-term benefit of its customers, the environment and industry. Â

"A move to customer focused outcomes rather than simply delivering outputs will help companies plan investment beyond the current five-year price control period"

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6. Improve water resource management through water trading

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‘White Paper Rafting’ Authors: Simon Talbot, associate director Sherna Bhadresa, consultant Contact: simontalbot@egremontgroup.com & shernabhadresa@egremontgroup.com. Telephone for both is: 020 7298 7878

For more information please visit www.egremontgroup.com

To avoid any ‘thrills’ and ‘spills’ that could potentially result from the proposed reforms in the ‘Water for Life’ White Paper, Water companies need to understand the implications and take action now. The seemingly benign piece of potential legislation contains hazards that could at best destabilise incumbents, but may cause some to capsize completely. With most companies currently in the throes of PR14 planning this is an issue that needs consideration now in order to secure the investment required to deliver their competition strategy.

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P R E V I E W

By definition, the extension of competition is disruptive innovation. It is designed to force change and transformation through new market forces, placing greater pressure on suppliers from customers and new entrants thus creating a more innovative, competitive industry. However there are still many questions which need answering to establish the ‘retail’ implications of competition. For example:

n How will the whole issue of metering and billing data be controlled? n How to ‘unblock’ the bulk of profit opportunity in the market which is in upstream (estimated at £2bn) rather than retail trading (estimated at £200m)? n Will the government be brave enough to deconstruct combined licences and allow real upstream competition through modular licences for all players in the market?

The rapids ahead Increased competition for nonhousehold customers The government wants to promote competition in relation to water and sewerage. Evidence suggests that the retail services market for business customers will be opened up to greater competition during AMP6, with evidence strongly pointing towards 2017. The White Paper increased the number of non household customers eligible to switch suppliers by about 24 000, according to the Draft Water Bill, by reducing the water consumption threshold from

those that use over 50million litres per year to those using over 5million litres. The future Water Bill will abolish this threshold, opening up the market to all non-household customers. This significantly changes the market for contestable business leading to huge implications in terms of the complexity of supply, service offers and increased pressure for value added services. Customer insight is paramount; understanding who the key customer segments are, how to attract and retain them, what value proposition they seek from their water retailer and how they want to pay. Core commercial skills will be required that may not be immediately available or apparent within incumbents.

Increased Licence options The reforms include the unbundling of the combined Water Supply Licence, currently the only option available for a new entrant wanting to provide upstream water supply services. The Water Bill will ‘unbundle’ the current combined licence and introduce a number of licences, giving the opportunity for a new entrant to specialise. Under this latest scheme, a new entrant would be able to provide upstream water services, without being obliged to provide the retail services as well. The Bill will also allow those with their own water resources to access water companies’ infrastructure, including treatment and storage systems, allowing other suppliers to input water into any part of the network. The same approach is proposed for sewerage licences. Incumbents will need to understand the threats and opportunities presented by

the new license arrangements and prepare accordingly, assessing the skills, systems and processes required, as well as promoting a corporate culture throughout the organisation, compliant with a competitive regime.

Bulk Water Trading The White Paper sets out the Government’s plan for resources to be used more flexibly and efficiently, by increasing network interconnections. Regulatory incentives will be introduced by Ofwat, to make water trading more attractive and a model contract for bulk supplies will be developed. Ofwat estimates that increased interconnections could lead to a £1bn welfare gain. This is more than just a means of moving water from those with a surplus to those with a shortage – this could play a significant role when evaluating capital schemes particularly when close to borders with neighbouring water wholesalers. Such an evaluation will require a more commercial approach to understanding costs and profit opportunity to deliver the right long term investment choices in AMP6. Water companies should formulate their response and start to take action, or risk facing a number of issues during the next AMP, when the changes are due to come into effect. In order to pay for the organisation transformation, an estimate of the cost will need to be included in the PR14 submission, where business planning is already underway. How are you going to play in these new markets? Will you be a pioneer or a take a more cautious approach? What are the implications for your organisation? How much

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will it cost? What are the risks? Will there be fundamental changes to how you structure your business?

One boat or two? The White Paper states that a separation of the retail and wholesale function is not going to be a legal requirement, ‘We have decided not to introduce fundamental structural change to the industry such as requiring legal separation of water companies’ retail functions.’ Nonetheless, some believe a separation of the retail and wholesale business is the best and ‘safest’ way forward. Under Competition Law the Wholesaler is obliged to treat all retail businesses as equal, including its own retail arm. It cannot give its retail business any

The Water Industry in England should take heed from the lessons from Scotland, where Scottish Water separated the business retail activities into a wholly owned subsidiary, Business Stream. The retail arm serves the non-household customers and competes with other water retailers. Scottish Water, the Wholesaler, deals with all licensed retailers in the market however large or small in a consistent manner. In the absence of legal separation, Scottish Water stresses the importance of ‘adequate governance’ between these entities to allow fair access to new entrants. The alternative to separation therefore is rigid compliance to Chinese walls within a single legal entity – possible, but complex and difficult to manage, and therefore open to accusations of anticompetitive behaviour. Another argument for some form of separation

is that there may be distinctly different models required for the Wholesale and the Retail businesses requiring differences in people skills, attitudes and leadership styles, not to mention new processes and changes to technology. These different operating models may make uncomfortable bedfellows and is likely to involve a substantial amount of time and resource to get right depending on the approach adopted. So in order to successfully navigate the White Paper and emerge unscathed on the other side, it is necessary to understand all the potential hazards along the way. Some of them may be obvious and avoidable, some may appear to be small and insignificant, and others may only become apparent after the market starts working. The key message is to start planning now and ensure a safe passage into AMP6 and a steady future. n The Egremont Group is a management consultancy specialising in transformational change. Recent clients include Severn Trent Water and the Kelda Group and you can hear members of their executive teams speaking about their experiences of working in partnership with Egremont to transform their organisations here: www.egremontgroup.com/our_clients/ client_testimonials.html

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AMP6

preferential treatment which could give them a competitive advantage, such as preferential price discrimination, sharing of scale economies, sharing information from other retailers or offering services at less than the market rate. By remaining as a single entity, an organisation leaves itself open to accusations of anti-competitive behaviour, a charge which carries a maximum penalty of up to 10% of their annual turnover.

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An AMP Cycle, but not as we know it… For any UK water utility CEO expecting the next AMP cycle to be similar to the last one, a surprise is in store. Powerful external forces are bearing down on the sector that will inevitably have a significant impact. James Dunning, Chief Executive, Syrinix explains. Take your pick, but be they witches pulled from Macbeth, or Dementors from the world of Harry Potter, powerful forces are at play in the UK water sector. For CEOs, as to which of “foul and fair” wins out come 2014 remains to be seen. But for those who assume business as usual, a surprise is brewing with public confidence and a sense of “what’s done cannot be undone” at its core.

Triple Challenges It does not take much peering into the swirling fogs to identify three trends likely to weigh heavily on the next AMP cycle.

AMP6

P R E V I E W

First, for those who have not yet realised, is that if the current UK Parliament runs its full course, the next UK General Election will be held within six weeks of the start of the next AMP period. So if anyone is expecting support for significant increases in customer billing, whether to “enhance” their regulatory asset base or otherwise, they are going to be disappointed.

So then, no expectation of network resilience improvements either, given the funding faucet is being closed? Far from it. “More from less” will be the challenge in an environment of frugality and post-banking crisis recovery. Secondly, the UK drought of 2012 may have been washed away by the deluges that followed, but its imprint remains. “Water companies being let off leakage targets” declared the Telegraph. “Water firms banning hosepipes lose 300m gallons a day in leaks” lamented the Daily Mail. The result? In a context where leakage levels have not substantially reduced in the last ten years despite vast improvements in technology, leakage is firmly back on the agenda. Last but by no means least, the politicians are watching the sector. If public confidence is lost then they will be rolling up their sleeves and, for better or worse (depending on your viewpoint), wading into the detail of how the sector is structured and operated. If you doubt that is the case, you have only to look at the UK energy sector that finds itself battered amidst the turbulent publictribulations of Government. Consider too the accelerating woes swirling around the BBC

amidst the lamentable Jimmy Savile scandal(s). Put simply, if public confidence is lost in a key sector then politicians will react – that is after all their job. The problem, of course, is that that reaction brings with it a host of other, often uncontrollable, factors too. So there is the challenge. Less leakage and bursts, for greater public confidence, for less cash whilst keeping your investors happy… otherwise you will get the politicians paying a visit to provide “some protection”. Cue witches/ Dementors stage right…

Bursts, Leaks and Public Confidence At the Water UK Leakage Conference 2012, held in Coventry in October, a simple question was asked: “Does leakage matter?”. The answers provided by the UK Government agencies were particularly clear. “Leakage is a waste of energy and a waste of reputation”. “Customers expect utilities to save water and if the utilities don’t then they [the customers] won’t either”. Perhaps most importantly from the regulatory perspective, it was also noted, pretty bluntly, that increases in resources for utilities will not be allowed unless utility plans “include demand management and leakage as the first port of call”. Indeed, a number of speakers, including those from Government agencies, recommended that a “public communications” session be added to the conference in future years. Why? Because water utilities will only get the quiet, low risk, life that their investors crave if the public has confidence in them; and if customers are seeing major bursts and leakage whilst their bills go up and their hosepipes are banned then their confidence in the effectiveness of the sector will follow that spilt water down the drain. Add in that OFWAT was criticised heavily in the media for doing nothing about reducing leakage for ten years and it is easy to see where this is heading. Both OFWAT and the Government will be looking to redress that position over the next AMP period. Get that wrong, lose public confidence along the way, and, as noted, the politicians will be happy to step in…there is an election to be fought after all.

Show me the money In previous AMP periods, significant increases in customer water bills have been justified as necessary for bringing water infrastructure up to standard. Those were the days! If the current economic context is accepted as the worst for more than 50 years then it is equally true to say that preparations for AMP 6 are similarly being undertaken in a whole new context. With an increasing number of utilities also now owned and/or financed by investors with a love of low risk vanilla returns on their investments, things could get interesting. Who after all is going to defend increases in customer bills in a context of swingeing cuts that are, whether you agree with the conclusion or not, viewed as caused by the investment community? OFWAT and/or the politicians? No. The water utility CEOs? Well they can try but seldom will the headline writers have had it so easy.

The regulatory context But all is certainly not lost for the utility sector with OFWAT ostensibly opening the window onto a considerably altered regulatory context. To date, the value of capital expenditure comprising “an enhancement” has been added to the value of utility regulated asset bases on a non-depreciating basis. The result? Well, while some would dispute it, OFWAT’s view is that this has resulted in a bias towards capital works as that work consequently increases the return the water utilities are able to make, courtesy of their customers, from their expenditure – so increasing the aforementioned low-risk regular returns so beloved of many major investors in the sector. Whether that is right or wrong, few would meanwhile dispute the difficulties of establishing innovation in the water sector in the UK. From the utilities’ viewpoint, as highlighted in the recent HM Treasury report on smoothing the investment cycle in the sector, the uncertainties of relatively short regulatory cycles render the risks simply too high for any innovation without

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SYRINIX Syrinix’s TrunkMinder Critical (ADSL) installed on London trunk mains

But change is in the air. The OpEx/CapEx divide, and the CapEx bias that is claimed to have accompanied it, is being torn up to be replaced with the all-conquering TotEx. As importantly, detailed outputs-based regulation (the previous AMP period resulted in 9000+ pages of business plans) is being replaced with broader outcome-based regulation with the outperformers able to keep the benefits. Quite what the detail of these reforms will be remains to be seen. Undoubtedly the risk remains of these ostensibly sweeping reforms degenerating into the detailed micromanagement of yore. If these proposed reforms can be implemented effectively, however, the changes will be farreaching. No longer will the ideal solution for a water utility be to “enhance” a leaking/bursting pipeline by replacing it wholesale, adding the considerable costs, courtesy of customers, to the regulated asset base and milking the return on that investment in perpetuity. Instead, the rewards will favour those who improve the operation and resilience of that same pipeline with the lower cost solution of replacing only

Squaring the Circle At face value the challenges facing water utility CEO’s going into the next AMP cycle are insurmountable. Little, if any, scope exists for increasing customer bills whilst improvements in network resilience are near the top of the regulatory agenda with drastic consequences should public confidence be lost. Indeed, does the technology even exist to square that circle, to improve resilience and reduce bursts and leaks for less cost? Yes it does – and this is the critical point, as it is technology that is the key to CEOs overcoming these challenges. Because the sector is ten years further along the technology road from when leakage levels were last reviewed with companies like Syrinix and i2o leading the way. New, proven, technologies are now on the market with sub-3 year paybacks that enable utilities to reduce leakage levels and automatically monitor for and avoid high-profile highly disruptive bursts without incurring the vast expense of pipeline replacement programmes. It is the utility sector that has not kept pace and now a framework is taking shape that will support that gap between technology development and deployment being closed. Can the circle be squared? Yes it can.

cycle. Financial constraints, potential political interference and customer confidence are at one and the same time swirling around the industry as it plots its way forward. Leakage generally and, more specifically, high profile bursts in critical locations have come to be key levers in the maintenance of public confidence in the sector. Meanwhile, reducing leakage and avoiding major bursts by replacing pipelines is no longer an option except in the most extreme instances. From the viewpoint of the water utility CEO’s, the challenge and opportunity is to embrace innovation as a means of aspiring to greater network resilience without increasing customer bills. From OFWAT’s viewpoint meanwhile, alongside the measures already taken, the pressure is on to allow these same utilities to experiment not just with the upside benefits of being able to retain the benefits as outperformers but without the risk of public humiliation should some outcomes prove not quite as timely and effective as anticipated. Innovation will, after all, encompass risk and that risk needs to be shared.

So foul and fair a day I have not seen…

The challenge has been laid down for the industry to aspire. The obligation now lies with the CEOs and OFWAT to transform that aspiration into a reality with innovation at the heart of the route forward. If they can get that right, the witches and Dementors will remain in their fictional worlds with consumers delighting in their lack of concern about the water sector as they sip their cup of tea.

The water sector is facing considerable challenges going into the AMP 6 price review

James Dunning Chief Executive, Syrinix

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P review

From the innovators’ viewpoint meanwhile, a ten year adoption cycle by utilities is roughly seven years longer than most innovators have cash for – hardly the basis for a vibrant innovative supply chain.

those sections in the worst condition whilst monitoring the rest.

AMP6

a sub-3 year payback period. There is also the perceived risk that if the utilities experiment and fail, OFWAT will simply ignore those efforts for the greater good and nonetheless not just penalise them but lead the media assault on their brands too.

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SELWOOD

Selwood’s high head pump launch continues Selwood is in the process of designing a brand new range of high head pumps and the new H150 has successfully completed extensive pre-production field trials and is now available for sale and hire. S100, S150 and S200 super silent pumps and the D80, D100 and D150 super silent units in a close coupled configuration is one of the latest examples of this development programme. An awareness of future engine emission requirements is a key part of its ongoing development programme and the advantages of this improved arrangement are reduced noise, reduced vibration, longer coupling life plus ease of maintenance and production. The Selwood Seltorque S200 pump has also been redesigned to provide a higher flow option to the unique and world renowned S150. The S200 benefits from solids handling of 100mm, flows up to 540m³/h and delivery heads up to 18.5m, resulting in unequalled performance in effluent disposal and slurry handling applications. Even one of Selwood’s oldest pumps, the PD100, has found a new lease of life pumping polymer for ground stabilisation applications.

“We are very excited about launching this H150 high head pump” says Mark Page, Selwood’s Sales & Manufacturing Director. “The new

The new H100 high head pump was launched at Hillhead 2010 and has been a success in both the UK and export markets. The new H200 is currently completing rig tests with field trials starting later this year and the H80 and H125 are being designed for launch in the spring of 2013.

P r e v i e w

The new pump is ideal for high head dewatering in quarrying and mining as well as pipeline pressure testing and cleaning, water boosting and temporary fire protection in markets such as construction, oil and gas, marine and water and waste water.

H150 offers dramatically improved hydraulic efficiency, flow and head capacities and suction characteristics. Selwood has committed to designing and manufacturing a range of world class high head pumps and the H150 is a key pump within the range. All of our pumps are designed and built in the UK using British suppliers and we are very pleased to be able to export quality British products around the world”.

Selwood has been designing, manufacturing, hiring and selling pumps for 60 years and is the leading Pump Hirer in the UK. Around 75% of Selwood’s pump units are now exported from the UK and sold through a worldwide distributor network.

All Selwood ‘H’ pumps are available as diesel driven super silent or open set configurations with electric motor options also available.

AMP6

The Selwood H150 is a heavy duty automatic self priming pump specifically designed for high head applications. It can achieve flow rates up to 460m³h, total heads of 124m with solids handling of 38mm. Excellent suction performance as well as class leading fuel consumption from the latest CAT C6.6 diesel engine makes the H150 ideal for both contractors and hirers. Incorporating Selprime, Selwood’s unique environmentally friendly auto self priming system, and mechanical shaft sealing for leak free running, the H150 shares the same robust construction, reliability and ease of operation as the world renowned Seltorque solids handling range of pumps.

Selwood’s existing manufacturing facility at Chandler’s Ford in the UK has benefited from an improvement programme designed to increase efficiency and capacity. Smart procurement and greater stock holding will allow for standard products to benefit from shorter lead times which are increasingly required in this modern, fast moving marketplace. The pump units produced at the factory range from 50mm to 300mm discharge diameter and can be fitted with a variety of different drives including diesel engines and electric motors to meet individual customer requirements.

As well as developing new pump models Selwood has a strategic pump development programme to continually improve its existing product range. The introduction of the Seltorque

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Cle aning & Dis in f ect ion We provide expert staff, specialist equipment and cleaning materials from bases throughout the UK. We are dedicated to the cleaning and disinfection of potable water assets. We operate: t Standard washdown and chlorination t /PO DIMPSJOF 1. t 'F .O #JPGPVMJOH 1. t &NFSHFODZ EF DPOUBNJOBUJPO 1. contain first aid trained personnel. One of our 3 man teams is capable of cleaning up to a 20 mega litre service reservoir in one day.

U n der w at er Robot ics

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The advanced technology allows sediment to be cleared from the reservoir floor without causing turbidity. The result is a cost effective way to ensure your facilities are maintained to the highest standard with the minimum of disruption.

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Our experienced engineers complete detailed surveys and produce full written reports including schematics, still images and edited footage. These surveys allow you to easily identify cleaning and maintenance priorities in order to allocate your Comprehensive service including: resources and budget with confidence.

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Re pairs & As s et Condit ion S u r v e y s There is no better time to carry out vital repair and maintenance work than when a service reservoir is already out of service. During the cleaning and disinfection process our engineers are uniquely placed to carry out an asset condition survey, provide advice and deliver a bespoke repair service. Simultaneous cleaning and repairs significantly reduces both cost and downtime. Repairs are only carried out using materials that are fully approved by the DWI and the UKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s other regulators.

Inte r na l r e p a i r s i nc l u de:

REPAIRS

There is no better time to carry out vital repair and maintenance work than when a service reservoir is t Expansion joints, crack injection and structural water already out of service. During the cleaning and disinfection process our engineers and experts are proofing uniquely placed to provide a bespoke repair service.

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Expansion joints, water proofing (DWI approved material application), Protective coatings (1m2 to 5000m2), Valve servicing, Replacement & pipe work modifications, Metal work

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Water proofing, Access hatches and ventilation, Drainage, hand railings and access ladders, Ground works and excavations

Pi p elin es

PIPELINES

Our expertise makes us the first choice when commissioning new Our expertise makes us first choice for cleaning and disinfection, commissioning new or and refurbished pipelines into service. We are unrivalled in specialist maintaining refurbished pipelines intospecifically service. for the cleaning and disinfection services back designed maintenance of pipe work.

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materials from bases throughout the UK t 1SFTTVSF UFTUJOH t 4XBCCJOH With 15 t 'MVTIJOH

years experience in using Chlorine or HP99 Peroxide t %JTJOGFDUJPO procedures we are able to provide swabbing and pressure testing together with independentt *OEFQFOEFOU EBUB MPHHJOH data logging (25mm to 2400mm) t %F DPOUBNJOBUJPO EMERGENCY RESPONSE Our 24 hour, 365 days-a-year emergency service is on hand to counter the effects of flooding, serious pollution, vandalism and terrorism.

Wa st e Treatment

We also provide a range of mobile onsite waste treatment and waste minimisation services including: t 4PMJET TFUUMFNFOU t .POJUPSFE BOE DPOUSPMMFE EF DIMPSJOBUJPO t 4VTQFOEFE TPMJET NFBTVSFNFOU t Q) /FVUSBMJTBUJPO

t Turbidity monitoring

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URS

AMP6

P r e v i e w

Sustainable Abstraction for AMP6

As we move towards AMP6, sustainable abstraction is once again high on the agenda. The concept is not new –with the adoption of the Habitats Directive in 1992 and the development of the Environment Agency’s Restoring Sustainable Abstraction (RSA) Programme, the Environment Agency and water companies have been assessing the impact of abstraction on the environment. The Environment Agency’s National Environment Programme (NEP) contains environmental improvement schemes that ensure water companies meet European, national and local priority targets related to water. In its forward programme 2012-13 to 2014-15, Ofwat is aiming to work with the Environment Agency and Defra to improve water resources management planning guidelines and to enable companies to identify solutions that are in the best interests of the environment as well as customers. The Abstraction Incentive Mechanism (AIM) will encourage the efficient use of water resources, whilst improving environmental outcomes. By taking water from catchments where there is a surplus, those that are over-abstracted will be protected from further stress. The AIM will seek to disincentivise environmentally damaging abstraction. Some abstraction licences could be harming nature conservation sites or the ecological health of catchments, and action is needed to change the allocation of water at these sites. Only by understanding the needs of the environment, the water companies, and the commercial world will practical solutions

be achieved. Through its work with UK water companies and the Environment Agency, URS has been providing such solutions; balancing the competing demands and looking at the possible future effects of climate change. Water resource availability is currently assessed through the Catchment Abstraction Management Strategy (CAMS) process. Whilst the rights of existing abstractors are protected, where damage to the environment is shown, licences can be revoked or modified, generally with compensation to cover loss. The Government’s Water White Paper, Water for Life, set out in December 2011, policies for a sustainable water sector in England. Both Ofwat and Defra recognise the need for the water sector to remain “an attractive prospect for long-term investors if the cost of capital and the cost to customers are to remain affordable”. The Water Framework Directive (WFD) is a major driver for action. It continues to drive forward changes that will limit the environmental damage caused by unsustainable abstraction. The WFD requires Member States to aim to achieve good overall status in surface water bodies and good groundwater quantitative status by 2015, to prevent water bodies deteriorating in status (subject to certain specific exemptions). In 2009, the first cycle of River Basin Management Plans (RBMP) started the process of assessing the status of water bodies, and developed measures to maintain current and future good status. The next round of RBMPs will focus on the cost and feasibility of delivering such measures. The Environment

Agency has powers to protect, conserve, and enhance the environment, and in some cases is required to act where abstractions have a detrimental impact on the environment. Several WFD led schemes have already been delivered in AMP5, and the NEP for PR14 will contain many more. WFD assessments are now needed to support planning applications, where there is the potential to impact on WFD objectives. URS is developing the approach to WFD assessment for several major infrastructure schemes in collaboration with the Environment Agency. The WFD assessment process continues to encourage groundwater, surface water, ecological specialists and economists to work together. A considerable body of environmental and water resources information and knowledge is building up. This will prove invaluable for future work under AMP6 as the Environment Agency, the water companies, and their consultants continue to strive for sustainable abstraction.

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Integrated Solutions for the Water Sector. URS offers multidisciplinary professional services in all aspects of water management. Our activities encompass the complete water cycle across a broad spectrum of industries. An integrated approach provides our clients with tailored and holistic services that respond to the growing importance of global environmental issues. URS provides a start-to-completion service. Our projects range in scale from local schemes, such as flood risk assessments or individual treatment works, through to planning for large scale multimillion pound developments and preparation of long term water strategies.

URSGLOBAL.COM

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Why partnership and early starts may pave the way to a smoother AMP transition Tony Hoyle, General Sales Manager UK & Ireland for ABB’s Measurement Products business, explains how greater partnership between water companies, their contractors and suppliers may offer a way through the growing problems presented by the AMP cycle.

This has had a knock-on impact on both contractors and suppliers.

in these relationships, the water company, the contractor and / or the supplier agree to work

6 5 4 3 2

AMP1

AMP2

AMP3

AMP4

13-14 14-15

11-12 12-13

10-11

09-10

07-08 08-09

05-06 06-07

03-04 04-05

02-03

01-02

99-00 00-01

98-99

97-98

95-96 96-97

94-95

As there is often substantial up-front work needed to assess the viability of major projects, water companies are concerned about investing too much time, effort and money without knowing whether at least some of it is likely to be offset by the Final Determination funding from Ofwat. Consequently, such projects have tended to be put on hold until the Final Determination funding is known, with work typically only getting underway in the second year of the AMP period.

in such an inter-linked environment, finding a solution that suits everyone is never going to be easy.

Chart 1.A: Total industry net capital investment 1990-91 to 2014-15

93-94

This problem has been compounded by the mutually dependent relationship between the water companies, contractors and suppliers involved in the AMP process.

embraced, there is an expectation that payback should take place both quickly and within the 1 16/10/2012 AMP timeframe, which may not suit certain 15:35 products. As a result, the progress of innovation has been hamstrung, with many suppliers criticising water companies for being followers rather than early adopters.

However, one potentially workable idea advanced by the HM Treasury is to encourage greater take-up of partnership frameworks.

For suppliers, particularly those that rely heavily on work from the AMP process, there has been little incentive to commit to new product developments that may not be picked up by the water companies. where such innovation is

91-92 92-93

An unintended side-effect, however, has been the programme’s bell-shaped pattern of investment, where activity in year one slowly ramps up, peaks in years two and three and then falls away as the cycle ends. This ‘cramming’ of investment has created a ‘stop-start’ cycle, where investment is effectively crammed into a block of activity rather than being distributed smoothly throughout the course of an AMP period.

90-91

AMP6

P r e v i e w

Originally created to bring the UK’s water infrastructure into line with european directives, the AMP programme has seen billions of pounds invested in projects that have transformed water quality, distribution and disposal in the UK.

For contractors, the winding down of work in one period and the delay in starting the AMP investment next means either making staffdiagram.pdf redundant or redeploying them to other projects. British water estimates that around 20-40,000 people are directly affected in this way in the transition between AMP periods. when projects do get underway, skilled staff have either been lost or allocated to other projects or sectors, or else command a premium, thereby raising project overhead costs.

Total capital investment (£billion)

The release of the HM Treasury report ‘Smoothing investment cycles in the water sector’ in July gives hope that the negative impact of the AMP cycle on the UK water industry and its supply chain may soon be addressed.

AMP5

Actual capital maintenance

Actual capital enhancements

Forecast capital maintenance

Forecast capital enhancements

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A major benefit of such partnerships is their extended duration. Typically built on a five year fixed period with an additional five year negotiated extension, partnerships can offer a more stable, secure and long-term working relationship across AMP periods.

Another sure way of helping smooth the cycle is for OFWAT to ensure that all of the water companies have early start projects in their Asset Management Plans for year one. Under the early start approach, design work needs to be completed in the prior AMP period, so that projects are ready to get underway in year one of the following period. As well as helping contractors and suppliers, this approach also helps water consultants and design companies in years four and five. Some early start programmes were attempted in earlier AMPs, but were only successfully carried out by a handful of water companies.

Summary The AMP programme has undoubtedly already helped the UK to create a water infrastructure that is fit for the future. What is clear though is that it cannot carry on in its current form if its full potential is to be realised. Whatever happens, for the AMP approach to continue to be effective, there needs to be greater co-operation between all parties, including Ofwat, to enable greater certainty over the amount of funding available at a much earlier stage.

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AMP6

together throughout all stages of a project, from initial risk assessment through to delivery and implementation. As all parties are involved together, there is a mutual interest in ensuring the best possible outcome in the most efficient way and at the best price.

P r e v i e w

ABB

53 2/11/12 14:28:23

THE SOLUTION

clean water

waste water

steel

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civil engineering

STONBURY 28 YEARS AS MARKET LEADERS IN THE REFURBISHMENT OF WATER RETAINING STRUCTURES & ASSOCIATED ASSETS RESERVOIR & WATER TOWER REFURBISHMENT - STEEL & CONCRETE TANK REFURBISHMENT/REPLACEMENT SEWAGE TREATMENT WORKS REFURBISHMENT - PIPE BRIDGE & AQUEDUCT REFURBISHMENT SPECIALIST COATINGS - WATERPROOFING - CORROSION PROTECTION - INSPECTION - CLEAN & CHLORINATION CIVIL ENGINEERING - SECURITY WORKS INC LPC4 ACCESS COVERS - ACCESS LADDERS, HANDRAILS & WALKWAYS Northern Office: Unit 4, Phoenix Enterprise Park, Grovehill Road, Beverley, E.Yorkshire, HU17 0JG t 01482 881198 e enquiries@stonbury.co.uk Southern Office: 187c High Street, Cranfield, Bedfordshire, MK43 0JB t 01234 750924 e enquiries@stonbury.co.uk

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STONBURY

Service Reservoir Bacti-Failure Forum Stonbury Limited, specialist contractors to the water industry, recently hosted a Water Tower & Service Reservoir Bacti-Failure Forum for their water industry framework clients, to openly discuss and share opinion on best practice with regards to combating bacti-failures within Service Reservoir and Water Tower structures.

It was agreed that if this could be rolled out across the country, great benefit would be gained by all those who may be interested in taking part. As the common denominator, holding service reservoir refurbishment contracts with 8 of the UK’s largest water companies, along side working with all the other water companies, stonbury were delighted to send out invitations to their framework clients to gauge the response.

As a result, forty eight delegates representing Northumbrian Water, Yorkshire Water, Welsh Water, Anglian Water, South Staffs Water Company, Affinity Water (formally Veolia) Severn Trent Water, United Utilities, South East Water and Portsmouth Water all attended what proved to be a very successful day at the splendid ‘Breadsall Priory’ Marriott Hotel near Derby. James Stonor, MD of the Stonbury Group welcomed all delegates then detailed the agenda for the day, offering forward topics for group and open discussion. Topics included sampling arrangements, inspection frequency, formats and flood testing, cleaning and chlorination techniques, frequency, asset scoring, refurbishment specifications and product cure times.

An excellent opening presentation from Keith Smith, Principle Inspector from the DWI, got things off to a splendid start and a very interesting presentation from Steve Russell, Senior Consultant with WRC kept the ball rolling. The forum ended at 4pm with many topics still under discussion and the conclusion that the day had been extremely worthwhile, encouraging communication between water providers.

P r e v i e w

Northumbrian Water had put forward the idea that Stonbury could try and bring together their clients knowledge and experience to help address these issues for everyones benefits by comparing practises and ideas not normally shared.

For more information on possible future events please contact us quoting: ‘Forum’ at enquiries@stonbury.co.uk.

AMP6

“The event really was a fantastic demonstration of water companies sharing their knowledge and experience for the benefit of all. Feedback following the event was overwhelming and we were very pleased it had been such a success” James Stonor MD

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FASTFLOW

More work in the pipeline for Fastflow Fastflow Pipeline Services has been awarded a £3 million contract to upgrade key sections of Scottish Water’s clean water network. The works comprise two schemes in the South West of Scotland - one in Greenock, Inverclyde and the other in Ashgrove, Ayrshire. Having commenced at the end of October, the projects will be completed in the summer of next year and have secured the employment for 25 operatives.

As part of this drive, Fastflow was an exhibitor at the recent No Dig Live event at Coventry, where its award winning trunk mains cleaning offer was on show. The European-patented system is capable of operating over distances of up to a kilometre - resulting in fewer excavations and pipe interventions – saving substantial amounts of time and cost while improving safety and reducing environmental impact. Cutting edge tools provide high quality images from deep within the pipeline, enabling the specially trained technicians to carry out a thorough assessment of the condition of the main and develop a detailed cleaning and repair plan. The innovative, remote controlled spray head uses only a fraction of the water required by more traditional flushing methods, making it much more environmentally sustainable. Capable of cleaning 1.2 metres of pipe per minute, it also scores very high water purity values in a single pass.

The Fastflow trunk mains cleaning system – spray chlorination - in operation.

Once cleaning has been carried out, the world’s largest spray chlorination unit saves even more water as the main requires only a single, rather than double fill, to complete the process.

Fastflow also used the show to re-launch its gas network operations – Fastflow Energy Services – which is now headed up by former Great Britain Rugby League star, Tony Cottrell.

After manning the stand at No Dig Live, Fastflow Business Development Director, Keith Macaulay, commented: “There was a lot of interest in our system and we picked up some encouraging leads.”

Within weeks of the Leigh Centurians prop joining FES, it was selected as an approved partner by the National Grid for gas diversion and installation works.

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“We have spent a lot of time and money improving services in recent months, making our offer more environmentally friendly and cost effective for the customer. We are now starting to see the fruits of our labour as we seek to extend operations around the UK.”

P r e v i e w

Working in partnership with George Leslie, Fastflow is helping to deliver Scottish Water’s network rehabilitation programme to further improve water quality. Said owner and Chief Executive Officer, Neil Armstrong: “We are pleased to have again been selected to work with Scottish Water on its network improvement initiative.

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vEOLiA WATER ORGANicS REcYcLiNG

Sustainable solutions for our environment - organic waste streams A subsidiary of veolia water, Organics recycling has been using its knowledge of soil nutrients and waste management to offer sustainable solutions to not only the water industry by recycling sewage sludge to land, but to a much more diverse range of organic waste producers. Since becoming part of the veolia water group five years ago, the company now handles organic waste streams from a number of different waste processes such as food, dairy and brewery, and it has also widened its scope to incorporate energy recovery and anaerobic digestion from organic waste, as well as its core base of recycling waste to land and agriculture.

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Diversifying

A good example of how the market and veolia water Organics recycling is evolving is through the contract that it has with a large whisky distiller to treat by-products from the distilling process, such as wet grain, pot ale and draff. The process has three inputs that go into the production of whisky: barley, water and yeast. Once processed there are a number of by-products that can either be burned in a boiler to create energy, digested to create gas through anaerobic digestion, or the nutrient value can be returned to land.

the closed period) storage facilities. The company finds the land and uses its SUivrA software to ensure 100% regulatory compliance – a bespoke monitoring tool, which tracks material from the start to end of its recycling process, underpinning the company’s commitment to high quality service, value and responsibility. Changes to perceptions in the organics recycling sector in recent years are likely to change the way organics recyclers operate, and in particular in the way clients view their waste. it’s no longer a case of looking at organic waste as something to dispose of; it is now looked upon as something from which further value can be created. veolia water Organics recycling works with a range of clients to help get the best value from organic waste by providing solutions that will create better results together. www.veoliawaterorganicsercycling.co.uk Contact Ben Goad on 07768 044698

Conventional recycling of organic waste from the distilling process involves drying out the by-product and using it as animal feed – and this is still very much a common practice. Because this is an energy intensive process, veolia water Organics recycling has developed a system that reduces the energy intensity, which in turn reduces the distillers carbon footprint. The process also means veolia can take the by-products and create an organic soil conditioner, as well as biomass energy fuel.

Tailored solutions when deciding on a treatment process for new waste streams that require processing, veolia water Organics recycling tailors its solutions to ensure environmental needs are met and that outputs can be used locally, for example as a soil nutrient for local agriculture. The company works on the basis of looking to provide a client with more than one solution for organic waste recycling. For example, when recycling alcoholic dairy biosolid from a Belfast-based manufacturing plant in Northern ireland, when it comes to recycling to land, there are huge limitations that apply. During the closed period (15 October to 15 February), recycling to land is not permitted. So the company developed a cost-effective, all-encompassing solution that ensures there will always be an outlet for the recycled materials. it uses local contractors to transport them to a local composter, farmer or (during

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WPL

WPL HAS DEVELOPED THE ‘AN-SAF’, AN INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY FOR ENHANCED NITRATE REMOVAL WPL is the first company to have supplied such a technology as a capital project solution to a UK Water Company. With ever tightening Environment Agency consent standards water companies continue to upgrade their works to meet them. The innovative WPL Anoxic AN-SAF module is the first system to incorporate de-nitrification in a SAF (Submerged Aerated Filter). Andrew Baird, WPL’s Technical Manager, says, “De-nitrification in a SAF had long been considered to be biochemically unworkable due to a constant air demand required to maintain scour of the media pack and to prevent sedimentation within the treatment zone. We have successfully overcome these technical barriers with innovative process control automation and operational experience gained from managing pilot trials for a 12 month period within a research and development program.” WPL supplied the works with two steel above ground tanks providing aerobic/anoxic treatment of influent wastewater from existing mineral filters at the works, with a 5800 population equivalent. The AN-SAF’s were designed by WPL to meet effluent discharge standards (95%ile) of ammoniacal nitrogen at 5.0mg/L and total inorganic nitrogen at 35mg/L (annual average). The wastewater flows through the existing plant’s inlet works, primary treatment chamber and trickling filters. It then enters one of two Anoxic AN-SAFs via a flow-splitting chamber. Each AN-SAF comprises five cells: the first three of which have been assigned as aerobic and the remaining two as anoxic. The aerobic sections are assigned for the process function of nitrification and are therefore continually aerated for carbonaceous and nitrifying degrading of the sewage.

Flow then continues into the anoxic sections, where it is continuously forced to change direction across the profile of the tank. This allows for maximum contact with the submerged media preventing excessive sedimentation of particulate solids and facilitates mixing without turbulence that would entrain air. There is flexibility in the design to increase the amount of aerobic cells to four or five and subsequently decrease the number of anoxic cells to one or zero. WPL not only designs, manufactures and commissions its wastewater treatment solutions, but also provides maintenance as well, offering a comprehensive package if required. For more information visit www.wpl.co.uk.

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Plus additional processes can be provided for DENITRIFICATION and PHOSPHATE REMOVAL.

59 5/11/12 09:16:22

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investing in the industry: who, how, and why?

By Jane Pilcher, Treasurer, Anglian Water Services

It’s not surprising, given the economic uncertainty we’re living through, that much media and public attention is focused on the bills we pay. It doesn’t matter if it’s an increase in the price of petrol or a jump in the cost of a basket of groceries, one thing is for sure – it’s going to make front page news.

Utility bills are no exception. And with water companies currently preparing for the forthcoming ‘price review’ process and establishing priorities for the next investment period, the cost of the services we get from our water companies is going to attract significant scrutiny in the coming months. Given that water and sewerage services are so vital to our well-being, it’s entirely appropriate that the public are involved in setting priorities for the water companies that provide them. The ‘price review’ is also a shared effort to research and agree major investment programmes designed to improve services and protect the environment. But the focus on bills as the way to pay for these agreed priorities is only half the story. we need to look at the role of investors in our industry, as well as the role of the household bill, to see a more complete picture.

Why do water companies need so much investment? it’s not as daft a question as it sounds. with millions of customers paying their bills every day, why does the industry need external investors? Like many essential services, spending during the early parts of the century was kept to the minimum necessary to avoid service failure. But since privatisation of the industry in 1989, changing legislative requirements and regulatory standards, along with the growing demands of customers, mean significant improvements have been needed. New challenges such as the difficulties posed by climate change together with a growing population mean that investment in our infrastructure is vital, and will continue for some time. To make and maintain those improvements requires significant investment. The water

industry in england and wales has successfully raised billions of pounds of private investment since privatisation, which has ensured that the current generation of water bill customers hasn’t had to pay for the full cost of this investment immediately. it’s true that water bills have risen to accommodate the servicing costs of this external investment, but significant and reliable external funding is vital for the long-term stability of the industry. And that funding doesn’t come for free.

tenant to pay for it all that year? it’s cheaper – and therefore more beneficial for our customers – for us to pay investors seeking a return on their money, rather than the full investment costs we incur in each year.

Retaining conﬁdence

The payback

So it’s clear that investors are central to the success of water companies, and ensuring they have confidence in our industry and the way it is regulated is of paramount importance. water companies (and regulators) often talk of not ‘spooking’ investors, because of the importance of maintaining this confidence. Put simply, this is because the more confident our investors are in the future of the water industry, the lower our cost of financing – and therefore, the lower our customers’ bills are.

Customers are sometimes surprised to discover that a significant percentage of their water bill is used to pay back this ‘interest only, mortgagestyle’ investment that the water company has attracted and secured against the infrastructure it owns and manages. in the case of Anglian water, this is about one-third of the bill.

Accessing finance at a good and affordable rate is more complex than simply checking High Street interest rates though! Our finance comes from a number of different providers – for instance, by equity from shareholders, corporate bonds from retail investors, pension funds and insurance companies as well as banks.

But financing in this way is critical for the longterm stability of the industry. essentially, current customers – through their water bills – pay to maintain the assets that provide water and waste water services today. But we use finance from our lenders and shareholders to buy, build or improve our assets, for which we need to pay financing costs. That way, current customers don’t have to immediately meet the full cost of investment if, for instance, legislation changes and we need to undertake additional investment which future generations will benefit from.

each of those investors charges a “risk” premium, and it is in all of our interests that this is kept to a minimum. if any of these investors were concerned about our ability to repay, or meet costs of dividends or interest, then this would rise – and, of course, so would customers’ bills.

Many people compare it to a mortgage on their home. The water industry has, in effect, secured a mortgage against the assets that it owns, maintains and builds, so that the funds for vital investment are readily available.

To continue the mortgage analogy, if you were to build a conservatory for a rental property, would you add it to the mortgage or expect the current

Risk and reward Like much of the water industry, Anglian water attracts finance from investors that are debt investors and equity investors. equity investors take more risk, and would be the last to be repaid if ever the company was sold, and may see their annual payments (dividends) reduce if there were unexpected events. Because of this

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FEATURE:INVESTOR RELATIONS

higher risk, their expected returns are higher. Debt investors (typically corporate bonds for Anglian Water) seek an annual payment (interest) which is linked to a fixed rate over a Government bond of a similar maturity in which they could invest. Because debt investors get repaid before equity investors, and the interest payments are made on fixed dates, they are not taking as much risk, and therefore don’t get the same return. Anglian Water is owned by a consortium of pension funds and asset managers. These are our equity investors and are long-term investors, taking a long-term view of their investment in our company. We meet with equity investors as well as our debt investors (including banks) on a regular basis, and we publish information to them so that they can understand the risks they take in investing in our business. Because water and waste water services are essential public services we have been able

to attract investors to finance at low costs of financing to date, but as increased risk pushes up the cost of finance, it is important for our industry that it continues to be considered by all our investors as a safe and stable investment. Continuing to attract finance that is provided by debt investors, will keep our costs of financing lower – and therefore the lower our customers’ bills will be.

In it for the long-haul We take our finance from a wide group of investors, and many have differing time horizons for repayment, or appetite for taking risk. Typically, water company assets are long-life, so it makes sense that we have our finance for the long-term as well. Our investors are not investing in the water industry for a quick return, but instead are putting their money into a vital public service, for the long-term. ‘Cost of Capital’ is the financing cost that the

economic regulator, Ofwat, allows us to charge customers for our asset base (the house, in our mortgage analogy). In the past, a single cost of capital was allowed by Ofwat, and it has been for each company to determine how it uses this to finance its business in what it considers to be the most efficient way. If the cost of capital is set too low, investors may choose to invest their money in other companies or instruments, and if it is too high, then customers would be over paying through their bills. Because the financial markets are volatile, the cost of capital is set for each price review period so we all have certainty over the components relating to finance in the bills. The complex nature of water company financing means it is often easier to focus on the figures on the bill than to look at the models behind the numbers. But to do so only gives you one small part of the picture. Quite simply, we wouldn’t be where we are, or have achieved as much as we have, without our investors.

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PIPELINE MATERIALS

Plastic: The Water Sector’s Flexible, Environmental Friend

Oxana Latypova from GPS PE Pipe Systems discusses the environmental advantages of PE piping. In the 21st century water industry, environmental best practice is no longer a nice-to-have pat on the back. It’s a commercial and compliance imperative that, quite rightly, is a clear focus for all new infrastructure projects. Historically, there has been a commonly held belief that plastic, as a man-made material, was not the most environmentally-friendly option for water pipelines. A more holistic view of the whole process of creating or renewing water pipelines tells a very different story. It’s a story that is backed by meticulous research and hard data, by pipe manufacturing innovation and by the experience of UK water companies that have applied tough environmental targets to the specification and installation of pipelines. They’ve found that PE offers a much lower carbon alternative to more traditional materials.

Thorough Research A study by TEPPFA, the European plastic pipe industry body, has found that plastic piping has an environmental footprint two thirds lower than that of traditional materials when compared and assessed across the entire product lifecycle. This assessment considered both adverse environmental impact, such as the amount of greenhouse gases released during the material’s production or disposal process, and environmental benefits, such as the extent to which the pipe saves energy compared to alternatives during its service life. The study

examined every stage of the lifecycle; from production of raw materials, through to pipe manufacturing processes, transportation, installation, service life and disposal or reprocessing. Using six assessment criteria, the internationally respected Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO) compared plastic piping with concrete, ductile iron and copper alternatives in a range of applications and the results were conclusive: plastic reduced the environmental impact of pipe installations when compared to all three alternative materials.

Meeting Eco Targets These environmental benefits brought PE piping to the attention of Anglian Water and the company’s delivery partners, Mott McDonald and JN Bentley when considering the specification of the new £40 million Boston to Covenham scheme. The pipeline is being built to ensure that there is ample capacity to supply the needs of a growing population in Lincolnshire and to underpin security of supply. Anglian Water had set challenging targets for both embodied and operational CO2 emissions for the project in line with its ‘Love Every Drop’ environmental campaign and corporate strategy and the project’s delivery partners used a CO2 material comparison methodology to determine the most appropriate pipe specification. PE piping was identified as the most environmentally sound choice due to its light weight, ideal hydraulic

properties that remain unaffected (by corrosion or scale) over time, longer service life and its ease of recycling. PE’s main environmental advantage is that it’s light to transport and suitable for both open cut and trenchless installations, reducing its environmental impact during transportation to site and installation. Meanwhile the flexibility of PE pipe allowed the pipeline to follow the natural terrain, avoiding the need for any extra joints to accommodate bends or local route diversions and minimising the number of thrust blocks to reduce the operational environmental impact of the installation. By manufacturing the pipe in longer (18m) lengths GPS was able to help the project team to reduce the number of deliveries required by 30% and the longer lengths of pipe also reduced the number of joints required, which in turn reduced the construction programme for the welding machine and, therefore, the energy needed to run it. The use of GPS piping has helped the project to achieve an overall reduction in embodied carbon from a business plan impact of 28,950 tonnes of CO2 to just 12,644 tonnes.

Lower Carbon Contribution The Boston to Covenham pipeline is just one example of how considering the lifecycle environmental impact of pipe materials is invaluable is helping to reduce the project operational and embodied carbon, providing important capital savings along the way.

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Pipeline Cleaning Pipeline Pigging Pipeline Testing Pipeline Drying Pipe Rehabilitation Pipeline Commissioning Pipeline Decommissioning 68

HTC Management Services Ltd Redwither Works Redwither Road Wrexham Ind Est, Wrexham LL13 9RD Tel: +44(0)1978 661182 Fax: +44(0)1978 661184 e-mail: info@h-t-c.co.uk Web: www.h-t-c.co.uk

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HTc MANAGEMENT SERvicES LTD

Reducing lead contamination it is estimated that there are 9.3 million lead service pipes and 6.3 million communication pipes in the UK. The majority of homes that were built before 1970 are supplied with water running through aged lead pipes. Lead is a toxic metal which can build up in the body. regulation 30(4) of the Drinking water (2000) regulations states that the lead levels in drinking water must be below 25ug/litre. This is currently achieved by orthophosphate dosing of the water at the treatment works. in 2013 european legislation will mean that the maximum level of lead reduces further, to under 10ug/litre. Chemical dosing is optimised, cannot guarantee 100% compliance, further reductions in lead levels are unlikely to be achieved using this method. Alternatives include the replacement of all lead pipes, or relining the existing lead pipes. The whirlwind Serline™ system is a process that utilises whirlwind’s forced air vortex system to both clean and dry the communication/service pipes and then apply a Dwi approved PU coating to the clean and dry internal surface of the pipe, encapsulating them and preventing lead from permeating into the water, therefore reducing any lead contamination. whirlwind’s innovative technology is able to provide a system that can successfully apply these resins,

where size restricts the use of traditional methods. The whirlwind forced air vortex technology allows injection of the mixed resin into a carefully controlled air flow, allowing the air to carry the product quickly down the pipe and, at the appropriate point, deposit the fast curing resin to the dry wall of the pipe. it effectively uses the air stream as a pipe and, at the required position, creates turbulence to act as the application medium. The application equipment benefits from being mounted in a single vehicle, which minimises its footprint on site. A comprehensive computer controlled quality package allows continual monitoring for compliance. The whole operation is recorded and can be transmitted to an office or monitoring station within seconds of completion. Cleaning and lining is completed in minutes and third party damages are minimised as the carrier pipe is already installed. Utilisation of an innovative stop tap connector can reduce up to half the number of excavations, further reducing costs and disruption. Serline TM is the first small bore CiPP process to receive Drinking water inspectorate (Dwi) reg 31 4 (a) approval and successfully delivers significant improvements in water quality and environmental performance. Third party damages are minimised as the host pipe is already installed. The process can seal small holes and provide a leakage solution. Based on 2000 communication pipes already lined, the operation has proved to be around 80% more efficient than open cutting on busy main roads.This has resulted in a dramatic reduction in the number of open excavations outside customers' houses which, in turn, has reduced the volume of traffic build-up in residential areas created by traditional open-cut methods. when the lining unit is working to its full potential excavations are kept to a minimum and the unit cost to refurbish the lead communication pipe is reduced even further

During the initial service lining trial Yorkshire water commented on the following environmental benefits: To date 2000 lead communication pipes have been re-lined. This has resulted in a reduction of 1876m3 of excavated material going to landfill and the equivalent in backfill material. To put this into visual terms this equates to 188 lorry loads excavation size reduced by an average of 80% resulting in a reduction in our carbon footprint. Noise pollution was reduced dramatically as the time spent outside our customers property with plant was cut by 80% The construction method is much less intrusive than traditional methods thus vastly reducing pollution risks from plant. The coating applied to the lead pipe has been proved to repair small holes in the pipes, therefore having an impact on water leakage. The impact of this reduction is currently being investigated. The results are thought to be rather significant. The lining applied to the lead pipe acts as a barrier to prevent leaching of lead. This has reduced Yorkshire water’s need to dose certain chemicals during the treatment process. Using the Serline TM system to refurbish existing lead pipes less replacement plastic pipe is required,further reducing the operational carbon footprint and reducing waste.

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loWer PuMPIng CoST WITH Ie4 SynCHronouS reluCTanCe MoTorS In these cost conscientious times, water companies are under constant pressure to reduce running costs. Every aspect of the business is being looked at. And pumps â&#x20AC;&#x201C; being one of the biggest costs associated with running a water plant â&#x20AC;&#x201C; are under the microscope. Pump motors need to be as efficient as possible, yet have the longest possible lifetime whilst not increasing maintenance demands or failures. This is particularly important in remote areas or where a reliable supply of drinking water is paramount.

back to basics The search for a motor that would fit these criteria, whilst being perfectly adapted to low voltage AC drive operation, has gone back to a design that was first developed in 1923. The synchronous motor (SM), with a 4-pole rotor operated at 50 Hz, rotates in synchronism with the supply at exactly 1,500 rpm. This compares well with the equivalent induction motor (IM), which rotates only at say 1,475 rpm for a mid-size power rating. In modern IMs, losses in the rotor amount to 20 to 40 percent of the total motor losses. By contrast, synchronous rotation eliminates most of these associated losses, giving an increase in efficiency from IE2 to IE4 level. One of the forms of SM is the synchronous reluctance motor (SynRM). A SynRM motor has neither a conducting short-circuit cage, nor permanent magnets, nor a field excitation winding. Instead, the magnetic principle of reluctance is utilised.

no rotor losses make for cool running The virtual elimination of losses means that the SynRM runs cooler than other motor designs. This low temperature operation improves the lifetime of the bearings. This makes the motor much more reliable. Bearing failure accounts for around 70 percent of unplanned motor outages.

designed for variable-speed drives The same types of drives used to control IMs can also control this motor type. Modified software within the drive will allow it to control the SynRM. Drive operation improves the energy efficiency in pump applications by adapting the motor speed to match variations in the load and eliminate the need for throttling. Ian Allan, ABB Limited Tel: 01925 741 111; email: energy@gb.abb.com; Web: www.abb.co.uk/motors

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Call today on 0121 521 2801 Email : pca@hydrosave.co.uk Call usus today on 0121 521 2807 Email: solutions@pipeline-services.co.uk CallCall usCall today us on today 0121 on 521 0121 2807 521 Email: 2807 Email: solutions@pipeline-services.co.uk solutions@pipeline-services.co.uk us today on :0121 Email: solutions@pipeline-services.co.uk Facsimile: 0121 521 521 2811 Web: www.pipeline-services.co.uk Fax 0121 521 2807 2826 Web: www.hydrosave.co.uk Facsimile: Facsimile: 0121 521 0121 2811 521 2811 Web: www.pipeline-services.co.uk Web: www.pipeline-services.co.uk Facsimile: 0121 521 2811 Web: www.pipeline-services.co.uk IOW 176.indd 72

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radIuS SySTeMS

radIuS SySTeMS’ beSPoke engIneered Pe SySTeMS brIng CoST SavIngS and envIronMenTal beneFITS To WaTer CuSToMerS Radius Systems are currently supplying innovative pipeline solutions for two large diameter water projects: a new hydro electricity scheme in Gerlan, North Wales and the rehabilitation of a large diameter pipeline in the Severn Trent Water area. Working together with the Derwent Hydro project team to develop an optimised system for the new hydro electricity pipeline in Gerlan, Radius Systems are currently supplying over 2.5km of 710mm black PE100 pipe in standard and bespoke SDRs, with a range of fittings adapted to suit. The pipeline conveys water from two separate water courses, which are at different inlet heights, the highest of which is 136m above the turbine inlet. Three pipe SDRs were supplied, including SDR12.4 a 14 bar pipe, which was selected over standard SDR11 16, bar pipe. The pipes were specially manufactured with a view to optimise the system’s hydraulic performance, minimise material usage and reduce the impact on the environment. In the Severn Trent Water area, Radius Systems have worked closely with Laing O’Rourke to engineer a solution for a strategic 39" metallic pipeline. 9.3km of 937mm dark blue PE100 pipe with an SDR of 51 has been specified to be inserted as a liner into the metallic host main, using a pipe-folding technique to reduce its’ diameter. Once in place, the pipe is pressurised to achieve its’ final dimension. The PE pipe ensures water quality and leak-tightness and acts as a semi-structural liner deriving its’ strength from the main. Brent Eastell design engineer for Laing O’Rourke commented: “this is one of

Hydro pipe being installed in Gerlan

the largest and most innovative projects we are involved in at the moment. Relining the pipeline has brought considerable material and installation cost savings to Severn Trent Water, compared to replacing the whole metallic pipeline. Choosing a pipe insertion technique has also kept disruption to the environment to a minimum”. For more information on our bespoke pipe solutions, please contact Radius Systems on tel: +44 (0)1773 811112 or email: onenquiries@radius-systems.com.

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2/11/12 14:32:51

The Challenges of Flooding Flood management should be a priority for governments according to Pieter-Christiaan van Oranje, Head of AGT International in the Netherlands and spokesperson on water and flood management.

government agencies and water authorities do not improve their preparatory activities.

In the past five years, flooding has caused over 32,000 deaths and cost the global economy an estimated $171.7bn in damages. As a result of changing climate patterns, rising sea levels and trends such as mass urbanisation, this problem is only likely to be exacerbated, unless greater efforts are made to predict, prevent and manage the problem. Flood management should be a priority for every government as it only takes one disaster to wash away a significant part of a countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economic, political and cultural security. As urbanisation continues at pace and we start to see the first cities of thirty or forty million people, flood defences, including both physical defences and predictive capabilities, need to be prioritised. Currently, over 40% of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s population lives within 100 kilometres of the coast. With increased urbanisation in delta areas that influence the runoff of water, the need to protect against flooding cannot be ignored. The damage wrought by recent floods in Asia and Australia exemplifies what can happen if

Existing preparations rely primarily on historical data for seasonal rainfall, wind and tidal information, resulting in incomplete or incorrect parameters for decision-making. These indices include current water levels, runoff predications and retention capacities, flood maps, and the structural integrity of flood defences. This has, in turn, led to inaccurate predictions of where and when flooding may be expected. Silos between systems and procedures of various first responder authorities responsible for dealing with flooding only further hamper accurate decision making and crisis management. Without accurate information, the ability of decision-makers to predict, prepare and manage flooding and to ultimately save lives continues to be severely hindered. This has not been lost on China and other governments in Asia, who are investing in innovative Western technology and software to mitigate the effects of flooding. The West should take note before they are left behind, without equivalent defences.

Historical solutions The prediction and management of floods has challenged leaders for thousands of years. The

ancient Chinese ruler Yu the Great Levees (c. 2200 - 2100 BC) was famed for his introduction of flood control. Under his rule, levees were used to raise the banks of the Yellow River. In my own country, the Netherlands - prone to flooding and largely below sea level - there is also a strong history in flood management. The first man-made dikes recorded there are thought to have been constructed in around 900-1000 AD, following the first major recorded flood in 836 AD in the North of the region. However, the dikes set up in the North failed and the majority of the country was flooded in 1000AD. Their use at this time was more to provide higher ground during a flood, rather than actually protect the low-lying areas, but it sparked generations of effort to combat and harness the power of this vital resource. The 1953 North Sea flood, when a storm surge overwhelmed sea defences causing 1,836 deaths, only served to redouble the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s commitment. No advanced warning was provided, resulting in an unprepared population. As result of this devastation, political discussions began in order to ensure the protection and strengthening of dikes in this region. This led to the Delta Law being passed in 1959 and the subsequent construction of the Delta Works beginning.

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FEATURE:Flood ManageMenT About the author

Pieter-Christiaan van Oranje is Head of AGT International in the Netherlands and leads the AGT International global focus on solutions for water and flood management, which has seen Flood Management Systems (FMS) installed on the Yellow River in China and in the Province of Utrecht in the Netherlands. AGT International is also advising the Governments of Thailand and Bangladesh on flood prediction, prevention and management.

This conceptual framework was instituted as the norm for flood defences.

Solutions for today Both the Netherlands and China continue to lead some of the world’s forward thinking on flood management, as evidenced by their continuing advancement in this area in today’s world. While flooding continues to challenge today’s leaders, they have unprecedented access to predictive technologies and options to manage a flood event once it occurs. In the Netherlands, we have developed cutting edge solutions using advanced sensors to detect conditions on the surface and deep within dikes. The information gathered from these sensors is then fed into real time models that analyse dike stability and warn of developing weakness or impending failure. In addition to providing real time analysis, these tools allow for collaboration across water authorities and city agencies for the effective management of a flooding event. The impact of predicted floods can be modelled, including likely dike breaches and the extent of flooding of the local terrain for both real time decisionmaking and simulation of potential outcomes and

possible solutions. Dike data analysis can further be used to move from scheduled to predictive maintenance, optimizing resources for river conservatories. In China, the water authorities approached AGT International about these new technologies to predict and protect against flooding disasters. Working with the Yellow River Conservancy Committee (YRCC) of the People’s Republic of China, we installed this technology on a stretch of the Yellow River. Successful tests on this most challenging of rivers—which is 5000 kilometres long, frequently changes course and at some points reaches levels 10 metres above the surrounding land—have shown that by working together to apply the latest proven technology, it is possible to prevent dike breaches, predict flooding events and keep citizens safe. While leaders throughout history have grappled with flood prediction and management, today’s decision makers have access to technological innovations that can help prevent future disasters. As we continue to evolve our technology over time, we can offer new solutions to these problems in order to achieve better success in the final outcome. No longer can governments make excuses; it’s time to make flood management a priority.

He has established AGT International’s Water Center of Excellence in the Netherlands, to maximize Dutch water management experience and investigate the many facets of flood prevention and flood management. The Centre of Excellence has established a partnership with leading Dutch research institutes and universities. The partnership’s research program will support the industry with developments in technologies and academic research. Mr. van Oranje is a former lieutenant Colonel of the Directorate of Operations of the Royal Military and Border Police Staff in Holland. In addition, he was appointed as Assistant to the Chairman of the Board of the Frontex Agency (management of external EU borders). Mr. van Oranje is an MBA graduate of IMD (International Institute for Management Development) in Lausanne, Switzerland, and also holds a law degree from Utrecht University.

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RPS

RPS Appointed to Carry Out Visual Inspection of the Netherlands’ Dikes In the dry hot summer of 2003 a peat dike in the village of Wilnis near Amsterdam collapsed. Because of the resultant flooding, over 1,500 people were evacuated and there was an estimated economic damage of several million Euros.

The Water Boards in the Netherlands – responsible for the inspection and maintenance of dikes – needed to know why the collapse had occurred and how similar catastrophes could be prevented in the future. This resulted in the research programme ‘Professionalising Inspection of Dikes’.

in collaboration with consultants Infram and BZ, to collate and summarize almost a decade of studies on the management and visual inspection of the country’s dikes. The resulting manual was distributed to over 250 dike inspectors and dike managers at the annual symposium on dike inspection.

RPS was one of the first consulting companies to assist the Water Boards in the uniform description – based on visual inspection – of damage to dikes. Over the years several GIS-based mobile-applications were developed and training programmes for inspectors were designed and introduced. The tools included a website with photographs of all possible types of damage to dikes (http://digigids.hetwaterschapshuis. nl/). These activities helped establish our strong reputation in this important sector.

The first section of the manual describes what an inspector might encounter on several types of dikes, what threats might arise from various degrees of damage and which counter-measures can be deployed. The information hierarchy in the manual starts with the outer, protective surface of a dike – whether this is – for example – stone, asphalt or grass. All possible damage – such as fissures, holes or small landslips – is subsequently described in detail. The manual is produced in a handy format with plastic coated paper to facilitate outdoor use in all weathers. The second section focuses on non-visual inspection

Last year, the Netherlands national Foundation for Applied Water Research (Stowa) asked RPS,

techniques – such as highly sensitive movement sensors or infrared aerial photographs – that can help dike managers evaluate the structural status of a dike. The manual is part of a series, which also includes a manual for organising and managing the inspections of dikes. Together with its partners, RPS has produced a state of the art reference document that is likely to be used by all dike inspectors in the Netherlands. Contact: Dr. Oscar van Dam (Leerdam office – the Netherlands) E: oscar.van.dam@rps.nl T: +31 345 63 96 96

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Drink, cook, bathe, irrigate, clean - and drink it again. Siemens solutions ensure that the water quality is always suitable for intended use. Water and wastewater industry

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HWM

Snow and Ice No Problem for Essex & Suffolk Water Drive-by Meter Reading As the summer starts to feel like a distant memory, and Christmas displays start dominating shops all too quickly again, thoughts also turn towards preparing for what has recently been a disruptive time of year. Recent winters have seen heavy snowfall around the country, making travel treacherous and severely impacting many businesses. For water companies and other utilities, it has, for example, made active meter reading a very difficult task, with meters often hidden securely behind several inches of snow and ice. Essex & Suffolk Water, however, has found that HWM’s SMART Log wireless AMR system allowed its technicians to continue to collect meter readings and historic consumption data from their Domestic Consumption Monitors simply by driving – carefully – along the road. When the snow fell back in December 2010, William Salmon (Demand Planning Technician for Essex & Suffolk Water) decided to conduct an experiment and set out in his van. Normally, the hardened shell of snow and ice would make accessing and reading those meters virtually impossible. The SMART Log system, however, turns any existing pulse-enabled water meter into a digital, virtual smart meter capable of transmitting a month’s worth of collected data over 100m distances in just a few seconds. So William, safe and relatively warm inside his van, carefully negotiated his way along the frozen roads to see if he could still complete his task:

“The weather conditions during this time were terrible, we had heavy snow, with temperatures close to minus 10 degrees C,” he reported. “To my surprise – and relief – all the data from the SMART Logs we had in the area was successfully downloaded with the speed and success rate we have been used to in calmer weather.

"Even the antenna on the van had frozen over in the end!” Now, two years later, Essex & Suffolk Water currently has around 1500 SMART Logs in place for their Study of Water Use project, automatically reading meters and transmitting the data to passing patrol vehicles in all conditions. The company uses this consumption data to monitor water demand in targeted areas, and estimates that the new system is on average 5-10 times quicker per property than traditional meter reading methods; this includes the time taken for technicians to check the data in case any immediate remedial action is required. The SMART Log system stores consumption and event history records for wireless data transfer to drive-by patrols. The data can then be used to determine accurate billings and develop tariff models, identify back-flow and even detect customer-side leakage. The wireless technology sends a ‘beacon’-type message every two seconds to initiate the connection as soon as possible, allowing rapid data transfer and effective drive-by speeds of up to 30mph (when driving conditions allow). SMART Log is also considered a viable and cost-effective alternative to GPRS or SMS dataloggers for commercial applications.

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2/11/12 14:33:17

The 14th IWA UK National Young Water Professionals Conference 2013 17, 18, 19 April 2013 Teesside University Darlington

Showcasing the latest research and innovation from around the world, the 14th IWA conference promises to be an event not to miss with a superb selection of young professionals from both academia and industry. The conference theme in 2013 will focus on how the water industry is driving the green agenda. Presentations will cover a wide variety of disciplines such as: technical innovation (process and technology), regulation, economics, asset management, the supply chain and research and innovation. The three-day event is organised in collaboration with Teesside University and will be hosted at its brand new Darlington campus. The call for abstracts is now open For further information, to submit an abstract or view sponsorship opportunities please follow the link to the conference website tees.ac.uk/iwa2013 2013 Young Water Professionals Conference highlights: • Gala dinner in support of venue in the Tees Valley.

held at a premier

• Careers forum providing the chance to meet potential employers face to face. • Industry and cultural visits within the Tees Valley. For any further questions, you can contact the Organising Committee direct at iwaywp2013@gmail.com Supported by

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Industry leading Imtech Process is dedicated to providing innovative, sustainable services on a wide range of water, waste and renewable energy projects.

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Kingsbridge are commercial insurance brokers and we supply insurance and risk management advice for all businesses and professionals involved with water, waste water treatment and environmental risks.

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SQA approved training centre offering a range of training services: Feralco (UK) Ltd was formed in January 2001 following the merger of the Laporte and Alcan water treatment chemical businesses. Today it has manufacturing facilities in England (Widnes) and Scotland (R&J Garroway in Grangemouth). Rapid growth has seen Feralco Group expand its manufacturing base to become a world leader in high performance aluminium chemicals, blends, dispersions and sols. Supply is backed by a first-class support service including application, handling and process optimisation expertise.

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6th Floor, Aidan House, Sunderland Road, Gateshead NE8 3HU T: 0845 884 2333 E: martin.jamieson@distinctivepublishing.co.uk www.distinctivepublishing.co.uk IN THIS ISSUE: 2012 CONFERENCE REVIEW MEET THE REGULATORS DROUGHT UPDATE INSTITUTE OF WATER JOURNAL

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2/11/12 14:33:52

Eastern Area Charity Golf Day – the Ted Terry Challenge

Pauline Terry presented the prizes, including the claret jug in memory of late husband Ted

By Steve Leigh The weather held off (was it divine intervention?) for the fifth outing of the Eastern Area Charity Golf day, playing for the prestigious claret jug which is the Ted Terry Challenge. The challenge this year was not only the wide open spaces of the Nene Valley Golf Club at Thorpewood, Peterborough but also conditions that were very wet underfoot, against which the scores were very commendable all round. This year we had a "family" connection to the late lamented Ted, in that his son in law Trevor and

Grandson Aaron took the field defending the family honour. For the fifth time in five years we had a different winner, this year it was Mo Anderson of Anglian Water with a very creditable 38 points, who walked off with the trophy and prize donated by GPS PE Pipe systems. Close runner up with 36 points (after a recount to make sure we got it right) was Grandson Aaron, another Anglian Water employee Alan Wells was third on 33 points and last year’s winner Tim Boldero (Retired Anglian Water) was fourth with 31 points.

Innovation Day

Longest Drive and winner of the Primayer sponsored prize and was James Sinnock of Seddon Plant, which was quite ironic as the Seddon Plant Prize for the best team went to "Rory’s (McIlroy) Boys" who included Mo, Aaron and Tim. The Groundbreaker prize for nearest to the pin was Mark Tyler playing with the Seddon Plant team. (Mrs) Pauline Terry again made the journey from Ringwood to Peterborough to present the prizes – and was quite made over to be able to see family members doing well. Not only was it good day out on the fairway, the event also raised over £300 for the MacMillan Cancer Charity.

By Lucinda Gilfoyle & Ben Tam

The Institute of Water Eastern Area Innovation Awards were held in the style of a ‘Dragons Den’. Pitches were made from companies who all believe that they have the next major product, service or concept that will offer significant efficiency or performance improvement to the Water Sector.

Chaired by Steve Kaye (Head of Innovation, Anglian Water) the audience were first presented with an overview of the challenges facing incorporating innovation within the water industry. This was followed by an introduction to the Water Innovation Network (WIN) from Sarah Weaving (UK CEED) and Vaibhav Tyagi (Innovation Exploitation Manager, Anglian Water), detailing how this partnership is capturing, developing and implementing ideas through working with over 350 companies.

Technologies, Owlstone, Nivus Technologies, Projective and GPS PE Pipe Systems with the audience voting to determine their top three. The Dragon panel consisting of Paul Gibbs (Waste Water Director, Anglian Water), Steve Morley (Regulation Director and Head of Compliance, Cambridge Water), Piers Clark (Commercial Director, Thames Water) and Nick Ellins (President of the Institute of Water), subjected each entry to further public scrutiny, awarding scores for idea development, differentiation and impact.

Following this, pitches were made by GroundBreaker, R2M, Anglian Water, Chelsea

The high standard, from all entries, meant that the selection process was difficult, with

the initial ‘top three’ being expanded to a ‘top four’. However, both audience and panel were unanimous in their decision that Owlstone, with their portable analyser Lonestar TM for metaldehyde detection, was the clear winner. Owlstone will go forward as the Eastern Area entry for the National Awards. Eastern Area would like to thank everyone involved in the event, particularly the ‘Dragons’ who made the day so entertaining and the pitchers for their enthusiasm and the high standard of their entries. We are looking forward to hosting something similar next year.

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EASTERNAREANEWS

World Environment Day Eastern Area, 2012

"Drought, a closer look"

By Lucinda Gilfoyle

In June, the Eastern Area held its World Environment Day themed this year on the topic of drought. Representatives from throughout the water sector met at Grafham Fishing Lodge to enhance their understanding of the year’s most talked-about topic. Ciaran Nelson and Mike Webb from Anglian and Veolia Water respectively, talked about how their organisations had approached communicating the drought message to customers. They were joined by Peter Jiggins from Defra, to give a regulatory perspective and Tim Hess from Cranfield University talking about the implications of drought on the UK food and grocery industry. Speakers were followed by the opportunity for the audience to record their own thoughts on what they see as the role of the Water Industry, in terms of creating a water efficient culture in the UK; key themes are summarised below.

Greater awareness and education n Water-wise topics to be included in the national curriculum. n A programme of consistent messages through the media to influence water conservation behaviours and maintain public interest. n Educate people about where water comes from and how it is treated so they don’t take it for granted. n Work with community groups to change customer behaviours. n Water efficient goods and products to be clearly identified for customers to allow them

to make better informed decisions around purchases. n Ensure that learning from past events is captured on a National level to improve resilience in future.

Innovation n Promote water harvesting technologies and SUDs to make better use of rainwater.

n Encourage other stakeholders such as the EA, CC4Water and Natural England to get more involved in communicating water saving messages in partnership with Water Companies. n Lead on creating a combined Industry website to communicate key messages around water saving behaviours so the Industry speaks with one voice.

n Promote the re-use of final effluent.

Bills, tariffs, measuring, monitoring and waste

n Develop grey water solutions.

n Provide greater variation in tariffs.

Partnership working

n Promote greater visibility of what customers money is being spent on to make things better.

n Place less emphasis on ‘enforcement’ and more on jointly resolving issues and cross sector collaboration. n Develop National water efficiency plans to promote direct and collaborative action from stakeholders.

n Promote greater visibility of the costs of treating water so that customers can see what they are paying for. n Support and deliver 100% metering.

n Create formal opportunities to share best practices.

n Tighten up Industry practices around leakage and our own ‘Water footprint’ for treatment.

Effective Communication

The day concluded with Tim Boldero and Lynn Cooper from the IWater HQ speaking about the benefits of Chartered Environmentalist Registration and giving details of how to start the chartership process.

n Demonstrate better transparency around water saving communications so customers don’t think they are driven by profit.

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2/11/12 14:33:55

Minworth Sewage Treatment Works Site Visit By Dave Wood On July 10th 30 members and their guests assembled at Severn Trent Water’s Minworth Sewage Treatment Works for a site visit. The journey to the works for many was a long one due a major gridlock on the midlands motorway system but we were given a warm if not delayed welcome by Paul Louth, the Service Delivery Manager for the area. Paul explained that Minworth STW served a population of 1.7 million people living in Birmingham and the Black Country, the works had an average flow of 5.8 m3/sec (510mld) and a maximum "flow to full treatment" of 12.4m3/sec (1070mld) with a maximum flow to works of 30m3/sec and produces 37,000 tonnes of dry solids per year. Paul’s role also covers the operation of the sewage network which feeds Minworth including 8,254 Km of sewers, which includes the 80 Km Black Country sewer, 93 pumping stations, 165 storage tanks and many manholes CSO’s . The works’ two discharges go into the River Tame and these are carefully managed in cooperation with the Environment Agency. During AMP 5 a scheme to help prevent erosion to the river bank will be undertaken. Also during AMP 5, Minworth STW has new consents for phosphate which will be achieved by converting 6 ASP lanes to a Bio P configuration, liquor treatment with iron dosing and the construction of a new Anammox® plant. Following this brief overview Paul handed over to Martyn Lightfoot who is Severn Trent’s Renewable Energy Development Engineer. Martyn told us that Minworth STW produced approximately 9.5 Mwh from 7 spark ignition CHP engines powered from methane harvested from the sludge process. He also outlined future plans to inject gas into the gas network in the near future. He went on to explain that Severn Trent Water was one of the leading water companies in alternative energy production, producing approximately 22% of its electricity requirement at present, planned to increase to a target of 30% by 2014/15. This will be achieved by the introduction of wind turbines and Wanlip, Newthorpe and Derby sewage treatment works which will provide a further 6%, the bio methane injection scheme at Minworth will create a further 1.1% with the remaining 1% being produced by hydro power.

was decided to commence the works tour as the grey clouds gathered in the skies. We split into two groups, one led by Richard Evans, the other by Steve Griffin. Both these guys knew the works inside out and were able to explain the process and pieces of plant in detail. As the rain continued pouring down we reached the works inlet. It was fascinating to see the works at full flow and after a short period the inlet flow increased so much that the flow started to divert to the storm tanks, which we were told was becoming quite a common sight this summer! Despite the horrendous traffic conditions and the continuous rain all the members and guests thoroughly enjoyed the visit and thanked the STW team. Special thanks must go to Paul Louth for allowing us to visit the site but also to Richard and Steve who braved the elements to take us on the tours and also the Martyn Lightfoot who set up a fantastic mini exhibition on renewable energy: thanks guys.

Following this fascinating insight into the works and future developments it

Step Back in Time By Sarah Williams

Colin Wayper, Midlands Area President used his annual President’s Day as an opportunity to take members and their families back in time to the Victorian era. They were transported back to an industrial period when food was bought and cooked freshly every day because there were no fridges or freezers; when children, taught to be seen and not heard referred to their father as ‘sir’ and the atmosphere was filled with the smoke of the new factories that had just been built. This all took place at the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site, at the Blists Hill Victorian Town. All the ‘staff’ were dressed in the original dress of the period, going about their daily lives during the Industrial Revolution – attending school, baking bread, working in the foundry,

selling medicine at the pharmacy (made famous by the TV show Victorian pharmacy) and making wooden and iron objects. Some of the group went down the mine to experience the conditions of the time and a lucky few even bumped into Sherlock Holmes and Watson, who were busy solving a local mystery.

their separate ways to explore the rest of the site and its museums with the free annual pass they were presented as part of the trip. This included visits to the tar tunnel, the china museum or the Darby Houses, restored to show how they looked when the local Quaker ironmasters lived in them.

After a morning exploring the village, the group met for a traditional lunch before going

Thank you to Colin for putting on an excellent and informative day.

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MIDLANDSAREANEWS

Development Event Draws Large Numbers to Villa Park By Daniel Nelson Over sixty delegates from sixteen companies attended the Midlands Area Development Event at Aston Villa Football Club. The event—entitled Shaping Futures: Developing People—offered delegates a choice of interactive workshops on topics such as Ethical Decision Making, Reading People, Influencing, and Modern Communication. "We wanted to provide an opportunity for highly personalised development and to give water industry professionals an opportunity to focus on their own careers and the necessary skills to advance in a changing industry," commented Colin Wayper, Midlands Area President, after the event. One of the event’s most popular workshops was Ethical Decision Making. Under the guidance of professional trainer Clayton Ainger of Sareos, delegates grappled with a variety of ethical dilemmas and learned how ethics change during the course of our lives and careers.

"Water industry professionals balance competing interests and make decisions that have the potential to impact hundreds of thousands of people," explained Clayton. "In this workshop we aimed to provide delegates with the tools necessary to thoroughly consider complex decisions and to have the confidence to choose the right option." In the afternoon, communications specialist Caroline Maddox of MDX Marketing, discussed how social media is changing the way water companies interact with their customers, and how professionals can use modern communication to enhance their career. Her presentation sparked a lively debate about the best ways to reach water customers, and about how to best integrate social media with traditional forms of communication.

Following the workshops, about twenty-five delegates embarked on a guided tour of Villa Park, where they learned about the history of the club and even stepped foot onto the pitch.

"Although we hear about Facebook and Twitter on a daily basis, this workshop gave me some insight about how to use these tools more effectively, particularly in the workplace" said attendee Tim Duncan of IWS.

Phill Richardson of South Staffs Water summed up the day by saying, "I have been to many one-day training events before, and I found this event to be far more valuable, interesting and relevant than any other."

Midlands Area Charity Golf Day 2012

By Gill Wood

The Midlands Area charity golf day was held at Buxton in North Derbyshire on Thursday 21st June 2012. Sixty four contestants from around the country converged on Buxton & High Peaks Golf Club to participate in the annual golfing event. After breakfast refreshments, the golfers began the mornings Texas Scramble event. The weather unfortunately was diabolical with heavy rain and strong winds making play very difficult and low scoring. Competitors came in for lunch thoroughly soaked and badly needing to dry off and get warm. The winners of the morning Texas Scramble event were Plant & Site Services Limited with 23.3 points. The afternoon Stableford event kicked off in drier conditions, although the wind continued to blow strongly from the north and the occasional showers were quite heavy at times. Luckily, a number of players had the foresight to purchase new water-proof clothing from the professional during the lunch break. Competition for the individual title was very competitive and scoring was scrutinised to ensure fairplay. 19 – 28 Handicap winners were:

Gill Wood and winning Team Captain Paul Morgan presenting cheque to WaterAid

1st place (30 points) – H Monk (UTS) sponsored by PPS 2nd place (30 points) – M Young sponsored by Laing O’Rourke 0 – 18 Handicap winners were: 1st place (38 points) – P Allett (PSS) - Instermac Cup Winner, sponsored by UTS 2nd place (38 points) – P Morgan (SSW) sponsored by UTS Runners up to this year’s Stableford Team event were Radius U Plus with a score of 81 but the runaway winners were South Staffordshire Water with a great score of 86, and it gave me great pleasure in handing over a cheque for £2,000 presented to WaterAid. ‘783 million people in the world do not have access to safe water. This is roughly one in ten of the world’s population. WaterAid's vision is of a world

where everyone has access to safe water and sanitation. In Zambia, which South Staffordshire Water supports, £2000 could pay to construct 4 girlfriendly Ventilated Improved Pit latrines, serving 180 schoolgirls, it could also enable 133 people gain access to safe water, improved hygiene and sanitation’. Thanks to the generosity of those contestants that remained with us through the presentations, we were able to raise £350 from the raffle. My thanks go as always to my fellow organisers, John Williams and Dave Wood and to the management and staff at Buxton & High Peaks Golf Club for their excellent course management, hospitality and excellent food. My thanks to the players, sponsors and friends who continue to make this day one of the Midland Area’s greatest long running success stories.

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NORTHERNIRELANDAREANEWS

Learning to love Impoundments - Autumn Seminar By George Irvine

Over 50 people attended the Annual Autumn Seminar, held this year in the Tullyglass Hotel, Ballymena. NI Area President George Butler welcomed all to the Seminar and introduced the seminar theme "Learning to love Impoundments" and looking at the new NI Reservoirs Bill. The keynote address was given by David Porter, Director of Development at the Rivers Agency. David started by informing delegates that reservoirs and dams were not new and the oldest he could find was Jawa Dam in Jordan around 3000 BC. He went on to explain that there were 45,000 large dams in the world and they can be categorised as Irrigation (48%), Hydropower (17%), Water Supply (13%), Flood control (10%) and Recreation (5%). Some of the impacts of dams are: blocking the path of migratory fish, stopping natural fluctuations of natural water courses, water quality, sediment movement, emitting greenhouse gases and displacing people. The legislation (Reservoirs Act 1975) in England does not apply in Northern Ireland hence the need for legislation here. There are 156 reservoirs in NI effecting 60,000 people and 48 belong to NI Water. Failure of dams can be catastrophic for those around them and through the Floods Directive was born the NI Reservoirs Bill that will deal with the use, impact and safety of Dams and Reservoirs. David McKillon, Supervising Engineer with URS was next on the subject of managing the safety of reservoirs. David outlined the current legislation in GB and there will be some changes in the NI Bill, i.e. the reduction in capacity from 25,000 cubic metres to 10,000 cubic metres. Responsibility will lie with the owner/ manager and enforcement authority. Modes of failure of dams were mainly overtopping, dam breach, foundation failure or instability. Reservoir inspection types are Section10, annual statement, construction related certificate and abandonment and are done for the owner and enforcement authority. Reports are done by Panel Engineers every 10 years and will produce findings, recommendations, measures to be taken for safety. Annual statements are annually by supervising engineer. The panel engineer system is administered by ICE. Averil Gaw from the Bill Team, Rivers Agency, gave a presentation on the new NI Reservoirs Bill. Averil explained that no legislation existed in NI and up to now common law was used. The purpose of the new bill was to mitigate against potential reservoir failure and the effect on human life, economic activity, environmental and cultural heritage. The bill will include any structure or area capable of holding 10,000 m3 above the natural level of surrounding land including cascades and combinations. Some high risk reservoirs below 10,000 m3 will also be included. There will be exclusions e.g. canals and responsibility

will lie with owners / managers. The reservoir designation process will be by the Panel Engineer system administered by the ICE and reassessment will be every 10 years. The reservoir manager will be responsible for all record keeping. The next presentation was by Tom Leahy, Executive Manager engineering with Dublin City Council on ensuring security of water supply Shannon / Dublin scheme. Tom explained that Dublin Regional Water Scheme served a population of 1.6 million. The main sources were Roundwood scheme developed in 1860 – 1880, Liffey scheme at Ballymore 1938 – 1944 and Leixlip 1960’s. The 1996 strategic review saw the need to develop a new source of 350 Ml/d to satisfy demand up to 2040. The recommended option for the new supply was to pump water from Lough Derg to a new ecopark reservoir at Garryinch Bog owned by Board-na-Mona based on the example of Rutland Water. This could create up to 150,000 jobs and the draw off from Lough Derg would be just 2% of the average flow rate of the Shannon. Planning approval is now being sought and the scheme should be ready to go by 2014 / 2015. After lunch Alex Hill, the Met Office Chief Advisor to Government for Scotland and Northern Ireland, gave a presentation on the effects of the weather on our reservoirs. He began with a quote by a Carrickfergus poet Louis MacNeice then explained some of the effects of climate change and understanding the links involved including summer and winter temperatures and rainfall. The predictions are that temperatures in 2050 could be 3 degrees higher and this would have a significant impact on river flows, increase pollution, crop failures. Road and rail systems would be disrupted by lines buckling and road surface failure. Changes in the Gulf Stream and Artic ice would be major factors. Alan Cooper, All Reservoirs Panel Engineer URS and Gareth Briggs, Dam Design Engineer URS gave a joint presentation on Managing and building Dams and Reservoirs. Alan looked at some examples of improvements that have been carried out since the 1980’s and the methods used to stabilise and repair dams. Gareth outlined a scheme at Lough Mourne in Co. Donegal where it is proposed to raise the level of the lake by 10 metres to provide storage of 3600 ML and supply 25 ML/d to the Letterkenny area. The scheme will require the building of two dams, one at either end of the lake, and construction of a draw off tower and fish pass. The design and contract documents are complete and the scheme can proceed as soon as finance has been secured. Bill Gowdy, Director of Engineering Procurement at NI Water, spoke about the problems in selling surplus sites. Bill explained that the sale of surplus sites was a complex issue due to the legal position which in most cases meant

Committee Members Carmel Bradley and Lilian Parkes keeping a close eye on proceedings

first refusal had to go to the original owner. Annual land disposal returns had to be made to the Utility Regulator. NI Water cannot sell land below the Net Book Value (NBV) assessed by independent estate agents. DRD / DFP impose sales targets each year and impose fines on NI Water if targets are not met, putting us in a no-win situation. NI Water have 28 surplus sites and before disposal NIAUR / DRD approval is required and wide consultation with the community, councils, assembly, media etc. must take place and all have differing opinions. In conclusion NI Water must dispose of its surplus assets but it is not quite that easy as everyone has a say and generally the public are against selling. Glen Haworth, Project Officer Operations with United Utilities, gave an interesting presentation on access and recreation management in his area of the North West. United Utilities have 563,382 ha of catchment land (57,260 ha in North West), they own 56 farms in the North West and 35,580 ha are designated as open space including 3 National Parks. The aim is to provide freedom of public access to open land while meeting operational and management requirements. A wide variety of activities is permitted, although swimming has been banned for safety reasons in all reservoirs, and communication with the customer is key. A scheme to produce revenues by charging for car parking is being introduced. Glen outlined the SCaMP2 programme to sustain, improve and restore areas of special interest. A business risk based approach to catchment management has been adopted with stakeholder engagement The final speaker was Alan Moore, Senior Asset Strategy Manager with NI Water. Alan informed us that there was no access policy prior to January 2012. The new recreation and access policy will have clear objectives and focus on 4 key areas and the sites will be categorised as High, Medium and Low Risk. NI Water has 20 low risk and 17 medium risk sites. Site security will be a priority and the policy will be customer focused. NI Area President George Butler summed up the seminar and thanked all the speakers and audience for their contribution to a successful day, saying he hoped we all had "Learned to love impoundments".

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SCOTTISHAREANEWS

Family Day By Richard Anderson The Annual Institute of Water Scottish Area Family Day was held at Five Sisters Zoo in West Lothian on the 11th August. The zoo, which started as a private collection of animals to entertain children while their parents shopped in the former garden centre has now grown into an exciting animal park, where our members and families were able to see a wide variety of mammals, birds and reptiles from all over the world. On the day, members enjoyed meeting Carmen, Peggy & Suzy, 3 ex-circus rescue bears in their woodland enclosure, newly built in 2012. Other treats on offer included a creepy crawly handling session where children and parents alike got to hold tortoises, lizards and snakes. One of the most enjoyable activities for some was to go inside the lemur enclosure and feed the lemurs by hand. Commenting on the experience past Scottish Chair, Scott McCrae said "What a brilliant experience for the kids (and me) to feed those lemurs. To be so close to these friendly animals was a real treat!" With additional fun at the indoor soft play centre and new outdoor castle and pirate ship play area, everyone agreed that Five Sisters Zoo had lots to offer this year and the Family

Day was a great success for all who were able to join and meet together. Our special thanks from members and the Scottish Area Committee go

Great Day out on Loch Etive

to Mark Livingston at Ross-shire Engineering Ltd who kindly offered to sponsor the Family Day this year.

By Kathy Auld

The Scottish area welcomed 24 hardy souls to the annual fishing competition, kindly sponsored by WGM. In the approach to the trip the weather forecast was terrible, but as we are in Scotland this information was largely ignored as it can change very quickly. We were right, the weekend was dry, but not sunny (you can’t have everything). For those that were brave enough to camp, this was particularly pleasing. With 12 people on each boat, this was the trip at full capacity. The usual welcome and Brandy toast to "tight lines" started the day off nicely. With food, soft drinks and beer on board, the light banter and sometimes poorly disguised competitiveness we fished through the day in the most beautiful surroundings.

Alan Dick with 7½ lb Ling

Boat 1, the MV Creagallan, (skippered by Colin Currie) hosted by Kevin Seabeck headed towards the sea. Boat 2, the Laura Dawn (skippered by Ronnie Campbell), hosted by Justin Keeper headed toward Glen Coe. Success was to be with the boat that was in the best location. The inland

location turned out to be the winner, with boat 2 taking 166 fish compared to boat 1’s 111. A very successful catch for the day. The individual winner was Paul Banfield with 37 fish, second with 34 was Andy Boyd and third was Phil Cruelly with 23. The heaviest catch went to Alan Dick with a 7 ½ lb Ling. Alan very kindly donated a fine bottle of Malt Whisky for the most species caught, which was gratefully accepted by Andy Boy with Spur Dog, Whiting, Pouting and a Pollock. A great day was had by all and thanks to WGM for coming to the rescue to sponsor the day – without which we may have had to cancel. Kevin and Justin were so impressed that they have agreed to sponsor next year too! At night most of us met for a meal in Oban and a few celebratory drinks, before heading home on Sunday. This was another very successful trip and we look forward to next year already.

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President’s Day – Longleat Safari Park By Steve Youell

The South East Area’s Presidents Day is always one of the highlights of the events calendar and this year’s event was no exception. The day started with tea and coffee for the adults whilst the children were greeted with a soft toy and goodie bag (which some of the adults would have liked!) paintings and a visit to a room which include many facial portraits of famous Kings & Queens that had been painted by the 7th Marquess of Bath. We were then treated to a wonderful ‘Hunters of the Sky’ performance courtesy of different species of birds of prey from around the world including Kites, Vultures and Eagles each demonstrating their extraordinary aerial prowess and hunting abilities.

Following a welcome from Bob Collington (South East Area President, Operations Director, Thames Water) we were all invited to an animal talk which introduced us to some of the animals that reside at Longleat. The animals ranged from cuddly guinea pigs and ferrets to scaly snakes and hairy spiders – all brought a different reaction from the some of the visitors.

After lunch we were allowed to explore the park at our leisure. Attractions included a River Boat Cruise to see Silverback Gorillas and Hippos, the butterfly house and visiting the different animal enclosures. The day finished with the famous Safari Tour and possible close encounters with wild animals including lions, rhinos, zebras, tigers and elephants; some members felt brave enough to take their car through the monkey enclosure and I hope that they got hours of enjoyment out of my windscreen wiper!!

Afterwards we were given a special behind the scenes tour of Longleat House which included rooms that were not open to the general public. This included a visit to the oldest room in the house that also contained the oldest and rarest

Overall it was a fantastic day and it was thoroughly enjoyed by all that attended - adults and children alike. A big thank-you to Bob Collington, Caroline Lee and Thames Water for organising such an excellent day.

Weekend School

The South East Area held its second Weekend School at Marwell Hotel. The theme was again ‘Unlocking Potential’ and was aimed at delegates who wanted interested in their own development and enhancing their skills. What better way to sum up the experience of the school than by one of the delegates:

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SOUTHEASTAREANEWS

Reservoir Roofing Scheme – No more Blooming Algae By Steve Youell Members were invited to Portsmouth Water’s River Itchen Water Treatment Works to view construction of a roofing scheme over the raw water reservoir and also the clarifiers and rapid gravity filters. The scheme, which is being completed by Clancy Docwra at a cost of around £5 million, aims to overcome a longstanding problem of algal growth that occurs every summer. The algal growth causes sediment to accumulate within the reservoir and also causes blockages in the clarifiers and rapid gravity filters which leads to increased treatment costs. In addition, due to the algae and the high nutrient levels in the reservoir, water quality issues are experienced including elevated Trihalomethanes (THM’s) and Taste and Odour. The scheme will eliminate the affects of sunlight on algal growth and therefore help to give a more consistent quality of raw water that is entering the Treatment Works

would look. The structure had to be designed to not only block the sunlight but also to not act as a greenhouse and therefore specialised venting needed to be added.

The visited started with Project Manager Gary Hynds explaining the historical problems that had been experienced, an overview of the construction and the planning considerations that were required.

Due to its increased size, the reservoir is still in the process of having the internal steel structure constructed however we were still able to get a good idea of the complexity of the structure. The whole project should be completed by February 2013 and hopefully Portsmouth Water will start to experience the benefits of better raw water quality and no more blooming algae.

We then were given a tour of the clarifiers and rapid gravity filters which were already partially enclosed; this allowed us a view of how the finished structure

Many thanks to Gary Hynds, Mike Dannatt, Steve Manning and Kevin Barnett for their assistance in giving the tour and providing an interesting event.

Entering the Dragons' Den

By Haley Griffith

There was no scary Scotsman, no shoulder pads and no real money at stake but that didn’t stop the nerves and adrenalin from kicking in at the South East Area Weekend School which took place at the Marwell Hotel near Winchester from 6–8 September. The course which featured many informative presentations culminated in a Dragon’s Den style pitch for a business idea to destroy the bottled water industry. The course was designed to "unlock potential" among the 30 delegates from Portsmouth Water, Thames Water, Southern Water and South East Water. The course kicked off on the Thursday night with a pub quiz courtesy of Steve Youell and I can safely say that the questions featured in this quiz were not your standard pub quiz questions! Bob Collington, South East area President gave the key note welcome speech on the Friday which was followed by a useful session on networking knowhow from Judith Gilmore of Effective Communications. Following a short break, Helen Williamson from Cardonald College gave a presentation on understanding team dynamics at which point

all the delegates were assessed for their team roles. Judith then returned to the stage to give an inspiring talk on presenting the peacock: how to make a great presentation. The afternoon continued with a presentation from Ian Limb, HR Manager at Portsmouth Water, looking at CPD tools and standards. After a full day of insightful presentations the teams received their brief from the Managing Director of "South Coast Water" and immediately set to work preparing attentiongrabbing presentations that would impress the foreign investors, keep costs low, and make lots of money! All teams took on board the advice from the speakers given throughout the course and gave strong presentations to the Dragons with lots of interesting ideas for ways to destroy the bottled water industry. The Dragons, Chris Edmondson (FTF Consulting), David Port (Black& Veatch), Mel Karam

(Southern Water), Jim Marshall (Water UK) and Kevin Brook (Primayer) then assed each presentation and also quizzed the candidates’ on their financials and business concepts Ultimately, there had to be a winner and after much deliberation and conferring, the Dragon’s decided to award the prize (and bragging rights) to Team Splash Point!The winning team designed a concept based on building convenient water bottle refilling stations located in the High Streets and other busy public areas. Team Splash Point consisted of Martin Akers and Hayley Griffith from South East Water, Alan Moore and Rob Hall from Portsmouth Water. For those considering attending this event next year, I can highly recommend it. Not only is it a great opportunity to meet water industry colleagues along with sound and invaluable advice from the speakers but it’s also a great deal of fun!

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WelSHAREAneWS

dee valley Water Time Travel

By Cigolene Nguyen

Norman Holladay (2nd left) shows visitors an old trunk main found in Chester

The day at Dee Valley Water took us from RomanAge water supply in Chester at Boughton WTW site (believed to be one of the oldest WTW in the UK) to the new site recently constructed on the decommissioned section of the old site. MD of Dee Valley Water, Norman Holladay, stayed with us in the first part of the historical

presentation. Tim Ackerley and Rob Ashley from Dee Valley were excellent guides, answering the numerous questions posed by the attendees . Of specific interest was the fact that Dee Valley Water has installed GAC as first stage filters, which surprised a few of the attendees. We then went on to visit Llwyn Onn WTW

CaPel deWI WTW On Friday 28th September a group consisting of members of Welsh Area, and some IWater company reps, visited Capel Dewi Water Treatment Works in Carmarthen for a technical visit to talk about the processes used to treat the potable water supply serving this part of West Wales. The works has recently benefitted from a £10 million programme of investment which included the installation of the new Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) plant. Prior to a tour of the works, the treatment process was explained, beginning at abstraction and finishing with supply. Up to 250 mega litres per day are abstracted from the River Cothi and pumped from Nantgaredig Pumping Station (the largest PS in Wales) into two separate Water Treatment Works - Felindre and Capel Dewi.

construction scheme which aims at updating the old Llwyn Onn WTW with added two stages filtration, contact time and waste water treatment disposal. Simon Barton from B&V organised the tour and the whole B&V team was really helpful and took us on the construction site – which, despite the rain was really well tended.

By Ashley Moule

Capel Dewi WTW is the smaller of the two, and treats approximately 10-12 ML/day and serves a population of approximately 25,000 people. Once raw water reaches the works, it has already gone through a settlement process at Nantgaredig, and goes through further processes including clarification, filtration, and manganese removal before it reaches the new GAC plant, which deals with taste and odour. The water is then disinfected within contact tanks before being pumped to three storage service reservoirs and ultimately distributed into the network via three main distribution lines. This treatment process takes approximately 4 hours. It was beneficial to understand how the site has developed and how it has had to adapt to growth, changes in legislation and tighter

regulatory requirements. It was interesting to see how innovative technology has been incorporated into the treatment processes over time and the visit demonstrated how Dwr Cymru’s Capital Investment programme is constantly improving the quality of the water supply in Wales. The visit was appreciated by the whole group and our thanks go to Phil Jenkins (SW Production Manager, Dwr Cymru Welsh Water) and also Chris Williams (Process Operator, DCWW) for taking the time to show us around and answer the many questions that we had. This was an interesting and informative visit and, unfortunately for Phil, due to the positive feedback received, we may now be asking him to visit other works within his area.

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