Institute of Water Magazine - Winter Edition 2011 by Institute of Water

WINTER2011 ISSUE172

IN THIS ISSUE: 2012 Conference Preview Water Networks Private SewerS Transfer INSTITUTE OF WATER JOURNAL IOW 172.indd 1

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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 172.indd 2

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coNTENTS

Introduction

I am pleased to introduce this packed edition of the Journal. I am now half way through my year as National Chair, and I can say it is flying by at an incredible speed! I have already been fortunate to attend flagship events in Northern Ireland and Scotland, and have plans to attend the Welsh Area Innovation Awards and South West Area’s President’s Dinner in Poole in November. My aim is to visit every Area this year, to meet as many Institute members as possible and to spread the word about the exciting developments that are taking place in your Institute. Northern Ireland Area’s Spring seminar “When The Well Runs Dry”, was a great event that focussed on the experiences of water companies across the country in last year’s extreme winter weather. It was interesting to hear the views from industry practitioners, meteorologists, journalists and politicians. Let’s hope we have a milder winter this year! The Scottish Area’s Autumn Seminar was held at the police training college in Tulliallan and you can read more about it in the Area News section. The quality of speakers at both events demonstrates the high esteem that this Institute is held in by the industry. All areas hold similar events, so make the most of your membership and get involved.

The National Conference goes from strength to strength and this edition of the Journal has a preview of the 2012 Conference, which will be held at the Prestigious Royal Society in London. A full programme of high profile speakers have been confirmed and will address the Conference theme of “Changing the Industry for a Sustainable Legacy”. An exciting time to be in London, only months away from the 2012 Olympics, the President’s dinner will be held in ‘Bazalgette’s Byzantine cathedral’ on the fringe of the Olympic Park. The Dinner will celebrate the industry we all work in and recognise the contributions that individuals and companies make. Submissions from Area innovation showcases will be shortlisted for the 2nd Annual National Innovation award, presented by Professor Cave. The winner of Allen Bolton Award will also be revealed at the dinner, this award is to recognise a member of the Institute who has shown exceptional commitment, or made an outstanding to the Institute. Details of how to enter any of the award categories can be found inside this Journal. Water and sewerage networks are the subjects of a number of interesting articles. Phill Mills wonders whether the transfer of private sewers can be managed without damaging the relationship between water companies and their customers. Whilst Dr Brain Pempler explains how Northumbrian Water has optimised their water supply network through remote monitoring, control and predictive models. Jo Parker tackles the difficult issue of gathering and maintaining accurate records of buried utility assets. I hope to see many of you at one of your Area events in the next six months, or at the National Conference in May. The Institute of Water has given me lots of opportunities over the years and I’ve made lots of good friends. I would encourage you all to get involved, through local events, mentoring or joining your Area Committee. The Institute is here to support you throughout your career, and it’s often quite a lot of fun too!

Helen Edwards

Features 14 15 16-19 32-35 52-55 65 66-67

Book Review Drilling and Tapping Conference Preview Water Networks Private Sewers Transfer Rising Stars Have Your Say

Regulars 4-5 6-9 10-11 12 70-79

News in Brief Members Update SocEnv News Environment News Area News

Next Issue professional development The olympics Innovation

Institute of Water National Chair

Institute of Water Hq: 4 Carlton Court, Team valley, Gateshead, Tyne & Wear NE11 0AZ Website: www.instituteofwater.org.uk president: Nick Ellins chairperson: Helen Edwards chief Executive: Lynn Cooper Editorial, marketing & Events manager: Lyndsey Gilmartin Tel: 0191 422 0088 Fax: 0191 422 0087 Email: lyndsey@instituteofwater.org.uk advertising: Martin Jamieson Tel: 0845 884 2339 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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Bio reactor does the business for Shap Technology known as a membrane bio reactor has been installed for the first time at a Cumbrian sewage works - and it's already paying dividends for a tiny village beck.

TURNINg WaSTE INTo HoUSE BRIckS Clay and concrete bricks could become a thing of the past thanks to a new project up and running at Yorkshire Water's knostrop waste water treatment works in Leeds that is turning incinerated sewage into carbon neutral house bricks. The product devised by Leeds University spin-out company Encos aims to reduce the environmental impact of construction by providing an alternative to traditional cement, which is responsible for around five per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions.

The futuristic-sounding equipment is an alternative form of sewage treatment which uses an ultra-fine membrane to clean wastewater to exceptionally high standards. It has been fitted at Shap's brand new £13m wastewater treatment works by water company United Utilities.

By using incinerated sludge, which is a bi-product of the waste water treatment process, as a component to make the bricks, Yorkshire Water is also reducing the amount of waste it sends to landfill.

Project manager Simon Povey said the quality of water being returned to tiny Shap Beck had vastly improved since the new works came on line at the end of September: "Shap Beck is so small that the wastewater we return cleaned to it potentially has a much greater effect than it does on other larger streams and rivers. That means that standards of treatment have to be that much higher, especially in terms of substances like ammonia.

The product which is currently being tested at the company's knostrop site in Leeds, combines ash from incinerated sludge with vegetable-oil-based binders to create the bricks and blocks. These are classed as carbon negative because the plants used to make the vegetable oil have absorbed CO2 from the atmosphere.

"Membrane bio reactors are not new and they're not suitable for use in all situations but here in Shap the standards of treatment need to be very high because Shap Beck is a particularly sensitive environment. It part of the headwaters of the River Leith which feeds into the River Eden Special Area of Conservation.

Jon Brigg, Innovation Development Manager at Yorkshire Water said: "We are always looking for ways in which we can make the best use of our waste to have a positive impact on our environment and this project is a great way to reuse incinerated sludge ash which has traditionally been sent to landfill.

"They still use natural bacterial processes to break down waste, but the bacteria grow on a very fine membrane instead of the usual bed of stones. Water is sprayed directly onto the membrane in a fine jet."

Simon Povey on Shap membrane bio reactor The work has been carried out to meet tough new European standards which are monitored by the Environment Agency.

"With new building regulations coming into force in the next few years home builders will need to reduce the embedded carbon cost of all new homes - the bricks and blocks will provide a perfect alternative to traditional house bricks."

ScoTTISH WaTER'S caRBoN FooTpRINT SHoWS FURTHER dRop Scottish Water’s fourth annual carbon footprint report shows the public utility has managed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by a further 9,000 tonnes. The report calculates the carbon cost of Scottish Water’s day-to-day operations during 2009-10, showing a footprint of 447,593 tonnes of CO2 equivalents. A similar sized drop in emissions was reported the previous year. Electricity is the main source of emissions – around 72 per cent. Energy efficiency measures and a crackdown on leakage from water mains have helped reduce Scottish Water’s power consumption, which in turn has helped shrink the carbon footprint.

Scottish Water continues to have the lowest carbon footprint for drinking water in the Uk, mainly due to the high quality of raw water in the environment and the extensive use of gravity systems for distribution rather than having to pump water around. Richard Ackroyd, Chief Executive of Scottish Water, said: “Continuing to reduce our emissions is a great achievement and shows how seriously we take our responsibilities. Our customers tell us climate change is important to them so we are determined to continue to reduce our carbon footprint and increase our renewable energy capacity. We want to provide a sustainable, low carbon service while also keeping customer charges low.”

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NEWSINBRIEF

Helping WaterAid celebrate 30th Anniversary

Renewable ‘Wood Chip’ Fuel - From Poo

‘Coffee granules’ sludge flakes HRH with WaterAid CEO Barbara Frost. Image: Paul Burns Photography Ltd. His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales hosted a reception at Clarence House to celebrate WaterAid’s 30th anniversary. The Prince of Wales has been President of WaterAid since 1991 and is passionate about finding sustainable solutions to the global water crisis. Joining His Royal Highness at the reception were some of the charity’s most committed supporters including the founder of Glastonbury Festival, Michael Eavis and his daughter Emily. WaterAid is one of three charities to benefit from

a partnership with the festival which has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for WaterAid’s work. Last year, His Royal Highness paid a visit to Glastonbury to meet some of the charity’s many volunteers who help keep the festival site litterfree and provide water to thirsty revellers. After the event, WaterAid’s Chief Executive and Patron of the Institute of Water Barbara Frost said: “We were thrilled that The Prince of Wales was personally able to thank some of the people who have done so much to support WaterAid’s work over the past 30 years.”

Wind power harnessed to help produce top-quality drinking water A new wind turbine has been installed at Lowermoor (Crowdy) Water Treatment Works, near Camelford, in North Cornwall. The turbine is capable of generating around 60% of the site's annual power needs. South West Water's Renewable Energy Manager, David Harpur, said: "This project is part of South West Water's drive to reduce our carbon footprint and help combat climate change.

"South West Water already operates hydroelectric and biogas plants and this new wind turbine will help in our goal to further develop the company's renewable energy capability." The wind turbine cost in the region of £400,000, funded by South West Water. The savings from the reduction in electricity purchased from the national grid will mean the turbine will 'pay back' in as little as five years. The turbine will have a lifetime of over 20 years.

They look just like instant coffee granules but consuming them in a hot drink is not recommended. For these are in fact sewage flakes - highly-combustible new renewable fuel that burns like wood chip. Thames Water has begun producing the flakes by drying sludge, the solids from sewage, in a futuristic, eco-friendly machine at Slough sewage works in Berkshire. The company then burns the flakes to generate electricity. The £1.5m sewage sludge dryer at Slough is the first in the UK to be used to create fuel. Until now they have been used simply to reduce down waste into order to get rid of it more conveniently. The dryer promises to reduce the firm’s carbon emissions by more than 500 tonnes a year – the equivalent of taking 180 cars off the road for good, as well as bringing up to £300,000 a year of operational cost benefits. Rupert Kruger, Thames Water’s head of innovation, said: “This is the first time in Britain that a waste dryer has been used to create ready-to-burn fuel from sewage sludge, rather than simply being used as a waste-reducer. This innovative approach demonstrates our clear intent to help move Britain towards becoming a low-carbon economy by unlocking every ounce of renewable energy potential from waste.”

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No BoSToN TEa paRTy aT HaRvaRd

caSH REWaRdS FoR REcRUITINg mEmBERS To encourage Institute of Water members to sign up friends and colleagues so they too can enjoy the benefits that the Institute offers, cash rewards of £75, £50 and £25 are given out four times each year. Winners of the Winter prizes are: £75 Sarah Williams for introducing lydie melvin, Severn Trent plc £50 Nick Ellins for introducing Nick davis, Nda packaging Services £25 Shelley Williams for introducing philippa aukett, Southern Water Don’t miss your chance to win!

Paul Sexton receiving his Harvard award from Lynn Cooper, CEO of the Institute of Water and a USIT Trustee. Paul Sexton, General Manager at veolia Water Outsourcing in Scotland and Scottish Area President recently won a USIT award to attend the High Potentials Leadership Course at Harvard Business School in Boston. But getting to Boston in the first place was no easy ride. The interview process by the USIT Trustees is an intensive one as applicants need to demonstrate that they can apply learning from the course for the benefit of the utility industry. “At the end of a presentation and interview I felt like I’d done six rounds with Mike Tyson” says Paul, “but this does get you in the right frame of mind for the course which is incredibly intensive.” The course is run twice a year and takes in 100 delegates from a wide range of countries and industries. “The Harvard professors are incredibly experienced and knowledgeable” comments Paul, “but you learn as much from your fellow delegates as from the course content itself. At my

oBITUaRy Henry 'derek' linton 1912 - 2011 It is with sadness that we advise you of the death of Henry 'Derek' Linton, aged 99. Derek who was Institute of Water President in 1966 was active both locally and at national level. Derek organised the last Conference in Swansea.

first lecture I sat with a lawyer from a Canadian Pension Fund on one side and the Chief of Staff of an Australian police force on the other. At the next lecture a venture capitalist from India on my left and a director from a pharmaceutical company on my right. It’s the sheer variety of backgrounds and the opportunity to discuss real business issues that allows you to gain some valuable perspectives on business strategy and how to lead”. “The whole experience has been invaluable me” concludes Paul. “I took away dozens of ideas which I can apply in my business and I’ve now got a readymade network of international colleagues from the course. I would really encourage any budding business leaders to apply for the USIT Harvard Award, it’s an experience not to forget”.

Each time you recruit a new member they will enter your name onto the membership application form which asks which member introduced them to the Institute of Water. These contact names are recorded and four times during the year, three names will be chosen at random to receive £75, £50 and £25. The more new members you introduce the more times your name will be entered in the quarterly draw. Winners’ names are printed quarterly in this Journal.

coNgRaTUlaTIoNS

If you are interested in applying for a USIT Harvard award, applications open in June 2012 at www.usit.org.uk.

dIREcT dEBIT Why not make it easier to renew your membership by signing up to pay by direct debit? This removes the need each year to send a cheque, ring to pay by card or pay by bank transfer or PayPal and means you won’t be chased for forgetting to pay. Direct debit also gives you the option to spread the cost over nine months if you elect to pay in three quarterly instalments. If you would like to sign up for direct debit, ring HQ to ask for a mandate or download one from the ‘Membership’ section of our website.

Congratulations to Martin kane who is leaving his post as Director of Customer Relations at Severn Trent Water Ltd to take over in January as CEO of Severn Trent’s International business based in Philadelphia, USA. With over 3500 employees operating in all corners of the globe, Martin anticipates a lot of travelling. He will still be a frequent visitor to the Uk and intends to continue to support Midlands Area, where he is a former President, as much as he can.

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mEmBERSUPDATE

compaNy mEmBERS

JoIN oUR EdIToRIal TEam AUTUMN2011 ISSUE171

Company membership is available to those companies within the water / waste water industry who are manufacturers, suppliers, contractors and consultants. We would like to welcome Hach Lange; Lovibond Tintometer; Quantum Controls; Flexseal and Fernco Environmental. You can read a little bit about these companies on the following pages. We look forward to seeing their representatives at local events and the National Conference next year.

quantum controls IN THIS ISSUE: AFFORDABILIT Y AND CUSTOMERS THE GRAY REVIEW INSTITUTE OF WATER JOURNAL

The Institute of Water prides itself on being aligned with the Uk Water industry. If you are in a position to advise our Board of Directors on the important issues our members need to know about then we would like to hear from you. We are looking for industry professionals within our membership to join our editorial team, to assist in planning, sourcing, editing and possibly writing feature articles. This is an excellent CPD opportunity and also an opportunity for more experienced members to share their experience with others. If you are interested in joining the team, please contact Lyndsey Gilmartin in the first instance to express your interest. Similarly we are keen to feature articles that have been written by our members. You are at the forefront of this industry and it is very much your views that we want to hear.

TWITTER The Institute of Water is now on Twitter! Join us to find out the latest news and event developments within the Institute and the industry. To access our page you will need to sign up as a Twitter user and follow us via this link www.twitter.com/ instwater or by linking from our home page.

Quantum Controls were established in 1989 and in 2009 we celebrated 20 years as one of the Uk's leading drives and motors specialists, maintained by the company's expansion over that period to offer an extensive range of auto-related products, systems and services. Quantum Controls expertise has been recognised by the world’s leading electrical and automation engineering company, ABB, which has appointed the company as one of only six exclusive Uk partners for its motors and drives products. As an engineering house, Quantum Controls has built up a formidable reputation for finding innovative solutions too many engineering challenges. This level of innovation has extended to other areas of the business. In 2000, the company devised hire drive service to meet the needs of companies wanting a temporary drive replacement during a breakdown or wishing to try before buying.

‘one size fits all with quantum’s Innovative motor Starter’ Free trial offer to members The newest development by Quantum Controls is the multi-rated and multifunctional softstart panel, which is available for a free trial and inspection period to Institute of Water Members. The multi function panel, designed and built by Quantum Controls and incorporating an ABB soft start unit allows selections from 15kW down to 1.9kW using one panel unit to cover the full range. The panel is complete with a simple and adjustable motor overload selector option, which allows the operator to set the required kW rating according to the pump motor load by a simple selector switch This means one small manoeuvrable panel fits all for the kW ranges from 15kW down to 1.9kW allowing units to be moved from application to application with the minimum of disruption or modification required. Further more for a small

number of panels can be held on standby to cover a large number of sites in the event of a breakdown. The panels are small and light so they can be transported by almost any vehicle to even the most remote of sites, and with an IP65 rating the panels can be used almost anywhere. As standard the units are also complete with the following n Weather proof enclosure to IP65 rating and complete with mounting stand and lifting eye bolts n Incoming mains isolator n ABB Soft start complete with by-pass function n Multi function overload selector n Mains and motor terminals n Telemetry control terminals n Remote control terminals n Door mounted indication lamps n Door mounted start, stop, reset and E Stop pushbuttons n Door mounted ammeter n Hand / off / auto selector switch Units are available for purchase, hire or lease options and Institute of Water members can arrange a free 2 week trial by contacting daniel Fitzsimons 07970884790 or d.fitzsimons@quantum-controls.co.uk

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HACH LANGE AND LOVIBOND Hach Lange is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of test and monitoring equipment for water quality. Supplying analytical instruments and reagents used to test the quality of water and other aqueous solutions. The Lovibond® product range is being used to ensure water quality throughout the world. Water is the basis of life and water analysis and its purification are fundamental to the quality of life. Lovibond Tintometer has always specialised in scientific and technological products which make water analysis simple and, most importantly, dependable and reliable. Hach Lange - Total Solutions for Water Analysis Hach Lange has been a leader in the development of analytical instrumentation and reagents for testing, monitoring and sampling water for more than 75 years. We specialise in instrumentation for industrial and municipal water analysis, offering solutions for the measurement of wastewater, drinking water and industrial water in laboratory, field and process applications. Operating in industries such as beverage,food, power, pharma, chemical, paper/pulp and wastewater. Hach Lange’s instrumentation and reagents are used in the laboratory, on-line and in the field. Typical measurements include almost any water quality parameter, water level and flow and the product range also includes MCERTS approved instrumentation. Hach Lange provides a complete suite of analytical online measurement instrumentation; controllers and integrated network solutions from water samplers, analytical instrumentation, portable and laboratory instruments, up to automated lab solutions. With parameter ranges from A-Z, such as ammonium, COD, chlorine, e-coli, nutrients, pH, sludge, ORP, turbidity, ozone, zinc and many more. Our systems are designed to simplify analysis, and provide: n Complete, easy-to-follow methods n High-quality prepared reagents n Accurate portable, laboratory and on-line instrumentation n Competent sales advice n Experienced technical support department n Service packages and extended warranty up to 5 years n Seminars and workshops for practical and hands on training

n Disposal and recycling service for used reagents Our goal is to offer quality products and competent, friendly support. Examples of Hach Lange's product developments include: the on-line or portable 'LDO™' optical dissolved oxygen sensor which radically reduces maintenance and calibration requirements; the 'NH4D sc' ammonium sensor which can be immersed directly into wastewater providing accurate reliable measurements; the 'SC 1000' multi-parameter universal controller which can connect to multiple sensors and in conjunction with multiple other controllers can provide a complete network; the 'DR 3900' Spectrophotometer with RFID technology and real time communication between lab and process instrumentation; the 'HQd' multi-parameter portable, digital meters for plug and play testing; COD tubes, supplied with reagents for quick, easy, highly accurate tests… and much more! Hach Lange also leads in the development of innovative manufacturing and business processes. This is exemplified by the company's waste recycling service, in which over 70% of returned materials (tubes and reagents) are either re-used or recycled. Our instrumentation is used across a wide range of demanding municipal and industrial process applications for the treatment of wastewater and effluent. Whether you are responsible for multi- parameter on-line instrumentation at large wastewater treatment works or simply need to test water quality in the field or lab for single parameters, we have the solution for you. The Hach Lange family includes world-leading brands such as: Hach, Lange, Sigma, Pacific Scientific, Contronic, Radiometer Analytical, Bühler, Orbisphere, Polymetron, Astro, Lachat, Anatel, Met One, Hiac, Gli, Evita, Züllig And Partnership With Siemens.

Lovibond Tintometer is one of the leading companies in the field of water analysis. The trade-name Lovibond® is synonymous to quality, accuracy and reliability and known in over 120 countries where the company offers innovative products for the precise determination of different types of water: water in swimming pools, drinking water, waste water, surface and ground water, untreated water and effluents, through to cooling water and boiler water. The product range comprises: electronic Photometers for the measurement of up to 70 parameters; visual Comparators with more than 400 different test discs and Hand-Held Meters and Test Kits for rapid yet accurate measurements. The instruments are being used to measure parameters ranging from Acidity to Zinc. For industrial applications, the collection includes instruments for COD and BOD analysis and solutions to measure Turbidity and Flocculation. The Lovibond® series presents a simple and flexible approach to routine water analysis that gives reliable results in factories, laboratories and in the field. Following recent acquisitions, the Lovibond® range has now expanded to include drop test kits, dip slides and incubators so analysis is now available for Biocides; TVC and E. coli. Tests are conducted using either Lovibond® tablet reagents with long-term stability and a guaranteed minimum 5 or 10 year shelf life, VARIO powder reagents or liquid reagents. Being the only reagent producer in the world to offer a complete range of reagent forms, the company is unbiased in its advice of which reagent type best suits the need of the application. Commitment to quality is fundamental on delivery and throughout the product’s lifetime with warranty on parts and labour and a Calibration Facility at the company’s headquarters in the United Kingdom. All Lovibond® instruments are manufactured according to the company’s certification to DIN ISO 9001:2008 and comply with international standards such as ISO 7393/2 and ISO 15705:2002. All the instruments and chemicals conform to the relevant international safety regulations and EC directives.

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mEmBERSUPDATE

FlEXSEal aNd FERNco ENvIRoNmENT Since Flexseal was formed over 20 years ago, knowledge of the industry and professionalism of its staff has been up there with product quality and customer service as company priorities. The same ethos now applies to Fernco Environmental, Flexseal’s sister company formed in 2007. Both companies are now delighted to be recognised members of the Institute of Water, an organisation with the same values of employee and company development, which also focuses on the growth of the water industry. Flexseal is the market leader in flexible drainage couplings, used for connecting drainage and sewerage pipes of virtually any material and any diameter. More recently, Flexseal have diversified into channel drainage, plumbing and pipe repair products, widening the Flexseal product range and with our German subsidiary company, reinforcing our status as European market leader. Outstanding quality has been at the forefront of Flexseal's success and all products are manufactured and tested to meet Uk and

International approvals, thereby ensuring a high product quality is consistently maintained. Several ranges have achieved full WRc Approval, and more details can be found at www.ﬂexseal.co.uk . Excellent customer service and sales support is also an integral part of Flexseal's achievements. A dedicated external sales team frequently visits our stockists, and internal staff are continually available to attend to any queries, questions or issues. In 2002 Flexseal were acquired by the Fernco group of companies (USA) thereby creating a global group that supply the most extensive range of flexible couplings throughout the world. Fernco was originally established in Michigan, USA in 1964 and soon developed an enviable reputation of producing couplings. Phenomenal growth during the 1970's led to the business purchasing a 9290m2 building in Davison (Michigan) and the introduction of the first injection moulding machine in 1978.

Fernco Environmental addresses the growing expectation for sustainability in the water industry, and supply a range of water management and infrastructure repair systems which minimise disruption, reduce long term costs and adhere to all relevant guidelines and legislation. The Ultracoat epoxy coating system for rehabilitating manholes, tanking, pumping stations, chambers and any other substrate, the Stormbreaker rainwater harvesting system, the WRc Approved Fernco Pipe Doctor no-dig patch repair system, kessel Grease Separators and Backwater valves… the list continues. All relevant to issues addressed by the Institute of Water, and all supplied with a view to developing, evolving and improving our industry. Currently topical is the companies’ relevance to the Transfer of Private Sewers. view their dedicated website at www. transferofprivatesewers.com, which explains the background to the transfer and outlines relevant systems they supply. For more information on these companies and their products, log on to www.ﬂexseal.co.uk and www.ferncoenvironmental.com. You can also call their offices on 01226 340 222.

60 SEcoNd INTERvIEW Each issue we feature a 60 second interview with a well known figure from the Water Industry. For this issue we interviewed Roger Harrington, Managing Director of Sembcorp Bournemouth Water and latest addition to the Institute of Water Board of Directors. Roger is a Chartered Civil Engineer and Chartered Environmentalist with a long career in the water industry working for water companies. Roger joined his present company Sembcorp Bournemouth Water in 1993 as Head of Engineering; in 1997 he became Technical Director with responsibility for engineering services and operations and took over as Managing Director in 2010. Roger has been a member of the Institute of Water for seventeen years and is also a former President of South West Area. The best part of my job is seeing people at work get great satisfaction from achieving their objectives, and not always knowing what the next day will bring! I joined the Institute of Water because this is an Institute which is very people orientated. It is the best Institute that I know for networking and getting to meet people with similar professional aims and objectives specifically in the water industry. I have joined the Institute of Water Board because I would like to try to contribute to the ongoing development of the Institute as a body that people associated with our industry really want to be a part of because they feel that they get more value from it than it costs in membership. If I could be anyone for a day? Hmm, I am actually quite happy being me. However, if for a few days I would like to experience what it is like living with no access to clean water or sanitation because I guess

none of us in our world really has any concept. my failsafe way to de-stress is to go sailing in bad weather or spend time with my two young grandchildren. I do my bit for the planet at a personal level by walking or using public transport whenever I can and annoying my family by turning off electrical appliances at home which seem to be on for no useful purpose! At work I do so by really pushing the message that we don’t want any of our activities to impact on the environment any more than is absolutely necessary. The best advice I have ever been given is that making a mistake is Ok provided that one learns from it. I’ve learnt the hard way that nothing which is really worth striving for comes easily.

Roger Harrington

The car I drive is a BMW, which won’t be repeated as it is too thirsty! my proudest moments were getting my Degree and my children’s weddings. The last cd I bought was 21 by Adele. I believe the biggest challenge for the water industry is ensuring we can continue to provide very high standards in delivering this essential service in the future. While there is no doubt that we face a time of changing needs (whether it be from climate impacts, competition in its various forms, or from a new approach to price setting), for me our challenge is to have a real influence on the medium to long term agenda; the objectives for the industry and the important decisions which will be required to ensure these standards remain.

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laTEST REgISTRaNTS Stuart Tilley,

CEnv

Stuart’s experience was significantly enhanced and enriched by his time overseas:

this cleaning and refurbishment programme are to improve drinking water quality and service, NWL are taking the opportunity to optimise the networks in a more strategic, long-term, operationally-efficient and sustainable way.

1 year in kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 4 years in Manila, Philippines 20 months in Macau, China

Stuart has worked in the water industry for Northumbrian Water (and predecessor companies) for 29 years either in the Uk or on various overseas assignments, mostly in the fields of engineering/ infrastructure improvements or operational management. During this time his experience, learning and responsibility have brought about an increased awareness, interest and positive engagement in delivering projects in more environmentally responsible and sustainable ways.

This created opportunities not only to appreciate the technical and operational challenges of providing and improving water, waste water and sanitation services in emerging countries but also to experience first-hand the social and economic impact of providing sustainable drinking water supplies and improving environmental sanitation to the urban poor communities. Whilst awareness of the environmental impact of water infrastructure projects has improved significantly, Stuart believes there is further scope to improve environmental and sustainability aspects by incorporating these principles much earlier in the project life cycle. Stuart is now working in the Uk as Project Manager for Northumbrian Water’s 15-year Trunk Mains Network Programme. Whilst the main drivers for

Jacky atkinson,

Jacky left Severn Trent in the summer of last year to join the Drinking Water Inspectorate Regulations Team as an Inspector, working on Regulation 27 risk assessments and reports and assessing and tracking drinking water quality improvement programmes. Jacky also carries out technical audits and advises on regulatory aspects of drinking water quality.

For most of his career Stuart has been involved in the leadership and management of teams and/or organisations. He considers it a ‘part of life’ to encourage and promote environmental consideration and sustainability within a project life cycle and adopts the approach of ‘what can I do today that will help tomorrow?’ There can be no doubt that Stuart will put his CEnv qualification to good use, exercising leadership in the sustainable management of the environment.

CEnv

At a personal level Jacky and her husband manage 11 acres of land which they maintain as much as they can to encourage wildlife, without using artificial chemicals or fertilisers.

A Water Quality Scientist, Jacky worked for 36 years with Severn Trent Water as a lab microbiologist and biologist, operational scientist, water treatment scientist, operational auditor, risk management manager and finally regulatory operations manager.

Stuart said: “This was a good opportunity to reflect on my career to date, in terms of providing water and waste water infrastructure, and how it measured up to the aims of improving environmental conditions, social impact and sustainability – and was pleasantly surprised that these aims were already embedded in my daily working life”.

In her last role with Severn Trent Jacky was responsible for regulatory reporting on flooding from sewers and cited this as one area where there is frequently a conflict between environmental, economic and social impacts. She regards it as a challenge for the water industry to look at more sustainable ways of dealing with sewer

flooding that are affordable but meet the needs of society. Another example is CSOs, where the true environmental cost of these discharges has not been quantified against the cost of building solutions. Jacky sees a need for water companies and regulators to work together to develop sustainable, cost-effective approaches to managing these problems. Although no longer working on sewer flooding, she anticipates having to work more collaboratively with water companies and other regulators to agree upon solutions to water quality issues. Jacky is now well-placed to use her knowledge and understanding of the environmental challenges faced by the water industry to good effect, encouraging collaboration between water companies and regulators for the benefit of the environment and society.

For more information about applying to become a Chartered Environmentalist through the Institute of Water please visit the website today. Full advice and support is given throughout the process.

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SocENvNEWS Jane Jackson,

CEnv

and was drawn to it because my qualification seemed perfect for the position of Environmental Education Manager. I am an environmentalist first and educationalist second. I believe it is most important to educate the public on the importance of a sustainable world in relation to water at local and global levels. Already with a degree in Environmental Science I was eager to show how I was putting my knowledge and skills into working practice within the Water Industry, and it was of a professional standard. The Chartered Environmentalist seemed the way forward to strengthen my personal development.

The process The process of drawing up the application brought me in touch with other colleagues within NI Water whose guidance was appreciated and the support of the Institute of Water was encouraging. “At the start of 2010 I decided to draw up my CPD Plan. I joined Northern Ireland Water in 2007

The method was clearly defined within the documentation and it was reassuring to be able

“Having worked thirteen years in the water industry and joined the Institute of Water a long time ago – I was sponsored by a gas industry contact from before joining the water industry, when I worked in Ofgas – I have had plenty of opportunity to apply and hope to become a Chartered Environmentalist. But the call to action came urgent only after I took a new job at the Office of Utility Regulation in Guernsey, where we seem involved in most utilities except water.

It is also a reminder of the contribution that economists can make to the environment. An environmental economist emphasises the role that financial incentives have in influencing behaviour; in particular, she encourages the development of policies that rely on individuals’ and companies’ own motivation and remove distortions caused by misguided interventions; and she helps assess the costs and benefits of any possible action so that each step forward is a sound sustainable one on which the next one can be based.

The water industry’s commitment to the environment is a remarkable contribution to the world in which we live. It risks being taken for granted from ‘within’. It is striking from ‘without’. My Chartered Environmentalist application was a way of acknowledging what I had learnt in the water industry.

James mitchell,

CEnv

James has over 30 years’ experience in the water industry, much of it with Anglian Water in

to match my knowledge and skills to the set competencies. It made me realise the range of knowledge that I had acquired and that which I still needed to attain.

What this means to me For me Chartership is recognition that I am a competent professional and a member of the respected body of Chartered Environmentalists. It gives colleagues an indication of the level of my knowledge in sustainability and environmental issues. It confirms my role in the development of NI Water as a new company. The specification of Chartered Environmentalist defines the competencies and strengths that support me in my daily schedule of meeting and talking to members of the public within my role as Environmental Education Manager. It adds kudos to my position in a small department in a field which is mainly technical and scientific. I am delighted to have achieved this recognition.”

Jeanne golay,

CEnv

As I am out of the water industry for now, being a Chartered Environmentalist is also an incentive to find new ways of contributing to the environment even if the industries in which I now work do not recognize it to the same extent as the water industry.”

Wastewater and Asset Management roles. During his last six years at Anglian he owned all environmental aspects of his geographical area. In 2006 he left Anglian Water and, after a brief spell at Thames, moved to Northern Ireland Water as Head of Networks Sewerage where he made use of his extensive experience in odour control, trade effluent, pollution control and regulation. He was a member of the Northern Ireland Roads Authority and Utilities Committee which covered sewerage flooding, odour, emergency and planned works on highways and improvements to the sewerage system. After one year James took up the new interim post of Head of Tactical Asset Management where he had to develop and deliver (with others) training packages to operational staff on environmental and pollution prevention aspects of legislation. This gave James the opportunity to influence the environmental impact of the asset operating model and also of capital works and networks maintenance. James represented NI Water in public meetings, Council meetings and

meetings with Ministers at Stormont, requiring him to show leadership, communicate effectively and promote the right culture for taking NI Water forward to a more environmentally sustainable future. He concluded his time in NI Water with a strategic review of the Tactical Asset Management function to ensure it met the financial, political and environmental requirements of NI Water. In 2009/10 James took time out to redecorate his house, inside and out, with eco-friendly paints, support his wife for 12 weeks in voluntary work in an orphanage in Nepal and run two marathons to raise sponsorship for the orphanage. James returned to his career one year ago, taking on the role of validator on an Asset Data Cleansing Project for Northumbrian Water, with responsibility for the Essex area. James has been living the part of Chartered Environmentalist for some considerable time – now he has the CEnv badge to show for it.

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ENvIRoNmENTNEWS

Flood and Water management act 2010. Where are we now? 2007 floodwaters surrounding Mythe water treatment works in Gloucestershire. Image courtesy of the Environment Agency.

By Tony Plytas, Honorary Secretary of the Society for the Environment and an Environmental Lawyer. Water on land is an entirely natural phenomenon. Much as weeds become a nuisance in our gardens because they are successful and invasive plants, so water becomes a flood when it finds itself sharing space with us and our infrastructure. Natural rivers often have wide channels with plenty of room for the largest flow that they are asked to convey to the sea. Unfortunately we insist on corseting our watercourses by raising their banks and narrowing their channels. When there is heavy rainfall or snow melting onto a saturated catchment, there is insufficient room and it spills out. Historically rivers would regularly cover low-lying land alongside them, such as water meadows which would benefit from the deposition of silt. The original thrust of human intervention was towards land drainage in order reclaim land from the sea and to improve agriculture. Now where there were water meadows, there are houses and factories. We have been building in flood plains for centuries but now water and people increasingly come into conflict and it is likely to get worse with ever more development and the promise of climate change. In the early years of this century there was a succession of serious flood events. The last straw

was in 2007 when large areas of, not only housing but also vital infrastructure were inundated. The approach was that of seeking to defend against both fluvial and coastal flooding and it was not working. The Government’s response was to commission a report from Sir Michael Pitt which came up with many recommendations how to better prepare for flooding from all sources. One of the suggestions was legislation to reform the law which had been largely unchanged for many years. The proximity to the end of the Parliament meant that many of Pitt’s suggestions had to be dropped in order to give the Bill a chance of receiving the Royal Assent before the general election and it was in the final batch to do so. The Flood and Water Management Act 2010 is therefore quite a slim volume. Despite it having received all-party support for many of its provisions during its passage through Parliament, the task of implementing it falls to the current government which, as part of its deregulation agenda, is challenging all proposed legislation. For this reason, 18 months on, some of the provisions are still awaiting implementation. However much has been commenced including the definition sections which introduce “Lead Local

Flood Authorities” with special responsibilities in relation to flooding in their areas. A major change is to move to the concept of Flood and Coastal Risk Management and to provide for certain bodies including the Environment Agency, some local authorities, internal drainage boards, highway authorities and water companies to act as “Risk Management Authorities”. In order to analyse the risk, you have to have access to data and preliminary flood risk assessments are currently being drawn up. The Environment Agency is required to develop a National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy for England. That document is now in force and all LLFA’s are in the process of preparing corresponding Local Strategies for their areas. A similar process is taking place in Wales. The Regional Flood Defence Committees have now ceased to exist and are being replaced by Regional Flood and Coastal Committees. Despite the similarity between the names their functions are rather different. Several of the Schedules of the Act remain to be commenced, such as those designed to regulate new concepts such as designation of features and sustainable drainage.

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Book REvIEW Edited by K. Clive Thompson and Ulrich

Borchers

Water Contamination Emergencies

Acting Monitoring, Understanding and

ies Water Contamination Emergenc Acting Monitoring, Understanding and Thompson & Borchers

Edited by K.Clive Thompson and Ulrich Borchers Published by RSC Publishing Reviewed by Jim Foster, Drinking Water Standards Manager, Anglian Water Services This book brings together a range of papers from the International Conference on Water Contamination Emergencies: Monitoring, Understanding, Acting held in Mulheim an der Ruhr, Germany during October 2010. The Conference was the fourth in a series around the theme of preparing for and responding to water contamination emergencies. The 19 chapters of the book range from early warning of events, monitoring and analytical methods to alternative supplies, communication methods and national guidance documents, by authors from across Europe and North America. The book opens with a chapter by the Uk’s Health Protection Agency (HPA) highlighting the wide variety of chemical incidents that can occur, from rapid visible events (fire and explosions) to less immediate events such as food or ground contamination and from deliberate to accidental causes. The chapter re-iterates the importance of co-operation and collaboration between different sectors in planning for, and responding to water contamination emergencies and outlines some of the initiatives and guidance available to water and health professionals. Case studies are used to demonstrate the range of challenges and agencies involved in contamination emergencies

and provides a useful overview of the key roles of health and water professionals in preparing for and responding to such events. In the unfortunate event that contamination does occur, water supplies present some unique challenges especially around the speed and geographic spread of any impacts. A number of chapters therefore concentrate on early alerting or early identification of water quality emergencies, either through online water quality monitoring / sensor development or rapid analysis methods for water samples. This includes some consideration of a key challenge in developing ever more sensitive sensors – how sensitive is sensitive enough i.e. what is the “safe level” to measure down to when considering acute (short-term) exposure by consumers? The book contains a number of papers on developments in rapid detection, and rapid confirmation of microbiological contamination. There is a good overview of progress with rapid molecular detection methods highlighting the value not only in confirming whether or not contamination has occurred, but again seeking to understand how water suppliers can provide reassurance that the water is once again safe after remediation measures have taken place. Covering the Conference theme of “understanding” there are several papers on the interpretation of results from monitoring and offline analysis. Several papers bring out the importance of validation of results if online measurements are to be used to initiate action (or indeed indicate that no action is required), providing a salutary reminder of the old adage “errors in = errors out”. A variety of interesting techniques for interpreting results are described including the use of complex algorithms and combining data from a variety of different sources or monitors to provide an indication of a significant change in water quality. An emerging theme in the book is one of integrating a variety of data sources to identify or provide information about a potential contamination event. In effect attempting to refine and automate the process that operational staff (sub)consciously do on a daily basis combining multiple pieces of information which together build a picture of what is, or might be, happening. A case study of using such an approach to monitor water quality via a spectral analyser during the US Superbowl is briefly described.

A key case study covered in the book is by authors from the Finnish Health Community who describe the experiences of the giardia outbreak caused by contaminated drinking water in the northern Finnish town of Nokia. The outbreak was caused by a cross-connection between treated wastewater and the drinking water system at a wastewater plant which resulted in a variety of pathogenic organisms entering the public water supply. The authors describe key learning around early recognition of the event and effective communication with consumers – consistent with many large drinking water events. Telling it wasn’t until this offence occurred that a national survey to identify and remove cross-connections between drinking water and waste water systems was carried out. The paper not only highlights some key learning from a real case study, but also demonstrates interesting contrasts in the perception and management of contamination risks, even between developed countries in northern Europe. The book’s stated target audience is ambitious including public health professionals, water companies, regulators, risk and business continuity managers, local authorities and emergency planning and security experts. So does it hit the mark? In line with the theme of the conference it originates from, the book does contain a number of useful studies pertinent to monitoring and understanding water contamination emergencies, in particular online monitoring, sensors and sample analysis. Coverage of the “acting” theme of the conference is less well represented, relying on a few, albeit very informative, case studies. In isolation the book is probably of most interest to water industry scientists, analysts, and instrumentation researchers and developers. The book does however add a further dimension to the growing suite of books produced from the WCEC conference series - a series that forms a useful compendium of recent developments in preparing for and responding to water contamination emergencies of interest to anyone involved in the operation of water supply systems or their resilience to ever growing challenges. Copies of this book and others in the series can be ordered from: www.rsc.org/shop/ books/2011/9781849731560.asp

Jim Foster is a Chartered Scientist; Fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health and Corporate member of the Institute of Water. In his current role of Drinking Water Standards Manager at Anglian Water he is responsible for advising the business on all aspects of drinking water regulation and public health, and also sits on the Board of WRAS (Water Regulations Advisory Scheme) Ltd. Prior to joining Anglian Water at the end of 2010 Jim was Deputy Chief Inspector at the Drinking Water Inspectorate. Note – the views expressed in this review are solely those of the author and not those of Anglian Water Services Ltd.

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FEATURE:DRILLING AND TAPPING 2011

2011 American Water Works Association Drilling and Tapping Competition The 2011 American Water Works Association Drilling and Tapping Competition was held at the Convention Centre in Washington DC in June. 25 teams competed in the menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s contest which was all about drilling and tapping using the American method. By Graham Mills, UK Drilling and Tapping Judge A team of 4 are needed for the American tapping method and it was the 2010 UK National Champions, Balfour Beattyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Jason Barrett and Lee Maddock together with Anglian Water's Anthony Clark and Malcolm Holmes who travelled to the States to represent the UK thanks to sponsor Saint Gobain PAM.

The teams undertake two taps within a 30 minute period, five teams with the best times in the qualifying rounds go forward to the final together with the current American champions. The UK team were drawn to take part on Tuesday and were the tenth team to enter the arena, giving them time to watch some of the American teams and pick up some last minute tips. Problems with swaging the copper tube in their first run together with a number of penalties resulted in a time of 3 minutes 15:72 seconds, not the slowest of the heat but this needed to be improved if they were to stand a chance of going through to the final. The second run saw a much better performance with a running time of 1 minute 47 seconds, however penalties they picked up along the way were added which gave them a best time of 2 minutes 12:19 seconds. Not quite fast enough to get them into the final but a very creditable performance that saw over one minute knocked off their first run time, finishing mid table. The experience will stand them in good stead for the World Water Cup at Aqua Tech this November.

seconds. This looked to be the winning mark until the Virginia team, Spotsylvaina County Utilities, stepped into the arena for their second run and produced a penalty free winning time of 1 minute 09:16 seconds.

The final on Wednesday was an exciting affair with the SADM team from Monterey, Mexico setting a challenging penalty free time of 1 minute 10:39

Many thanks to Saint-Gobain, Balfour Beatty and Anglian Water for their sponsorship and support to the UK team in this international networking event.

The team: From left Lee Maddock, Malcolm Holmes, Anthony Clark and Jason Barrett

Jason and Antony drilling the main, coping with a bit of water spray!

Malcolm, with his back to us does his coaching bit, while Lee the copper man gets on with the job in hand

Applications are now open for the 24th Institute of Water National Drilling and Tapping Competition. This will take place at IWEX 2012 which is being held at the Birmingham NEC, from 22-24 May. Please visit the Institute of Water website for full details and advice on submitting a team.

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PROGRAMME Thursday 17 MAY 10:00 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: Nick Ellins, President, Institute of Water 10:15 Refreshment break

SESSION 1: Implications of recent sector change, review and restructure Chaired by Nick Ellins, President, Institute of Water

‘2012 – Changing the Industry for a Sustainable Legacy’ 17-18 May 2012, Royal Society, London, Sponsored by Thames Water Most elements of the water industry have been changing, are under review, have been restructured or will be soon. New government environmental and social legislation; draft price setting methodologies; changes to environmental regulatory structures; further clarity on the future of consumer representation and an increased focus on the consumer experience of water and sewerage companies will place fresh demands on all those who work in or supply the water sector. The Institute of Water 2012 Conference brings together leading industry figures to talk through the implications and explain the potential effects and outcomes.

10:45 KEYNOTE ADDRESS Martin Baggs, Chief Executive, Thames Water 11:15 Marian Spain, Director of Policy and Communication, Ofwat. Developing water strategy, regulation and price setting for sustainable outcomes 11:45 Paul Leinster, Chief Executive, Environment Agency. Investing now to secure a healthy water environment legacy 12:15 Young Speaker: Anna Gocher, Analytical Team Leader, South West Water. Implications of the 2011 government white paper and South West Water’s ‘Upstream Thinking’ approach 12:35 Questions from the floor

SESSION 2: Meeting the challenges Chaired by Colin Wayper, Network Director, South Staffs Water and Area President, Institute of Water Midlands Area. 14:30 Richard Flint, Chief Executive of Yorkshire Water. Safeguarding future water resources 14:55 Dame Yve Buckland, Chair, Consumer Council for Water. Changing the sector for a consumer led future 15:20 Paul Mullord, Director, British Water 15:45 Supplier Presentation 16:10 Questions from the floor 19:30 Saint Gobain Evening

FRIDAY 18 MAY OPENING SESSION Chaired by Phill Mills, Policy Consulting Ltd and Area President Institute of Water South West Area 9:30 Welcome to day 2 and reflections on day 1. Nick Ellins, President, Institute of Water 9:40 KEYNOTE ADDRESS Heidi Mottram, Chief Executive, Northumbrian Water. Changing the Industry for a sustainable legacy 10:10 Questions from the floor

SESSION 3: New approaches for a Sustainable Future Chaired by Kathy Auld, Project Delivery Co-ordinator, Scottish Water and National Chair, Institute of Water

10:45 Young Speaker: Ursula Trolan, Water Efficiency Co-ordinator, Northumbrian Water. The value of water to society 11:05 Sonia Phippard, Director for Water, Floods, Environmental Risk and Regulation, Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 11:35 Peter Simpson, Managing Director, Anglian Water. Learning to love every drop 12:05 Questions from the floor

Here is what delegates from the 2011 Conference said:

“Inspirational, motivational and increased my understanding of key issues.”

“Fun, relaxed, non-hierarchical.”

“An up to date view of the water industry that will help me with work and deliver projects more effectively.”

Richard Warneford, Head of Distribution, Northumbrian Water Ltd

Sharna Richings, Technical Graduate, Veolia Water

Jo Parker, Director, Watershed Associates

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FEATURE:2012 CONFERENCE PREVIEW SESSION 4: STREAM 12:30 STREAM POSTER SESSION STREAM is an Industrial Doctorate Centre (IDC) delivered by five of the major academic centres of excellence in water science and engineering in the UK. Coordinated by Cranfield University it is a programme that enables talented researchers to develop their skills and careers, while obtaining an Engineering Doctorate (EngD) degree. Third year research engineers have compiled posters about their industry research. The students and posters can be found in the Exhibition Area. Delegates are asked to question students on their research and vote on the best project using the voting card.

SESSION 5: Innovating to Maintain a World Class Sector

Chaired by George Butler, Director of Asset Management, Northern Ireland Water and Area President, Institute of Water Northern Ireland Area 14:00 Professor Martin Cave, Director of the Centre for Management under Regulation at Warwick University Business School 14:10 Martin Baggs, Chief Executive, Thames Water 14:20 David Smoker, Chair, Society of British Water and Wastewater Industries 14:30 Heidi Mottram, Chief Executive, Northumbrian Water 14:40 Sonia Phippard, Director for Water, Floods, Environmental Risk and Regulation, Defra 14:50 Roger Harrington, Managing Director, Sembcorp Bournemouth Water 15:00 Panel debate 15:30 Questions from the floor 16:00 CLOSING REMARKS Nick Ellins, President, Institute of Water 18:45 Coaches depart for President's Dinner

Why should you attend this Conference? To hear from industry leaders about challenges facing the sector and changes needed to address them.

Social Programme AGM and South East Area Night The Institute of Water AGM will take place at Water UK’s Offices (Queen Anne’s Gate) at 19.15 on Wednesday 16 May. Following a drinks reception and hot buffet the South East Area will host a Ghost Bus Tour around the ‘dark side’ of London. Post tour drinks will be held from 21.00 at the Old Crown in New Oxford Street which all delegates are invited to attend. Dress: Informal / comfortable

Cost: £25 + VAT = £30

Saint Gobain Evening 2012 A notable feature of the Conference, comprising an informal light hearted evening complete with entertainment, food and drinks. Sponsored by Saint Gobain PAM and held at a mystery location on Thursday 17 May. Guests to make own way to location using tube system, and location will be advised in delegate programme. Evening commences at 19.30. Dress: Informal, causal

Cost: £15 (donated to WaterAid)

President’s Dinner Dance – Sponsored by URS Scott Wilson The 2012 President’s Dinner will be held at Bazalgette’s Byzantine Cathedral On Friday 18 May, courtesy of Thames Water. This newly refurbished Pumping Station is situated on the fringe of the Olympic Village, and will be used by Thames Water for their corporate hospitality during the Games. The Institute of Water National Innovation Award; Allen Bolton Award and President’s Cup will be presented alongside the Energy & Utility Skills Business Skills Awards and CPD Award 2012. Dress: Black Tie Coaches: Will depart from outside of the Royal Society at 18.30 Cost: £100 + VAT Book Now! Full conference places available are available for members at £400+ VAT (day rate £250 + VAT). This really does offer exceptional value for money given the calibre of speakers. Please contact Clare at Head Office to book your place. E-mail: clare@instituteofwater.org.uk; telephone: 0191 422 0088 Places are limited!

To appreciate the scale of the sector and the many roles and responsibilities within it. To build awareness of the skill-sets and organisational capabilities required across the sector. To share knowledge by building and maintaining professional contacts, and meeting the top people in a relaxed environment. To see tangible examples of industry innovation. To have the most cost-effective personal development experience.

“Good company, good networking, good information.” George Butler, Director of Asset Manager, Northern Ireland Water

“The opportunity to meet great people, hear fantastic speakers, network, have fun and be stimulated.” Lewis Jones, Future Quality Obligations and R&D Manager, South West Water

Exhibition Packages The Institute of Water Annual Conference provides an inclusive, friendly forum for networking and building contacts. This is a superb opportunity to showcase your products and services to key personnel from the UK Water industry. There are a range of sponsorship and exhibition opportunities available to suit all budgets. For further information please contact: Lyndsey Gilmartin, Marketing and Events Manager. Email: lyndsey@instituteofwater.org.uk Tel: 0191 4220088

“Great networking opportunities and lack of hierarchical pomp. Social events that can be enjoyed by all.” Mandy Senewiratne, BREEM and Sustainability Advisor, Halcrow

“The Conference is accessible for the whole industry with truly significant speakers.” Toby Harding, Framework Director, Black & Veatch

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Your Opportunity to Shine Institute of Water National Innovation Awards

Institute of Water President’s Cup The Institute of Water has built its foundations on the professionalism of its members, and the passionate commitment of the eight volunteer Area Committees who run the regional activities.

Sponsored by URS Scott Wilson

Institute of Water National President’s Dinner 2012 Friday 18 May Thames Water’s Abbey Mills Pumping Station

Celebrating Industry Innovation and Excellence Presentation of Awards: Institute of Water National Innovation Award Institute of Water President’s Cup Institute of Water Allen Bolton Award Energy & Utility Skills Business Skills Awards for the Water Industry

Book your place or table now. Call Clare on 0191 422 0088 E-mail: clare@instituteofwater.org.uk

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HWm lEak dETEcTIoN EqUIpmENT HElpS SavE WaTER IN mooRESvIllE, N.c., USa The town of Mooresville in North Carolina (USA) has been using HWM leak detection equipment to save time, money and water in its 240 miles of water mains, complying with new state regulations in the process. With the new equipment, Mooresville Public Services Department has found itself able to identify and repair leaks in the distribution network as and when they occur, minimising disruption to both the service and during the maintenance process. Mooresville is a town of 33,000 people that provides an average daily flow of 12.2 million litres of water to 13,000 homes and businesses. In the summer of 2008, officials at the town’s Public Services Department were recording a 10% non-metered water rate, and underground water leaks were damaging the road network directly. In addition to this, the extensive digging required to find and repair the leaks obviously came at further cost and caused further disruption and congestion. With the passage of North Carolina House Bill 2499 requiring public water services to develop and implement water conservation

measures, as well as new industries moving into the area that would drastically increase water requirements, officials knew it was time to upgrade their water management program. After evaluating competing products, it was decided that the acoustic leak detection equipment designed and manufactured by HWM was the best match for their operational and budgetary requirements. The order was placed with Fluid Conservation Systems (HWM’s sister company in the USA). Mooresville Public Services Director, John vest, said: “The FCS equipment was compatible with our record keeping system, and simple enough so that the guys in the field could use it and feel confident that they were collecting accurate results.” Mr. vest contacted local distributor Carolina Meter & Supply (Hampstead, N.C.) and purchased Permalog leak detecting acoustic noise loggers, L-Mic and X-Mic ground microphones, a MicroCALL+ Digital leak noise correlator*, and a Patroller II system to allow leak data to be collected from a moving patrol vehicle in ‘drive-by’ fashion.

Within 6 months of installing the equipment, Mooresville Public Services staff had located and repaired 24 leaks, saving an estimated total of $80,000 (roughly £50,000) annually. Workers were pinpointing leaks accurately, allowing preventative maintenance work to be scheduled with advance public notification to avoid traffic congestion. “The FCS equipment has really enhanced our planning capabilities. We’re finding leaks before they become a problem”, said Field Operations Supervisor, WD Bumgarner. *Known as the AC Digital Correlator in North America.

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gIFT oF clEaN WaTER WIll SavE lIvES Having twice had to postpone trips to see how his companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s charitable water project is progressing in Nepal, Fastflow Chief Executive Neil Armstrong is hoping to make it third time lucky.

three million still living without access to clean water, there is a great deal still to be done. â&#x20AC;&#x153;In Biratnagar, 17% of wells show high levels of arsenic contamination and so we would like to thank Fastflow for the generous donation, which will help us make a real difference to the lives of some of Nepalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s poorest people.â&#x20AC;?

A family bereavement and unrest in Nepal meant two previous attempts had to be abandoned but he is now due to fly out on November 27th. Fastflow has donated ÂŁ68,000 to help international charity WaterAid bring safe water and sanitation to thousands of people in some of Nepalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s poorest communities. The donation is designed to cut alarming mortality rates â&#x20AC;&#x201C; particularly among children. Every year in Nepal, nearly 8,000 under fives die from diarrhoea caused by unclean drinking water or poor sanitation. Worldwide, a child dies every 20 seconds because of unsafe water and sanitation. The project in Biratnagar â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Nepalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s second largest city - involves the creation or rehabilitation of almost 400 wells to bring safe water to 4,000 people. It is also creating proper sanitation systems for 2,200 people and delivering educational initiatives designed to teach the local people how to reduce the incidence of disease and illness by maintaining basic hygiene. Said Neil, who took charge of Washington based Fastflow in a management buy-in in 2005: â&#x20AC;&#x153;I am

Neil Armstrong and wife, Brid, tell HRH Prince Charles about the project. really looking forward to getting out there to see what has been achieved so far. This should be a life changing experience for thousands of people and to be able to make it happen is very exciting. At a celebration to mark WaterAidâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 30th anniversary, staged at Clarence House, Neil and his wife Brid met HRH Prince Charles and explained to him the reasons behind the donation. Head of Private Giving at WaterAid, Rebecca Lloyd, added: â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are thrilled that Neil and Fastflow have chosen to support WaterAid in Nepal. We have been working in the country since 1986 and have improved access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene for over 800,000 people but with

WaterAid is an international charity working to transform lives by improving access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation in some of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s poorest communities. Together with its partners it works with local communities, using a mixture of low cost technologies to deliver lasting solutions. It also seeks to influence policy at national and international levels. The charity works in rural and urban areas and has programmes in 26 countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific region. Fastflow is an independent business with over 18 years experience in the water and gas sectors offering scheme design, street works management, project management, construction and 24 hour call out support. Over the past five years it has invested heavily in health and safety, customer care, employee development, business standards and smart systems - integrated with mobile telephony - for the capture of site information in real-time. It has also developed and patented an award winning solution for water trunk mains cleaning.

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When it comes to trunk mains cleaning, there are plenty of fish in the sea. But are they all swimming in the right direction? At Fastflow, our innovative European patented system ensures that we are, because it

Quite simply, we aim to Go Further

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URS SCOTT WILSON

URS - One name the world over for the Water Industry Since September 2010 Scott Wilson and URS have been integrating their capabilities to begin 2012 as a single branded organisation as URS. Now, with approximately 48,000 employees, URS has significantly expanded and diversified its range of lifecycle services through offices in over 40 countries. URS has been at the forefront of full service water, wastewater and hydropower related projects since 1908 providing planning, design, construction management and programme management services. For example, the company was the principal dam designer for The Diamond Valley Lake Project in California and the $705m San Roque Multipurpose Dam and Reservoir in the Philippines, one of the tallest rock and earth filled dams in the world. The firm also provided design and construction services for the New York Flushing Bay Wastewater Treatment Works, comprising an underground 400 million gallonper-day vortex facility and 40 million gallon combined sewer overflow storage tank – the largest of its kind in the USA.

scientists and design engineers, have expertise in water sustainability, water compliance and permitting regulations and are at the forefront of developing a robust water footprinting methodology.

Within the UK and Ireland the firm employs approximately 200 water staff working on a vast range of projects, forming dedicated teams focussing on water management, water infrastructure, hydrogeology, coastal, flood & water management and process engineering. URS is a leading provider of Panel Engineering services for reservoirs and dams. The firm is also heavily involved in the municipal water and wastewater sector across the UK, especially through design and build schemes and has been involved in over 30 significant wastewater treatment facilities in Northern Ireland alone. URS’ specialist consultants, made up of a range of environmental

Overseas, URS was commissioned for a Development Water Resource Scheme in Cairo, Egypt, for a 5km2 community development incorporating a 27-hole golf course and multiple landscaped areas. In light of the limited water resources and climate changes affecting the area, URS advised on the technical feasibility of introducing water harvesting, recycling and reuse schemes following an examination of irrigation demands and water consumption statistics in the area. The firm examined the latest technological innovations in water recycling and reuse systems and provided comprehensive recommendations for systems along with costs.

URS projects are diverse. Within London, not only is the company involved in the ambitious Thames Tunnel scheme, it is also currently modelling flooding from extreme rainfall over a quarter of Greater London for the ‘Drain’ London Surface Water Management Plan. This scheme involves understanding the causes of surface water flooding to many houses in London and determining the most cost effective ways to manage the risks.

Within Angola, URS is involved in developing a masterplan for some 8 kilometres of proposed reclaimed land along the coast adjoining the capital city Luanda. As part of this scheme the company is involved in a Flood Routing Study which includes designing the stormwater channel system to protect a new 500ha urban development along with hydrology and hydraulic modelling. This has involved the design of 30km of open channels, up to 30m wide and the marine outfalls for the centrepiece marina. URS offers a comprehensive range of additional in-house services, complimenting the water consultants including ecologists, planners, architects and geotechnical specialists. The company aims is to provide long term, economical and sustainable solutions for future generations as a single consultancy. Increasingly URS provides solutions which not only reduce cost, but also minimise energy usage and reduce carbon footprint. Although the Scott Wilson name and branding will disappear, the same talented professionals will continue to provide innovative and reliable solutions to your most complex water challenges as URS.

For further information contact sam.phillips@scottwilson.com.

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Water Who We Are

Best Practice and Innovation

RPS Water is the leading provider of professional services to the water industry. We are part of RPS Group Plc, a FTSE250 international consultancy providing expert advice on:

The application of the best products, technologies and working practices underpin how we conduct our business. We constantly strive to bring the best available and implement genuine, pragmatic and sustainable innovation for the benefit of our clients. Some current examples of how we achieve this are:

n The management of the environment

and the health and safety of people; n The exploration and production of

energy and other natural resources; n The development of land, property and

infrastructure. RPS employs over 4500 people in the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, the United States, Canada, Brazil, Africa, the Middle East, Australia and Asia.

What We Do We support our clients in developing added-value results by successfully combining local knowledge with international best practice. As the trusted leaders of our profession, we employ enthusiastic and talented staff who produce quality results for our clients. Our principal areas of expertise are: n n n n n n

Water Network Management; Wastewater Network Management; Programme and Project Management; Design; Surveying; Water and Environmental Consultancy.

Waternet™ Waternet™ is a spatial asset management reporting and analysis tool. It collates data from various sources and combines it into integrated asset management information. The principal benefits of this industry-leading product are: n Corporate level ‘dashboard’ of critical information; n Faster access to fully integrated asset information; n Better understanding of levels of service; n A common reporting standard; n The ability to ‘drill down’ from high level reports; n Better understanding of capital maintenance and operational costs.

Accuflow™ This multi-award-winning device enables flow metering to be carried out via existing sluice valves. With accuracy levels of +/-10% and the ability to measure flow rates lower than that of a conventional meter, it can: n n n n n n

Provide immediate indication of the flow passing through a fully open valve; Enable better identification and quantification of leaks; Allow leak repair schedules to be prioritized; Facilitate new ways to improve system knowledge; Check commercial meter accuracy; Identify illegal water usage.

It is currently costing the industry over £l00m/annum to repair leaks that have little or no effect on reducing reported leakage levels. Several clients are now benefitting from Accuflow™’s ability to reduce these costs by up to 30%.

Our unique blend of office-based consultancy and field-services enables us to support all the Water and Sewerage Companies and the majority of the WaterOnly Companies in the UK.

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Looking Ahead

Web BasedPerformance Management If you can’t measure it, you can’t control it. Therefore, if clients are to maximise the effectiveness and efficiency of their operations, they must be able to rely on timely, accurate and verified performance Management Information (MI). In response to this imperative, we have developed a robust and secure webbased reporting and document access platform. The platform integrates data from client and service provider systems to produce automated, fully validated MI at frequencies to meet each client’s specific requirements. Authorised users can access MI and other relevant documentation ‘on demand’ via any machine enabled with internet access thereby eliminating problems associated with version management and report access and distribution.

Training and Development Programme Providing appropriately trained and competent staff is key to satisfying our clients’ needs. To achieve this we employ skilled in-house training staff and run comprehensive programmes covering: n n n n n

Approved CIWEM Training Bespoke City & Guilds in Water Distribution Accredited NVQ Level 2 & 3 Water Hygiene Manual Handling

We can access the training records of all our staff via our sophisticated intranet, enabling us to quickly identify the appropriate specialists required to meet our clients’ needs.

We are continuing with our Integrated Water Management approach, focused on the long-term aims of our clients. We understand the complex challenges brought about by climate change, population growth, affordability and legislative/regulatory change which, in our view, require an increasing holistic approach to water management. With this in mind, we will continue to support our clients in creating a water industry which is socially, environmentally and economically sustainable. Trevor M Hoyle, Managing Director, concludes:

“We are immensely proud of our highlyskilled, motivated team that continues to deliver and innovate. We are also grateful to our clients for affording us the opportunity to make a real and sustainable difference. With the continued support of our clients, we look forward with confidence in our ability to meet the future challenges of the water industry.”

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mINERal SUpplIES

HEalTH oFFIcERS commENd ZEoclERE aS BENcHmaRk IN commERcIal poolS The customer always comes first is a phrase that is often said but unfortunately not always completely sincere in utterance. Not so when it comes to Sam Taylor who is Facility Maintenance Manager at the prestigious and popular village Hotel and Health Club situated in Headingley North Leeds. With a superb range of leisure facilities available on-site the hotel offers the choice of many energetic activities - with a 25m heated indoor pool, as well as steam room, sauna and whirlpool spa. Sam, who has been managing the leisure facility for 13 years, takes his role very seriously saying: “We have 5,500 members who use the pool and spa on a daily basis. Some of our members are handicapped and we have a pool bather load of between 800-1000 per day. The 8 -12 person whirlpool spa is open from 6.30am to 11.00pm daily and has an 85% occupancy rate, so we have to ensure the water is healthy at all times.”

using Zeoclere has been shown to be faster than that of silica sand and with an improved turbidity of 60% over that of accepted sand. The average ammonia collection for this grade is 2.88g/lt. This can vary dependent on flow rate. Other advantages of Zeoclere are wide temperature performance along with high removal efficiency including iron/zinc/lead/ copper & silver removal. Because of the high reduction of ammonia removal, the use of chlorine is similarly reduced and on average is quoted that up to 40% savings have been achieved. Sam continues: “It has now been 5 years since we changed to Zeoclere. We first tested the product in the spa and then the pool and are

extremely happy with outcome. There is no odour whatsoever in the pool hall and we regenerate the Zeoclere for the pool once a year and the spa on a weekly basis using sodium hypo. The pool is run using a combination of calcium hypo and Jolly Gel; which gives us great water clarity. Combined levels in the spa are run at 0.4 – 0.6. “Even after 5 years there is no sign whatsoever of the Zeoclere aging or clumping together. As well as saving time, money and energy we are very proud to say that our local environmental health officers now use Headingley as a benchmark for other leisure facilities.”

mSI + 44 1825 790524 www.zeoclere.com

keeping the water crisp, fresh and safe is always a tall order in heavily used leisure facilities and Sam admits to having a few headaches before hitting on the perfect partnership for optimum water quality. Sam again: “It had been quite a battle to ensure the water quality in both the pool and spa was up to acceptable standards. Good filtration is always the key and around 6 years ago we were offered to trial a glass filter media rather than the sand that was then in use. We did and we were less than happy with the performance. We decided to change back to sand when someone suggested trying a product called Zeoclere. So we did with fantastic results!” Zeoclere is a selected high-grade zeolitic mineral. The Zeoclere range is specifically for use in swimming pool pressure or gravity filters. It has a purity of between 80-85% and is constant between these percentages. The clear up rate

www.zeoclere.com natural ammonia removal

Telephone: 01825 790524

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developments with buried asset records By Jo Parker, Director, Watershed Associates

Jo is a Chartered Civil Engineer who has worked in the utility industry for 35 years with a number of different operating companies. She now works as an independent consultant specialising in technical and management advice and support for utilities. Jo has been a member for 23 years and has been both National Chair and Eastern Area President. Jo is a Fellow Member and has served on our Engineering Board since it was established in 1999. Beneath the road lies a network of pipes and cables which has been estimated to be several millions of kilometres in length. The nature of water and sewerage system is such that water company pipes are generally below the other utilities. Therefore access to utility records is essential, both for the water companies themselves and for their service providers. However, gaining access to the records can be time consuming and records can be of varying accuracy. For a start, the deregulation of the energy and communication markets means that identifying all the relevant undertakers in an area may not be straight forward. Companies owning electricity cables make their records available to water utilities as it is essential that these records are available to any staff or contractors opening the road. Most gas utilities will also make their records available. However how up to date are these records? If provided via a CD this could be up to 3 months out of date. Obtaining communications records may be even more fraught. Even keeping track of who operates in a certain area, with the various take-overs and mergers can be a problem. Record quality is variable and presented in a variety of ways. For other organisations wanting the information such as developers and transport organisation the problem can be even worse. Some countries have set up a single phone number to call which forward enquiries. Close to home, Susiephone is one of the longest standing systems, if not the oldest in the world. The Australian’s ‘Dial Before U Dig’ is a great success and in the USA, all states have agreed a single number, although different states are at different stages of developing a ‘one call’ system. In England and Wales such a system has yet to be implemented. However an initiative which started several years ago is now supporting a trial within the M25. This in itself requires the co-operation of a large number of local authorities, transport organisations and utilities. The first phase will just set up a single call point, with the second phase

forwarding enquiries to the relevant bodies and a further stage providing web access to records. This last solution will be assisted by a major research initiative, called the vISTA project (totally unrelated to Microsoft!) which was completed nearly two years ago and which looked at the huge variety of records held by utilities. These can be held using different GIS software with the different data base formats and even different terms for the same assets. The project identified a key list of parameters which should be used and developed a method of combining these within a single common web based platform accessed by a single web portal. The system has had several trials and is at the very moment being rolled out across Scotland in a project involving around 70 different organisations including over 30 local authorities. Of course, having access to records does not necessarily mean that the location of all the buried assets in an area can be known accurately. Many of the existing utilities and local authorities inherited records form predecessor organisations. The accuracy of the records may not be known or may have been based on inaccurate base maps. Dimensions may have been taken from landmarks no longer in existence. In addition, very little information exists for the mass of smaller service pipes and cables taking water, gas electricity into properties and collecting sewage. This latter problem has been particularly an issue with the transfer of ownership of private sewers to the water companies in England and Wales. There are a number of existing methods for locating buried services using specialist equipment. Radio frequency location, generally known as a ‘CAT and GENNY’ has been common place for years and it is standard practice to sweep an area for cables before any work in the street begins. However, even these straight forward tools do have limitations which are not always understood. For instance large parked vehicles nearby or overhead cables can distort the signal. GPR, Ground Probing (or Penetrating) Radar has become more widely used but can require skilled interpretation of the results

and can have limitations in use, particularly due to the presence of clay or water logged soils. Other methods using e.g. acoustics require access to the buried asset which is not always possible. A consortium of universities identified this problem several years ago and initiated a project under the Mapping The Underworld programme. Initially the programme investigated the feasibility of some completely new approaches to locating buried assets. This first phase was successful and phase 2 was instigated to develop a prototype tool which would combine these new techniques to improve the accuracy of surveys. The project is just over half way through and the different tools are now being field trialled. A completely new facility has been developed for the project in co-operation with J k Guest which in addition to providing a test bed for the new technology can be used to train users on existing techniques. The project organises regular seminars and newsletters and further information can be found on the web site

www.mappingtheunderworld.ac.uk

Of course, it would be easier if buried assets were installed with some kind of marker, a bar code which could be read from the surface. The 3M system of RFID tags has been in existence from some time, but has been slow to be taken up. A new product, also developed within the first phase of the Mapping The Underworld programme uses resonant tags which in themselves are completely inert but which send back a signal at certain frequencies which acts as a bar code for a pipe or fitting. The OXEMS marker has been commercially developed and is just coming on to the market, having been trialled by a number of water companies, particularly Severn Trent. This is just an overview of some of the developments in the field of locating buried assets. The job of digging up the road is sometimes seen to be ‘low tech.’ However, with the help of some of the latest geophysical technology, the work can become more efficient and less hazardous to benefit of not just the water industry but all who use the road network in the Uk.

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FEATURE:WATER NETWORKS

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The minimisation of Water Supply costs

By Dr Brian Plemper, Northumbrian Water and Mr Martyn Redman, GA Valves (Dorot UK)

Brian Plemper trained as an engineer and specialised in applied mathematics. He has 40 years experience of the modelling and simulation of engineering and other systems. Initially Brian worked as a mining engineer but has worked in the water industry for the last 20 years principally in Network Analysis but also in Water Resources and Groundwater modelling. The majority of his work has been based on analysing complex dynamic systems and producing predictive models that describe the behaviour of the system.

cost minimisation in Water distribution Systems

As assets within water distribution networks near the end of their lifetime a formulated approach is required to produce a replacement plan that will create an integrated hydraulic network that can distribute water at a minimum cost. The plan set out below has been developed to allow water companies to modernise their water distribution systems using a systematic replacement scheme. This strategy considers each network component as it approaches the end of its asset life and designs the succeeding asset not only to fulfil the requirements of local environment but also those of the system as a whole. Recent developments in valve technology have allowed new pressure management techniques to be created that can automate network control and substantially reduce burst frequencies and levels of leakage. Trials of these techniques carried out at Northumbrian Water in conjunction with GA and Dorot valves have produced a robust network control philosophy, which attains a minimum distribution cost. Network cost minimisation is achieved by creating, a network of intelligent control valves situated at critical nodes throughout the distribution system. From this, a calmed pressure system ensues. This integrated system will supply water at a minimum cost, reduce both â&#x20AC;&#x153;no waterâ&#x20AC;? (DG3) and low pressure (DG2) incidents, extend

Martyn Redman has worked as an engineer within the water industry for the past 15 years. During this time he has worked for several consultancies providing engineering services to the water utilities both nationally and internationally. Martyn has been involved in several major projects providing unique engineering solutions to remote pressure regulation, minimised cost water distribution and the automation of strategic trunk mains systems.

asset lifetime and reduce maintenance costs. Additionally the system will regulate flow and pressure and reduce both leakage and burst rate.

pressure sustaining valve (PSv). The PSv and will only operate if the upstream pressure is above a set value.

Water treatment processes use high levels of chemical dosing and consume substantial amount of energy. Any process that can minimise this usage is seen as a positive practice to employ by both water companies and regulatory bodies alike.

The outlet pilot is secondary and operates as a pressure reducing valve (PRv). The PRv will only operate if the upstream PSv is active and the downstream pressure falls below a set value.

methodology and model

This section deals with the rational and concepts involved in the development of a minimised cost water distribution delivery system. The control theory in a system such as this is centred on the concept of self-optimising nodes through which the flow of water is controlled. A self-optimising node reacts to the demand variations within the network and modulates the flow of water through the system by regulating the pressure on both sides of the valve. The model devised here is, as far as can be ascertained, original and is not used by other water companies as an automated control solution.

demand control valve (dcv) At each self-optimising node a DCv controls the flow of water through the node. (See Figure 1.) The DCv operates autonomously via two hydraulic pilots. The inlet pilot is dominant and operates as a

The demand control valve maintains a selfregulating system that produces a stable hydraulic profile on both side of the valve throughout the diurnal range. A crucial point to make at this point is that the valve is controlled by the system and forms a harmonic element within the network. This automation is achieved solely through the operation of the pilot valves responding to the hydraulic information in the network and requires no telemetry input.

cost minimisation paradigm

If more than one water source supplies a distribution system then the cost of water delivery can be minimised through the use of controlled pressure management. This process is achieved at the point where the source water enters the distribution system and where the cheapest water source can be maximised before more expensive water is used. The concepts involved in this process are described below:-

cost minimisation physical Set Up The DCv consists of two control pilots that continuously monitor the pressure on both

Figure 1 Schematic of a self-optimising node.

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FEATURE:WaTER NETWoRkS the upstream sand downstream side of the valve. The DvC then uses his information to control the flow of water through the valve. The Pilot on the upstream side of the valve is a PSv controller which operates to maintain a constant pressure at the critical point on the trunk main supplying the valve. As demand varies on this side of the valve the pressure changes and whenever the pressure is above the PSv setting the pilot will pass a flow rate through the valve that will generate a head loss equivalent to this additional pressure. On the downstream side of the valve the pilot is a PRv. This pilot operates to maintain a constant pressure at the critical point within the distribution system it is supplying. Using this information the DCv is capable of acting autonomously by making decisions on how it can supply water. If water is available and is required the DCv will supply demand up to the either the hydraulic capacity of the upstream trunk main or the demand of the downstream distribution network. The downstream PRv regulators on the DCv controlling the water flow into the distribution system are set to reflect the cost of the water they supply: n The DCv providing the lowest cost water has its PRv regulators set at the nominal pressure for the area being supplied. n The DCv providing the intermediate cost water has its PRv regulators set at 1m less than the nominal pressure. n The DCv providing the highest cost water has its PRv regulators set at 2m less than the nominal pressure.

cost minimisation operational Set Up

When two or more DCv supply a network the cost of water supply is minimised by maximising the use of each supply in order of cost.

demand

WTW Intermediate cost

If at any time demand on the upstream side of St Marks decreases this water automatically becomes available to supply the distribution system. At this point Mayfair and then if required Otto Terrace will throttle their supply volume to a value equal to the additional water being supplied by St Marks. As demand in the distribution system falls the valves will begin to close in order of there supply costs i.e. Mayfair, Otto Terrace and St Marks. This self compensating method of water supply minimises cost and regulates the downstream pressure to within a two metre band.

cost Savings

demand

WTW lowest cost

St Marks is lowest cost water source; this valve is dominant and takes precedence over Otto Terrace and Mayfair in supplying the distribution system. As St Marks’ valve reaches it maximum capacity to supply water Otto Terrace valve begins to open to maintain the pressure in the distribution system. As demand continues to rise this process is repeated with Mayfair valve.

cp demand

The cost savings produced by substituting St Marks and Otto Terrace water into the area normally supplied by the more expensive Mayfair water are shown in the table below.The first three columns of the table show the valve name, the mean flow through the valve and the unit cost of water for each of the supply source. The forth column shows the yearly savings made by replacing Mayfair water with water from each of the other valves. valve

demand

WTW Highest cost

demand

The DCv delivering the cheapest water will supply the demand area first. This flow through this valve will be constrained by the PSv inlet pilot maintaining a set pressure at the critical point (CP). Once the water from this source is exhausted the pressure in the distribution system will begin to fall and if demand continues to rise the second DCv will open and supply water. Again this supply will be limited to the hydraulic capacity of the upstream source of the valve. If required the final DCv will open supplying the area with the highest cost water. Because the DCv constantly reacts to changes in diurnal demand the flow of water through the valve is maximised and the cost of supplying water to the distribution system is minimised.

cost minimisation Example

The cost optimisation model described above has been put into practice and is operating at Northumbrian Water. At the Mayfair control station in Sunderland City Centre the distribution system is supplied with water from three different sources each of which have different costs. The graph top right shows the interaction of the valves at St Marks, Otto Terrace, and Mayfair.

Mean Flow

Cost

Yearly saving

St Marks

2.3 Mld

£20 / Ml

£58,087

Otto Tce.

0.15 Mld

£50 / Ml

£2,219

Mayfair

0.63 Mld

£90 / Ml

conclusion

By adopting an integrated approach to developing the company's water distribution system a self-optimising network is created. The system can be developed through adaptation of the existing trunk main system whereby existing principle control valves will be replaced at the end of their asset life with intelligent valves that interact in synchronization with each other and the surrounding hydraulic environment. These valve will be aware of there local and remote environment and will work in unison to regulate and maintain a stable hydraulic profile. The system is autonomous and will operate independently of external control Telemetry will be used to monitor the system but not to operate it. Consequently the level of telemetry required is reduced. The key issue in developing this strategy is valve specification. Whenever a valve is replaced its properties should not be designed to fulfil requirements of local control but rather in relation to the requirements of immediate environment and the operation of the distribution system both upstream and downstream of the valve.

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SElWood gRoUp

Super Silent - a genuinely quiet range of pumps

P S

Building upon the company’s market leading reputation, Selwood Pumps is dedicated to a programme of continuous improvement of its existing range of products as well as developing additional models as part of its on-going strategic pump programme, to meet the demands of the market. The latest ‘Super Silent’ range was first introduced in 2003 to meet the growing demands of customers for a genuinely quiet range of pumps. All Selwood pumps are available in super silent format with these models taking priority in the design and manufacture of new pumps. To meet the needs of its customers, Selwood recognised that its hire fleet needs to be predominately super silent and has embarked on a programme of capital expenditure to ensure that the mix of Super Silent pumps against open set pumps is correct and over £4m has already been invested this year. Selwood has also embarked on an expansive refurbishment programme to convert open set pumps from its fleet to super silent, with upwards of 100 units being completed this year. With noise levels as low as 58db(A) at full speed and load, Selwood is able to supply the most environmentally friendly pumps available in the market today. As well as developing new pump models, Selwood is committed to continually improve its existing product range. The recent introduction of the Seltorque S100, S150 and S200 super silent pumps and the D80, D100, D150 and D200 super silent in a close coupled configuration is the latest example of this development programme. The advantages of this improved arrangement are reduced noise, reduced vibration, longer coupling life plus ease of maintenance and production.

Selwood is also working in partnership its engine suppliers to ensure that all units are supplied in line with the latest tier emission requirements. With a commitment to quality, safety and the environment, Selwood is one of the very few companies within the Uk that holds all three recognized standards, ISO 9001, BS OHSAS18001 and ISO 14001. Selwood is registered with the Achilles Utilities vendor database (UvDB) and has been for many years. The UvDB verify and assessment service, used by the Uk utility industry to source suppliers of major products and services, focuses on risk critical issues associated with Safety, Health, Environment and Quality requirements. Operating from a nationwide branch network with a reputation built upon the quality of its extensive plant and pump equipment fleet combined with the service provided by its dedicated local teams Selwood offers an unrivalled depth of technical expertise and on-site service to all of the market sectors served.

Tel: 02380 266311 www.selwoodpumps.co.uk

To combat ever increasing fuel costs Selwood has upgraded its auto stop start control system using the latest available technology. The system is now available as auto stop start only or auto stop start with telemetry offering a more flexible and appropriate system for different applications. The auto stop start facility provides an efficient and automatic operation with the use of float level controls and ultrasonic level devices turning the pump on and off as required. Telemetry allows the remote measurement and reporting of the pumps operation directly to pre-selected mobiles or landlines, providing real time alarm messages for high level float, failure/start, engine fault and emergency stop activation using pay as you go technology.

Selwood is redesigning its range of high head pumps. The new H100 was launched at Hillhead last year and has been a success in both the Uk and export markets. The H80, H125 and H150 are currently being redesigned and should be launched in the Spring of 2012 closely followed by the H200. A new 300mm solids handling pump is also being planned for 2012.

Selwood has committed to designing and manufacturing a range of world class high head pumps that offer dramatically improved hydraulic efficiency, flow and head capacities and suction characteristics. All units utilise mechanical shaft sealing giving indefinite dry running ability.

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Pump Hire, Sales & Service

2 4 Em Hr

ergency Callout

Selwood provides the complete Pump Hire, Sales and Service package for all your requirements. Along with pumps ranging from 50mm to 300mm discharge, Selwood also offers you 1st class in-depth technical expertise. O Surface Mounted Diesels incorporating Selwoodâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unique environmentally friendly priming system - Solids Handling - High Head - High Volume - Super Silent from 55db(A) O Submersibles - Drainage - Sewage - Sludge - Slurry O Hydraulic Submersible O Explosion Proof Pumps O Chopper Pumps O Site Surveys O Site Installations O Method Statements O Risk Assessments O Pumping Accessories O Remote Mobile Telemetry O Road Ramp

Local branches nationwide

08450 733835 www.selwood.co.uk

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FROM ITT COMES

Xylem

From 1st November 2011 ITT Corporation transforms into three standalone businesses, of which Xylem is formed from the ITT Fluid Technology division. Xylem is a water technology company with a portfolio of leading product brands and a presence in more than 150 countries. In the UK and Ireland, Xylem is a market leader in the design, manufacturing and application of highly engineered technologies for the water industry, creating and delivering innovative solutions. To do this, we know how essential it is to partner closely with our customers; listening to their needs and from this continuing to design innovative products that meet the future demands on water. To ďŹ nd out more visit www.xyleminc.com

Xylem Private Road No.1 Colwick Nottingham NG4 2AN Tel: 0115 940 0111 Email: sales@ďŹ&#x201A;ygt.co.uk

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WA WATE R . LET’S PUSH IT

LET’S SOLVE L LVE

UP 80-FLOOR BUILDINGS AND UP AND AWAY FROM 3,000-FOOT MINESHAFTS. LET’S TURN UNL UNLIVAB IVABL LE L AND INTO

LET’S ANALYZE LYZE L , PURIFY AND

ABUNDANT REUSE FARMLAND AND. WASTEWATER. LET’S CHANNEL L THE ENERGY AND

THINKING OF 12,000 DEDICATED PEOPLE. LET’S UNITE FOR A COMMON PURPOSE:

INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS TO GLOBALL WATER CHALLENGES.

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RentalService Instrument rental service combined with the very best in technical support A comprehensive range of instrumentation available at competitive rates. Products have been carefully selected to offer leakage and network management engineers the best technology for projects from short-term investigations to ongoing efficiency and customer services initiatives.

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technology for network management and leakage control 42

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Advances in AD Advanced Digestion – the most sustainable future solution for the water industry By Barry Oliver, Imtech Technical Director Advanced Digestion (AD) is now well established as one of the most sustainable solutions for the water industry. Leading water companies employing AD include Anglian Water, Dwr Cymru Welsh Water, Northumbrian Water and United Utilities. Imtech has worked hard to become the leading delivery partner for AD and its operational experience with earlier plants has helped it identify further opportunities for improvement. More advances are being incorporated into new plants which are currently under construction.

Current Activities Drawing on our early experience with AD, we have taken the lessons learnt from the development, construction, commissioning and process optimisation to improve the design and delivery of new plants. Plants currently under construction include a 40,000 tDS/year thermal AD plant at Howdon for Northumbrian Water and a new generation of enhanced enzymic hydrolysis plants using Anglian Water’s proprietary HPH process at both Cliff Quay and Basildon. We have supported optimisation of existing full scale plants providing a unique support service, known as SOOP (sludge opex optimisation plan). This service provides support to local operational teams to ensure that the performance of the new plants is optimised to maximise operational savings and particularly drive most efficient conversion to renewable power. The current benchmark for efficiency is 1 MWh/tDS. Anglian Water is leading the drive for improved sustainability, setting ambitious targets for reducing the embodied and operational carbon of its AMP 5 projects. It has also set one of the industry’s leading renewable energy targets of approximately 90 GWh/year by 2015. There is positive customer and stakeholder support for AD, as many now recognise that this is the most sustainable option with strong economic and environmental benefits. And, we have learnt important lessons from the commissioning and process optimisation of early plants. We have developed an optimum method of process commissioning to ensure right first time, fast start up and early realisation of operational savings.

Developments to date We have been involved in a number of AD schemes including Kings Lynn, Great Billing, Eign, Cardiff, Afan, Howdon and a dedicated food waste digestion plant for Biffa. The benefits associated with AD include increased volatile solids destruction, maximum gas production and greater renewable energy generation. Additionally a high quality enhanced sludge is produced that can be beneficially recycled to agriculture. An overarching benefit of AD is carbon reduction. The best example to date is the Cardiff and Afan AD plants, which have reduced Welsh Water’s operational carbon by 50,000 tonnes CO ഺ / year, equivalent to 15% of its overall carbon footprint – or the beneficial effect of a forest of five million trees.

We have successfully delivered the UK’s largest dedicated food waste Anaerobic Digestion plant for Biffa, at its Poplars site in Cannock, Staffordshire. This plant can process 120,000 tonnes of food waste per year, with a renewable power generating capacity of 6 MW, enough to power approximately 6000 homes.

The Future As schemes continue to progress, today’s innovation will become tomorrow’s standard. By taking the best parts of the plants built to date and recognising additional opportunities, it will be possible to drive significant improvements in AD, and help the industry achieve and exceed its carbon reduction commitments. Our vision is that AD takes centre stage in resource recovery, ensuring power self sufficient wastewater service, heat supply to local communities and maximum recovery of nutrients for agricultural use.

A notable benefit of integrating AD into wastewater treatment is achieving power self sufficient wastewater service. At many of the sites built renewable power generation exceeds site power requirements for wastewater and sludge treatment, with surplus power being exported to grid.

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NEUTRALAC

Royal Mint on the money with Neutralac With the treatment of trade effluent increasingly coming under the spotlight, the Royal Mint has taken exemplary steps in building a brand new multi-million pound effluent plant to replace two existing treatment lines. This will permit the business to discharge 100% of its trade effluents to the sewer. The new plant, soon to be commissioned, boasts state-of-the-art ultra sound techniques that deliver environmentally considerate results, while offering an optimized and cost effective treatment process for the removal of both unwanted metals and sulphates from the effluent stream. Lhoist UK Ltd delivers a unique liquid lime reagent, Neutralac® SLS45. It has only been available in the UK for 18 months yet during this time Lhoist UK has worked closely with The Royal Mint’s consultants to make best use of this ground breaking lime product. Operating all year round and with such high prerequisites, the new effluent plant requires reagents of equally high caliber to comply with environmental discharge regulations. Neutralac® SLS45 is such a reagent; an innovative high strength liquid lime born from research and development in Belgium.

As an alkali product with proficient metal precipitation capabilities, it is an ideal pH corrector that already has a strong portfolio in metal treatment sectors across both Europe and the UK. It was the first and only choice for a plant that would be treating waste water containing nickel, copper, zinc and iron. Its performance in treating effluent carrying heavy metals is strongly supported by case studies showing reduction levels of 93% and 70% for Cr and Co respectively, whilst also minimizing the risk of redissolution of trace metals. Neutralac® SLS45 widens the standard pH range for the removal of metals overall and thus allows for the concurrent precipitation of most metals, with both chromium and zinc for example being removed within a single treatment step. Developed and manufactured by Lhoist, the worlds leading lime manufacturer, Neutralac® SLS45 represents a high reactivity reagent (KIWA T90 < 5sec), that is optimized for rapid

acid neutralization and pH adjustment. Its high performance is matched by Lhoist UK’s commitment to offer a service that is in line with the Royal Mint’s stringent requirements and continuous operation. By monitoring stock levels via telemetry, Lhoist UK will further participate in reducing money and labour costs. Along with its multiple functionalities, Neutralac® SLS45 has proved it will minimize the consumption of additional flocculants by displaying flocculation functionalities itself. Indeed, the uses of Neutralac® SLS45 have spread beyond the metals industry to include the treatment of organic wastes with uses in the food and dairy industries. Adept at removing sulphate, phosphate and FOG, Neutralac® SLS45 has yielded positive results across many market sectors

Don’t waste money with waste water Unlike the Royal Mint, you probably don’t actually manufacture money! Yet using Neutralac® SLS45, the strongest available liquid lime, could save you more than just money. The production team at The Royal Mint, and their advisors, recognise the benefits of using Neutralac® SLS45 in place of Caustic Soda in their effluent treatment, both commercially and for meeting increasingly tighter environmental discharge standards for metals removal and sulphates. Stable prices for easier budgeting; reduced reagent costs; a far safer Alkali on site; environmental compliance – Neutralac® SLS45 is on the money!

www.neutralac.co.uk Derek Thompson Product Manager

Lhoist UK, Hindlow Buxton, Derbyshire

T: 01298 768 670 M: 07976 391 673

derek.thompson@lhoist.co.uk www.lhoist.co.uk

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WE UNDERSTAND WASTEWATER TREATMENT

Severn Trent Services understands wastewater treatment. Our innovative technologies are proven to be effective and efficient solutions for the removal of ammonia, BOD and suspended solids from tertiary wastewater. With hundreds of TETRA® DeepBed™ and [N]SAF installations successfully operating in the UK and many more globally, water companies rely on the performance of TETRA filters to meet their treatment needs.

To learn more about TETRA® wastewater treatment solutions e-mail marketing@severntrentservices.co.uk or call +44 (0)1827 266 000 www.severntrentservices.com

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10 YEARS OF TRULY SUSTAINABLE WASTEWATER TREATMENT IN THE UK For the past 10 years, the AeroFac® wwtp at Errol has not required a single sludge tanker. The unique self-digesting sludge system at Errol ensures that it operates at a fraction of the cost of a typical wwtp. With 6 years of successful use of an Aero-Fac® wwtp on the Sandringham Estate, The Crown Estate contacted Gurney Environmental, the supplier of Aero-Fac®, to replace a filter works in Windsor Great Park. A two cell AeroFac® system was designed for Cumberland Lodge and a housing complex to meet quality suitable for discharge into Great Meadow Pond.

At approximately £350,000 constructed price, the Aero-Fac® plant was more competitive than an equivalent package plant. More important to the owner, Aero-Fac® was able to meet the concerns of intermittent flow and longterm operating and maintenance costs offering a more sustainable solution. Option

Construction

Operation (pa)

Total (over 40 yrs)

Aero-Fac Lagoons

104

458

Local Treatment

1057

3297

Pump Away

2874

3114

Measured in tonnes CO2 equivalent Table 1 — Estimation of Relative Carbon Footprints (Note: Figures reflect Sutton St James scenario and are not necessarily representative of the options in general terms)

At Sutton St James, Anglian Water Services weighed the merits of three options: 1) Aero-Fac®; 2) construct a conventional treatment works; 3) pump away to another wwtp. Months of research supported that Aero-Fac® would provide the least expensive long term option and the lowest carbon footprint. New low carbon footprint Aero-Fac® Treatment Works at Roundwood replaced old filter works.

The success at Sutton St. James led to the construction of three additional Aero-Fac® and Accel-o-Fac® treatment

The Aero-Fac® Treatment Works at Errol, Scotland has been operating for 10 years.

plants at East Harling, Welney and Saltfleetby. Each additional wwtp has offered the same low carbon footprint benefits. The Accel-o-Fac® wwtp at the village of Holkham has been treating sewage since the spring of 2006, and does so with virtually no significant ongoing operating cost by utilising wind as its main energy source. Visitors to the Errol site over the 10 years have been pleasantly surprised by the lack of odour, remarking that it is hard to believe that they are at a sewage treatment plant! Errol is an example of just how good a long-term neighbour an Aero-Fac® plant can be. The Aero-Fac® and Accel-o-Fac® systems are unique in their ability to meet today’s wastewater treatment requirements through lower CAPEX, low operating costs, use of renewable energy, elimination of sludge handling/ disposal, simple maintenance and operation, plus a low carbon footprint. For more information: GurneyEnvironmental.com

PROVEN PERFORMANCE

Over 10 Years

Holkham Accel-o-Fac®

:HS[ÅLL[I` (JJLS V -HJ®

IN THE UNITED KINGDOM Roundwood Aero-Fac®

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W. Newton Aero-Fac®

Bowmore Aero-Fac®

Low CAPEX. Low OPEX. Low carbon footprint. True sustainability. These are the benchmarks for Gurney Environmental Ltd. We offer unique wastewater treatment systems, equipment and design including zero-to-low energy wwtw, waste-to-energy systems, reservoir destratification systems and ammonia-nitrogen removal.

Contact us for more information 1 Bryggen Road, North Lynn Industrial Estate King’s Lynn Norfolk PE30 2HZ UK jP AJJC>F?GKKICMMLHFH © \P AJJC>F?GKKICMMLIIK [P | V] { [ { w Dy © mP D] { [ { w Dy Copyright©2011 Gurney Environmental Ltd. All rights reserved.

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Total Water Quality Solutions! Water analysis solutions from HACH LANGE are tailor-made for waste water, drinking water or process water Whether field, laboratory analysis, sampling/flow or online measurements. We cover the whole spectrum for water analysis. From visual methods to comprehensive reagent systems, online analysers to spectrophotometers, stationary and portable samplers to solutions for automated lab analysis. We have it all, plus:

Experienced Technical Support Advisors Qualified Service Engineers, maintenance contracts and warranty extension

Disposal and recycling service Seminars and workshops

HACH LANGE Ltd Tel: 0161 872 1487, Fax: 0161 848 7324 Email: sarah.blayds@hach-lange.co.uk www.hach-lange.co.uk

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ZZZ YHUGHU FR XN ZZZ YHUGHU FR XN ZZZ YHUGHU FR XN 17/11/11 14:24:01

BERSoN

BERSoN SUpplIES Uv dISINFEcTIoN TEcHNology To UkRaINIaN WWTp Berson UV systems disinfect effluent before discharge into Desna River Berson has supplied two of its InLine+ Uv disinfection systems to the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in the city of Chernihiv (population 350,000), north-east of kiev, the Ukrainian capital. The Berson Uv systems disinfect effluent prior to its discharge into the Desna River. “Disinfection is necessary to meet Ukrainian bathing water standards and also to prevent effluent with high microbial loads of pathogenic viruses, parasites and bacteria entering the Desna River, which is also the main water supply for many communities downstream, including kiev,” commented Chernihiv’s waterworks director, Sergey Shkin. “Chemical disinfection with chlorine was not an option as we wanted to avoid unpleasant disinfection by-products such as trihalomethanes (THMs) and Halogenated Acetic Acids (HAAs), which are produced when chlorine reacts with the organic compounds in wastewater. Furthermore, as chlorine is a dangerous gas, additional safety measures are required to comply with rules for its transport and storage and for worker safety – these all carry additional costs. These factors,

together with the fact that many dangerous bacteria and parasites, such as Cryptosporidium and Giardia, are resistant to chlorine, meant we opted for Uv technology instead”, he added. Uv disinfection has none of the drawbacks of chlorination – it is completely chemical-free, and produces no unpleasant by-products. It is also simple to operate and maintain. Chernihiv waterworks selected two Berson InLine 16000 systems, operating in parallel mode. Each Uv chamber is equipped with 12 automaticallywiped medium pressure Multiwave® Uv lamps and can treat effluent at a flow rate of 2000 m3/h (4000 m3/h in total). Because of the InLine design of the closed treatment chambers, they have low headloss and are also very compact with a small overall footprint, allowing them to be installed in a very small building. The incoming effluent is gravity-driven. “We were very impressed by the very compact setup of the Berson systems,” continued Mr Shkin. “This, together with all the other benefits already described, and also because many other Ukrainian

Mr Sergey Shkin (left), Chernihiv’s waterworks director, with Peter Menne, Berson’s area sales manager, next to one of the Berson UV systems) drinking water and wastewater treatment facilities have already installed Berson Uv units, helped make our decision to choose Berson. “Added to this, the fact that the Berson systems are closed and are equipped with automatic wipers means our employees don’t come into contact with the wastewater or the Uv from the lamps – this is an additional important safety consideration. Finally, as the Uv chambers are very compact with low headloss, we are able to save on construction and pumping costs.”

HUBER Technology supply stainless steel equipment to treat wastewater. The equipment supplied is suitable for both municipal and industrial applications. The diverse product range contains a wide range of equipment suitable to treat all applications ranging from inlet works to tertiary treatment. The range of products includes: Inlet screens Course screens Storm screens Sludge thickening and dewatering

Units C&D Brunel Park Bumpers Farm Ind. Est. Chippenham Wiltshire SN14 6NQ

Sludge screening

Tel: 01249 765000 Email: hr@huber.co.uk Website: www.HUBER.co.uk

Membrane Filtration Disc Filters All products are customised to suit individual site requirements and speciﬁcations and can be supplied complete with control panels.

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New generation actuation from AUMA

AUMA’s Generation .2 multi-turn actuator features flexible design for an adaptable advantage

In a landmark initiative for the actuation industry, AUMA, the specialist in modular electric actuators for the water industry, launched a new Generation .2 multi-turn range. The SA 07.2 – 16.2 actuator series and AC 01.2 controls developed by AUMA are designed to cater for existing market needs, and next generation requirements. A number of enhanced features have been introduced and functionality of the range has been expanded. Proven design principles of AUMA’s adaptable actuator solutions have been retained and the Generation .2 devices are fully compatible with the company’s previous products. Growth of the company, which has supplied water and wastewater schemes for over forty years, has been reflected in investment in a purpose-built building for AUMA’s UK subsidiary: to accommodate expansion, the 1,200 square metre facility provides double the capacity of AUMA Actuators Ltd’s previous building. AUMA - specialist providers of modular electric actuators. AUMA UK forms part of the global AUMA organisation.

Tel: +44 (0) 1275 871141 Email: mail@auma.co.uk

www.auma.com

BERSoN laUNcHES compacT cyclopS Uv dISINFEcTIoN SySTEm New compact system has 35% smaller footprint Uv disinfection specialist Berson has launched the Cyclops, its compact new single-ended Uv disinfection system. With a 35% smaller footprint than Berson’s larger InLine Uv systems, on which it is based, it can be installed in tight spaces or where piping is mounted close to a wall, such as ground water treatment stations or mobile disinfection units. The single-ended design also means the Cyclops is operator-friendly and can be maintained without requiring any tools: changing a Uv lamp takes just two minutes; replacing a quartz tube only takes five minutes; while replacing the entire interior (including the wiper) can be completed in only 15 minutes. Instead of using screws, all connections utilise snap connectors, while high pressure wing nuts

replace conventional nuts, allowing handtightening. Both of these features simplify and dramatically speed up routine maintenance. In addition, the wiper is not fitted with a magnet, which prevents iron accumulation. Instead of using a magnet, the wiper has a position indicator sensor mounted on the outside.

about Berson Berson (www.bersonuv.com) is a Uv disinfection specialist based in the Netherlands, with installations worldwide. The company manufactures Uv disinfection systems for municipal drinking water, wastewater and reuse applications. Berson is one of the few nonGerman Uv system suppliers capable of providing a complete range of Uv systems with capacities between 10 – 10,000 m3/hour, certified to the

newest German DvGW* norm, W294, Parts 1, 2 & 3 – the highest standard currently possible in the world. The company’s Uv systems are also validated to the UvDGM** and NWRI*** (for reuse applications) in the USA and Canada.

* DVGW (German Technical and Scientific Association for Gas and Water) is the body responsible for industry selfregulation in the German water and gas and water supply industry and its technical rules are the basis for safety and reliability. ** USEPA UV Disinfection Guidance Manual (UVDGM). The validation certifies the use of the systems for the Long Term 2 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule (LT2ESWTR). *** National Water Research Institute (www.nwri-usa. org) / American Water Works Research Foundation (www.waterresearchfoundation.org).

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Vi sit us CH St AM an @ ST d AQ ER 0 DA 3. 50 UA M 1s TE t - 9, H 4th all CH NO 3 VE

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Low Pressure Amalgam and Medium Pressure UV Systems for Municipal Water Treatment From small scale industrial applications to large water treatment works and fully integrated PLC controlled UV packages atg UV Technology can offer a range of UV disinfection / treatment solutions to suit any application. As industry experts, atg UV can offer standard Low Pressure, Low Pressure Amalgam and high power Medium Pressure UV systems. Additionally atg UV also offer bespoke ultraviolet disinfection / treatment systems offering clients an individually tailored service to solve the most complex of disinfection problems with ﬂows ranging from a few litres per hour to over 5,000 m3/hr in a single high output low footprint UV disinfection system.

atg UV Technology have been providing UV treatment equipment and packages for 30 years and have provided solutions to some of the world’s leading brands. Municipal clients include; Anglian Water, Southern Water, Surrey & East Sutton Water, Three Valleys Veolia, Welsh Water, and Yorkshire Water. Industrial Clients include; Coca-Cola, Heineken, Nestle, Shell, Total, BP, Texaco, Siemens, Proctor and Gamble, and Royal Caribbean to name but a few. atg UV’s series of Low Pressure and Low Pressure Amalgam UV systems deliver the highest quality and most reliable performance available. These types of systems have been serving a variety of industry sectors successfully for many years.

STATE-OF-THE-ART

ULTRAVIOLET Water Treatment Systems

Drinking Water Waste Water Process & Industrial Pharmaceuticals TOC Reduction Offshore (ATEX) Marine & Ballast Water Horticulture Aquaculture Swimming & Leisure Building Services US EPA Validation

The Low Pressure system design offers high efﬁciency, ideal for use in smaller scale applications, although larger scale Amalgam systems and multi-lamp low pressure UV systems are also available.

The atg UV Technology range includes: -

Standard Low pressure UV systems Low pressure amalgam UV systems 800 watt low pressure UV systems Medium pressure UV systems Capacities from <1 to >5,000 m3/hr. 3rd Party Validated - US EPA UVDGM

Municipal applications include: - Drinking Water Systems - DWI UV system upgrades - Waste Water & Final Efﬂuent treatment - Advanced Digestion Applications - Advanced Oxidation Applications - Water Reuse & Grey Water Reuse - Rain Water Harvesting

atg UV Technology’s Medium Pressure UV systems have provided many industries with solutions to large scale and complex disinfection demands successfully for many years. With market leading technology atg UV’s range of traditional and in-line Medium Pressure Ultraviolet systems have provide the beneﬁts of a high-output UV system in the most economical package available.

Pictured above: atg UV mobile containerised UV disinfection/ treatment plant - 6000 m3/hr

www.atguv.com Tel: 01942 216161 The atg UV design delivers the greatest level of process control, monitoring, and performance across a large range of applications. atg UV have provided systems capable of disinfecting up to 5000 m3/hr with a single high output low footprint UV disinfection system. UV packages linking treatment chambers together in either series or parallel to accommodate larger flows are also supplied by atg UV Technology. atg UV’s large flow UV packages include drinking water, waste water and offshore well injection and pipeline packages. Specifications that include: validation, high dose, low transmittance, high temperature fluids, low temperature fluids, and reliable large-scale disinfection are all catered for by the atg UV Medium Pressure UV range.

For further information please call atg UV Technical Sales on tel: 01942 216161 / www.atguv.com

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17/11/11 14:24:32

Private Sewers

Phill Mills Director, Policy Consulting Network Ltd President, South West Area, Institute of Water

It is now over a month since the WaSCs ‘inherited’ around 230,000 extra kilometres of private sewers and lateral drains - a massive 70%+ increase on their then network. So how did it all go on transfer day – 1 October – and what has happened since? And what are the outstanding issues still to be resolved? To find out I attended the recent Utility Week / PBBS Roundtable - “Sewer transfer – can water companies manage it without damaging the customer relationship?” Well it seems they passed the first hurdle – the transfer day itself. Certainly the WaSCs’ worst expectations did not materialise and there was no ‘bow wave’ of pent –up demand hitting their call centres over that weekend. Publicity and the weather it seems combined to give the companies a benign first few weeks, with breathing space to review their systems and refine their processes. Sure, the number of blockages increased but for most companies the calls were a lot lower than expected. It seems even the media were not really interested, with very little national coverage.

So what have been the key learning points and what issues still need addressing? Firstly, around 10 million customers are now getting an enhanced level of service at no additional cost, though most of them do not realise it. So whilst this ‘low profile’ transfer may have suited companies last month this lack of awareness will not suit the companies when they eventually recover their costs and water bills inevitably go up –in 2014/15 if the company successfully wins an interim determination in 2013 or 2015/16 onwards if the company waits until PR14. Government has suggested bill increases of between £3 and £14 per year, though these are based on early estimates and do not take account of sewage pumping stations. The lesson here is that companies,

helped by stakeholders, need to continue the communication exercise and ensure the customer base understands the additional commitment being funded by the WaSCs, that will, sooner or later, have to be paid for by customers. The additional problem here is how much information do companies give customers and in what form? How do they improve on what is already out there and capture customers’ interest? Another pending issue is competition. The WaSCs and their contractors have to tread a fine line between providing expected levels of customer service and infringing competition rules by carrying out private repairs that could be undertaken by other, independent contractors, had they been given the opportunity. There seems to be varying legal advice around this, and one WaSC has decided its policy is not to do work on the private side. Other WaSCs are providing a

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FEATURE:Private SewerS Transfer written statement to the customer advising them of their right to seek alternative quotes. However if a WaSC or their contractor is already on site and they are charging market rates, what householder is going to turn them away? It will be instructive to see what short term impact this has on the private drainage sector. Longer term the WaSCs will have more mapping information and will potentially be able to identify customer problems before sending a crew to attend. This unintended impact should therefore decline over time. The big unknown though is the number and condition of private sewage pumping stations that have to be transferred, at the latest, by October 2016. Most companies have done some modest sampling so have estimates of the numbers. However finding them all could prove difficult, without help from customers. . There are though differing legal views on what has to be done and there are real issues about land ownership and access. Somewhat bizarrely, whilst the pumping stations will transfer to the WaSCs, transfer of the land on which they sit or the access to them is not covered in the legislation. Companies will therefore have to enter into negotiations with the existing owners or use their compulsory purchase powers. In some cases they may have to completely relocate the pumping station.

The question is - does Ofwat really want the companies to take on the pumping stations before 2016? The impression is that any expenditure should be back-end loaded. However the companies could adopt in a more controlled and managed manner if they started to take on pumping stations now. But even if they did, one company suggested it would be adopting 1 pumping station every day; another said it could be up to 5 or 6 a day. The Environment Agency has set out its view in its Regulatory Position Statement* relating to the transfer. In the particular case of sewage discharges from a transferred gravity sewer caused by a failure of a (still) private pumping station, the EA will initially allocate responsibility and any enforcement to the owner of that (private) asset. However if there are recurring incidents then the EA suggests the WaSC should consider early adoption of the asset and correction of the problem. The WaSCs are therefore potentially caught between opposing expectations of two of their regulators.

suit Ofwat’s strategy, would customers be happy, having already seen their bills increase? And would the supply chain be able to cope with the level of improvements then required? So transfer of the pipework has taken place, successfully. But what will call and workload volumes look like over a wet winter? Transfer of other assets still has to take place. How and when will they be adopted? What will customers reaction be to bill increases when they come? And what can companies do in the meantime to improve customer understanding of the benefits that they are going to have to pay for in a few years time. October 1st 2011 was just the start of the transfer process. The end is still a long way off. * Transferred Private Sewers – Regulatory position statement (Environment Agency, September 2011)

http://publications.environment-agency. gov.uk/PDF/GEHO0911BUED-E-E.pdf

The other issue is about managing customer expectations. If customers are incurring maintenance charges and increasing energy bills, they presumably would want the WaSC to take on the pumping station sooner rather than later. And whilst delaying adoption of all the ‘bad’ pumping stations until October 2016 might

If it only serves one property this sewage pumping station remains private. If it serves two or more then it will transfer to the WaSC. How do they get access?

A private sewage pumping station from an early WaSC survey. Will its condition have improved?

In many cases maintenance of pumping stations will be minimal and asset condition poor

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17/11/11 14:24:37

Focus on Drainage By Roger Bulkeley of the UK Drainage Network (UKDN)

The Private Sewers Transfer (PST) is part of the Government’s strategy to resolve a long-standing anomaly in the way drains and sewers are maintained in the UK.

Because the upkeep of public sewers and drains is a major part of the WaSCs’ remit, they tend to be well-maintained, and it is hoped that by transferring private drainage the PST will serve to standardise maintenance and have a positive effect on the overall state of the UK sewerage system. However, the private drains for which the water and sewerage companies have now taken responsibility differ greatly from those that they are used to dealing with.

The two faces of drainage Private drains and the public sewer system have several key differences. First, private drains are mainly small in diameter, meaning that blockage

situated next to housing. Proximity to gardens means that root ingress is more likely, and an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ mentality amongst private owners often means that issues with drainage are not addressed until the problem becomes critical and major repair work needs to be undertaken. Moreover, the small diameters involved combined with a lack of public awareness of the ways in which drainage damage can be prevented, for example by not disposing of inappropriate items such as nappies, sanitary towels and fats, means that problems in private sewers are far more common than in public sewers, and frequently only attended to when they reach the ‘critical’ stage.

Meeting the challenge One of the key challenges affecting WaSCs will be how they adapt to the changed scope of the drainage problems they will be dealing with, and the different maintenance techniques that will be required of them post-transfer. Previously, most of the maintenance work undertaken by the WaSCs was in the public domain, and required ‘heavy duty’ work to be undertaken, such as digging up roads with large excavators.

levels are likely to be higher than on the existing public network. In some parts of the country, the presence of pitch fibre drains which were used from the late fifties until the seventies as a cheaper alternative to clay pipes can also cause complications. This material is particularly susceptible to deformation because of its low structural strength and due to the frequently inappropriate installation techniques prevalent during the years where they were popular. This means that these pipes are particularly prone to high levels of blockages and, while re-rounding and lining can be an effective short-term solution, in many instances largescale replacement is the only real solution.

Now, much of the work will be on a smaller scale, but potentially more complicated, and one of the major complications will be that fact that work on private sewers is likely to be a far more delicate operation than work on public sewers. Investigations are being carried on a much smaller scale, and therefore require different skills and different equipment. Perhaps even more importantly, the WaSCs will have to develop an additional set of ‘soft skills’ in

order to work successfully with private occupants of homes. Liaising with customers in the at best inconvenient and at worst distressing position of having drainage problems in their home requires careful customer services training, and, of course, a large part of the challenge will be restoring the area in and around a home – be it a garden, patio or conservatory to its original state. For the WaSCs, upholding customer satisfaction is no minor consideration, as volume of customer complaints is one of the key metrics used by Ofwat to regulate the industry under the Service Incentive Mechanism (SIM). To adjust to the demands of this new sphere, many water companies are partnering with companies with a great deal of experience in this field, such as UKDN.

Impact on Industry There was little coverage of the PST in the mainstream media, and as a result there seems to be low levels of consumer awareness . Our experiences so far show that the volumes of calls to WaSCs have not risen to the extent originally forecast. Indeed, there is an argument that it is actually home insurers who will see a significant upshift in demand in the future when the public gradually realises that they are often covered for drainage problems under their Homes Building Policy, which covers ‘damage to underground services’,

Uncertainty For water industry, the priority will continue to work hard to adjust to its new remit and remain poised to respond to any significant spikein demand for services, just how significant this demand will be, remains to be seen.

Drainage problems in private sewers and drains are also exacerbated by the fact they are typically

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17/11/11 14:48:57

FEATURE:Private SewerS Transfer

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Achieve legislative compliance without the risk of penalties.

DRAINBLOCK BAGâ&#x201E;˘ â&#x20AC;&#x201C; For remotely sealing off disused drains or sewers

Steve Vick International Ltd, specialists in pipe sealant techniques in the gas industry, has introduced a new product for the waste water market. Known as DRAINBLOCK BAGâ&#x201E;˘, the system allows a disused lateral to be sealed off, remotely, at the point where it joins the downstream drain or sewer.

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/instrumentation or email moreinstrumentation@gb.abb.com ref. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;legislationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.

The system uses a twin fabric bag containing an expanding polyurethane resin foam, and is based on a technique which the company initially developed some 25 years ago for use in the gas distribution industry. The major advantage of the DRAINBLOCK BAGâ&#x201E;˘ is that it is positioned from an access point up to 15 metres away from the joint with the main. This avoids the need to excavate in the highway â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a particular benefit at busy junctions and other sensitive locations. DRAINBLOCK BAGâ&#x201E;˘ prevents ground water from entering sewers, stops the passage of odour and discourages the movement of rats and other vermin. The entire lateral can be filled behind the bag, if required, thus avoiding unauthorised connection to clean water drainage systems. DRAINBLOCKâ&#x201E;˘ BAG starts to act as a seal against water and odours in approximately 30 minutes depending on the ambient temperature. A full cure will be achieved in 12 hours. DRAINBLOCKâ&#x201E;˘ BAG is designed for use on clay, concrete and plastic pipes up to and including 6â&#x20AC;?/150mm diameter. Available in kit form, it is ideal for use by Council contractors, water and sewerage companies, and facilities management and maintenance teams. DRAINBLOCKâ&#x201E;˘ BAG has been tested to resist a head of water up to 5 metres in height and is approved by WRc. It meets the requirements of The Drain Repair Book â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 2nd Edition and the Civil Engineering Specification for the Water Industry â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 6th Edition.

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STONBURY

Surge vessel refurbishments Recently Stonbury have experienced an increase in the number of enquiries relating to the refurbishment of surge vessels. Surge vessels due to their nature of construction and use are classed as pressure vessels. Under the Pressure Systems Safety Regulations 2000 such vessels are required by law to be inspected by a competent person at regular intervals. This is to assess the structural integrity of the vessel and condition of the welds and internal coating of the vessels. Many of the enquiries received by Stonbury relate to vessels where the original small inspection hatches were designed solely to allow a limited visual inspection from outside the vessel. The Pressure Systems Safety Regulations 2000 now require that a competent person thoroughly inspect the inside of such vessels for defects. This can pose significant problems for the client with regard to providing safe access and egress for the inspections when the vessel has a very small inspection hatch. A further problem arises if the condition of the internal welds, the steel walls or the internal lining are such that repairs and refurbishments have to be carried out before the vessel can receive certification to continue in use. One option is to replace the old surge vessels with a newly manufactured unit that meets the current regulations with an access hatch of a minimum size of 600mm diameter. This will ensure future compliance to the Pressure Systems Safety Regulations 2000. Whilst this approach has its’ merits there is a second option that Stonbury can offer which, on many occasions, provides a more convenient engineering solution.

Increase size of access hatch to meet current regulations There are many vessels where the existing access can be increased in size or a new regulation sized opening cut into the wall of the vessel. This is achieved as follows:n Visit the site to take ultrasonic thickness readings in the location of the proposed manway n Produce computer design calculations to PD 5500 Cat 2 to prove that the new manway and compensation pads will be acceptable for service n Fabricate the new manway and compensation pads and deliver to site n Cut the new opening into the vessel and weld the compensation pads and new cover frame into place n Fit the new manway together with a swinging arm davit which supports the cover when opened n All new welds MPI tested

n Carry out Hydrotest under supervision of third party inspector

Benefits of increasing size of existing hatches n Cost and downtime saving n There are many surge vessels that have been installed in buildings or underground chambers which have been constructed around the vessels. To replace the vessel may require an element of demolition and reconstruction work to such structures. This can be very inconvenient not to mention expensive and time consuming n It avoids the need to “disconnect” the vessel from all the associated pipework, valves and controls thereby eliminating a client engineering involvement in the refurbishment works n Reduction in Environmental aspects Sustainability - see the SSF scoring system below

Stonbury Sustainability Factor for Surge Vessels n A – Minimise waste at every opportunity through recycling. By encouraging the client to adopt the approach of increasing the size of the manway of the current opening Stonbury ensured that waste and materials were kept to minimum. SSF Score 5 n B – Minimising the use of energy. By not having to fabricate an expensive replacement surge vessel and preventing the demolition/ reconstruction of surrounding structure ensured that the use of energy has been minimised. SSF Score 5 n C – Not to pollute the environment. For the same reasons above pollution of the environment has been kept to a minimum. SSF Score 3 n D - Preserve & enhance biodiversity. Replacement of the existing tank with a new surge vessel would take several weeks of work on site against an enlargement of the manway that would take days hence reducing the potential exposure to environmental impacts whilst temporary arrangements are in place to protect flow surges. SSF Score 2

n E - Conserve use of natural resources. Minimise the use of steel and steel related materials by not fabricating replacement surge vessel. SSF Score 4 n F - Respect people and local environment. The effects are minimal since the surge vessels are normally located within clients premises. SSF Score 2 Using Stonbury definition and scoring scheme for Sustainability the project was awarded a SSF of 21 (Stonbury Sustainability Factor)

Conclusion Stonbury’s approach to ensure future safe access into surge vessels where restricted manways have created problems for water companies not only gives a valuable financial solution, but also has the added benefit of offering the client a sustainable alternative.

Internal Coatings Systems The increased size of opening means that access to repair any defective welds and renew internal coatings can be carried out in complete safety. Irrespective of whether the vessel needs an increased hatch size, the vessel itself may require internal and possibly external refurbishment of the existing steel protective coatings. The normal specification for a new coating includes full grit blasting to remove failed linings and achieve SA 2.5 bright steel surface to receive a DWI approved high build solvent free system. This will protect the full interior of the vessel for up to 25 years. This can be repeated thereby continuing the safe operational life of the vessel for some considerable time to come.

External Coatings Systems When a surge vessel is located outside the external paint systems can be attacked by airborne pollution, rain and ultraviolet rays. This problem can be overcome with the removal of the failed paint by blast cleaning or powered hand tools depending on the severity of the paint failure. This is followed with the application of a high build solvent free epoxy coating with a UV resistant polyurethane finish to any colour. This system will also provide a minimum expected service life of 25 years.

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SERVICE RESERVOIRS

WATER TOWERS

WWTW

INSPECTION, CLEANING & CHLORINATING

CORROSION PROTECTION

STONBURY 28 YEARS AS MARKET LEADERS IN THE REFURBISHMENT OF WATER RETAINING STRUCTURES & ASSOCIATED ASSETS SERVICE RESERVOIR & WATER TOWER REFURB - STEEL TANK REFURB - SEWAGE WORKS REFURB SPECIALIST COATINGS - CONCRETE REPAIR - INSPECTION SURVEYS - CLEANING & CHLORINATION CORROSION PROTECTION TO PIPES & PIPE BRIDGES - SECURITY WORKS INC LPC4 ACCESS COVERS DESIGN & INSTALLATION OF ACCESS LADDERS, HANDRAILS & WALKWAYS - EU HYGIENE TRAINING North Office: Unit 4, Phoenix Enterprise Park, Grovehill Road, Beverley, E.Yorkshire, HU17 0JG t 01482 881198 e enquiries@stonbury.co.uk South Office: 187c High Street, Cranfield, Bedfordshire, MK43 0JB t 01234 750924 e enquiries@stonbury.co.uk

www.stonbury.com

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Your global partner for water and sewage TALIS UK, based in Birmingham, has a rich history of servicing the water industry both in the UK, Ireland and international markets. We are recognised as a key supplier of connection systems for all water-related needs. UK companies Atlantic Plastics, Erhard and CIS have an extensive range of products for a variety of mains and service pipe applications. The British company’s products stand for certified quality and many years of know-how. Applications encompass water transmission from the reservoir to the customer’s front door, as well as water supply and sewage disposal for customers in the industrial and public sectors. TALIS UK manufactures and supplies all types of valves, hydrants and fittings and offers a design and after sales service package. As part of TALIS, Atlantic Plastics is benefitting from the close relationship that comes from being part of a more centralised and customer focused organisation. The business now benefits from the continuing expansion of the range in addition to wide stock holding in the UK of group products; including brands such as Erhard, Belgicast and Bayard. If you have a product gap or a problem to solve that requires material selection, pipe work sizing scheme design, these are all questions TALIS UK are pleased to help find the right and cost effective solution.

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Latest at TALIS 46 dismantling joints for pumping stations in Abu Dhabi

Boundary boxes ATLANTIC PLASTICS has many years of

UNIJOINT is supplying a total of 46 dismantling joints for the pumping stations Shuweihat II and Mirfa.

experience in the design and manufacture of meter boxes for the UK and international water industry. This experience has enabled ATLANTIC PLASTICS to develop an advanced range of meter boxes designed around the needs of speciﬁers, installers and meter readers.

Service ﬁttings ATLANTIC PLASTICS offers a comprehensive range of valve and ﬁttings for all types of mains and services pipes from 16mm to over

Atlantic Plastics meets top quality standards

2m diameter. The products are well proven

Standard ISO -9001:2008 is an

over many years of use and, where applicable,

internationally recognised label

materials used comply with BS6920 for use

for continuous adherence to high

with potable water.

production and quality standards. TALIS member Atlantic Plastics is

Valves ERHARD, BAYARD and BELGICAST are wellknown specialists for butterﬂy valves, gate valves and control valves. They all supply a full range of equiptment designed to cover all requirements, from the production of fresh water and water supply to domestic metering units and waste water disposal.

now able to boast this important distinction for itself.

Addition to the TALIS family The TALIS Group has acquired another established brand: Israeli valve manufacturer RAPHAEL has been the Group‘s tenth powerful brand. With

for more product information please visit

talis-group.com

its broad product portfolio, RAPHAEL has been at the spearhead of the valve industry in Israel for over 50 years.

TALIS UK Edison Road Hams Hall Distribution Park Coleshill, Birmingham B46 1AB United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0) 1675 437900 Fax: +44 (0) 1675 437909 Email: phurn@talis-group.com Web: www.talis-group.com

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ATA Recruitment Ltd

Recruitment Reality Check – Consideration for Client and Candidate! Client expectations that they can offer lower post-recession salaries can be a risky strategy to follow. As quality candidates have realised that they can hold the power of influence across many sectors, especially those where the skills shortages continue to dominate the recruitment landscape! Recruitment expert Phil Crew from ATA Recruitment explains the post recession shift in the market place. The fight to attract and retain quality talent within the water sector and engineering market as a whole is well and truly underway. And despite the recession, there is still a genuine shortage of quality engineering candidates. However some employers within the water sector are guilty of making the unfounded assumption that the recent recession means you can offer lower salaries. Phil explains: “We talk to clients every day that are under the impression that one result of the recession means that they will be able to pick up highly skilled individuals at much lower rates. But this isn’t always the case! “In the first instance you often need to tempt this talent away from their current employers, employers that have toughed out the recession and probably gained the loyalty of the employee. You should also be prepared for employers desperate to retain employees to make counter offers!” “Counter offers are a very common and every day feature within recruitment and it’s likely that current employers will try to entice talent to stay with the promise of higher remuneration or a new position. However candidates should be aware that

accepting this offer could prove to be a poor long term career decision.”

recruitment partners that truly understand both their needs and long-term objectives.

ATA’s advice for employers is simple! If you genuinely want the best skill available working within your business then consider their “worth” very carefully. Offering below market value salaries won’t entice top talent; in fact it may prove more costly in the long-term as your struggle to attract individuals to your organisation.

Phil concludes: “At ATA we provide a consultative approach, listening to what our clients require and because we are experts in the market place we can advise them on the realistic nature of their expectations and develop a recruitment methodology that will deliver what they need, first time!

Offer a fair and attractive package and work on building your brand within the water sector as an established employer of choice. This will ensure that you build a long-term recruitment strategy that will attract quality talent that will want to work for you. Creating employee loyalty and improving your retention of staff.

“For candidates it is important that they also dedicate some time to working with their recruitment partner to identify what is truly important to them. At ATA we manage the application process thoroughly, so that candidates have realistic expectations in terms of packages and the types of organisations that we believe they can work with from the outset. There is no point in wasting a client or candidate’s time if they aren’t a true match moving forward.”

The seasoned quality candidates are increasingly using this war for their talent to help build careers rather than settle for short-term financial gains. Whilst counter offers may sound tempting, there are certain pitfalls that an employee should be aware of. Counter offers in most situations are empty attempts to resolve the situation. Employees are often bribed to stay and by staying, they could simply be providing the company with plenty of time to find a replacement.w

www.ata-recruitment.co.uk

Employers and candidates should work with

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TRANSFER OF PRIVATE SEWERS

Scan the QR code with your phone...

A project from Flexseal and Fernco Environmental...

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Specialist water courses

for your professional development Cranfield University’s Water Science Institute is recognised internationally for its excellence in teaching, research and consultancy. We offer professionally accredited Masters courses and short courses with a proven track record for enhancing careers. Courses include: • MSc Water and Wastewater Engineering • MSc Water Management • Biological Water Processes for Water Treatment 16-20 January 2012 • Activated Sludge 17 January 2012 Visit our website for a full list of courses available.

T: +44 (0)1234 754086 E: appliedsciences@cranfield.ac.uk www.cranfield.ac.uk/sas/wwt

www.cranfield.ac.uk/openday

instituteofwater.org.uk

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17/11/11 14:25:31

CAPITA RESOURCING

Water is an essential resource…

so are your people… Recruiting the right people with the appropriate skills at the right time is essential to ensuring the successful completion of projects and programmes of work. The ability to consistently achieve this in a cost effective manner requires specialist expertise and dedicated support. Our recruitment and training services deliver an optimum approach to efficiency whilst enhancing the quality of hire and supporting employee learning and development needs throughout the employment lifecycle. Given the pace of change in today’s marketplace, we understand that organisations need training &

development partners that are business focused, are able to support the company in meeting its strategic objectives cost effectively, are agile to adapt to changes in direction and can enable staff to meet new workplace demands. Successful organisations are constantly looking at ways to improve staff development & retention to meet their business needs. From delivery of skill and competency training courses to performance management modules; from team building to talent identification and leadership development interventions, Capita has an extensive and flexible range of services to meet your unique staff and organisational goals.

Capita Resourcing is a leading provider of Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) and Learning & Development (L&D) solutions to the Private and Public sector. For further details concerning how Capita can support your Talent Acquisition and Management agenda please contact Jennifer Dodd, Marketing Manager on Jennifer.Dodd@capita.co.uk or visit our website, www.capitaresourcing.co.uk

Capita Resourcing in partnership with Severn Trent Water are regularly recruiting for the following: n Senior Process Designers

n Network Controllers

n Programme Engineers

n Solutions Managers

n Electrical Engineers

n Senior Solutions Engineers

n Senior Hydrogeologists

n Process Designers

n Hydrologists

n Water Treatment Process Advisors

Engineering Programme Managers

About the Client Severn Trent Water serves over eight million customers across the heart of the UK. Every day, Severn Trent Water supply their customers with around two billion litres of drinking water.That’s enough to fill more than 1,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools. At the same time, they treat around 2.7 billion litres of wastewater per day, from communities and businesses right across their region. Severn Trent Water pride themselves on their commitment to delivering an excellent service to their customers and aspire to be the UK’s leading water services company. If you have the talent to help them to achieve this, we want to hear from you.

To see a comprehensive list of all of our live roles across the Severn Trent Water business visit our dedicated website – www.stwater.co.uk or alternatively contact the recruitment Team on 0845 601 0659 - Option 2.

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WaTER INdUSTRy

Rising Stars

As part of the Institute of Water's ongoing work to nurture rising talent in the water sector it has teamed up with the main utility magazine Utility Week to celebrate and reward eight young members who have shown both the potential and an appetite to progress in the water industry. as part of this ‘Rising Stars’ Initiative the following young members have been selected and invited to attend the largest annual utility event, the Utility Industry achievement awards dinner at grosvenor House Hotel, london, on Thursday 15 december: kath ayres, United Utilities Niall darrant, Black & veatch

Speaking about the initiative chief Executive lynn cooper said: “These eight people have been selected because they have made good use of one or more of the opportunities available to members; they are more likely to ask what they can do for the Institute than what the Institute can do for them. This is a great way to recognise and reward their initiative and also to challenge them to make the most of this new opportunity, available only to a handful of members each year. I look forward to following their progress during the coming year and I hope they rise to the challenge by becoming future leaders in the water sector.”

paul Holton, South East Water lucy Johnson, Primayer

Janet Wood, Editor of Utility Week adds:

ashley moule, Dwr Cymru Welsh Water

“The utility industry is keen to nurture new talent and take on board innovation and it’s great to recognise these ‘rising stars’ in water companies who are doing just that. I look forward to meeting them at the Utility Industry Achievement Awards and I hope they will find it a useful and enjoyable celebration of the industry’s – and their - achievements”.

craig murray, Scottish Water Horizons cigolene Nguyen, Dwr Cymru Welsh Water Tim Wagstaff, Essex & Suffolk Water

Accompanied by Roger Harrington (Managing Director, Sembcorp Bournemouth Water) and peter Simpson (Managing Director, Anglian Water) The ‘Rising Stars’ will be encouraged to network and make best use of the occasion.

As part of the initiative the ‘Rising Stars’ will be asked to undertake tasks designed to help them develop and widen their experience; and each will be asked to interview an Industry Regulator for a series of Journal features next year. This is a great opportunity for a limited number of people and the Institute is hoping to repeat the initiative next year as it looks to develop younger talent and nurture employees new to the industry. You can read about some of the Rising Stars and what they have gained from this initial experience in the next issue of the Journal.

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17/11/11 14:25:41

Harnessing Hydropower in Norway and Africa By Claire Chapman

Claire Chapman is an environmental engineer for Scottish Water based in Edinburgh. A member since 2007 many of you may remember Claire speaking at our 2009 Annual Conference on her WaterAid supporter’s trip to Uganda the previous year. In April 2011 Claire was awarded a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Scholarship to visit a series of hydropower plants in Africa and Europe. Such fellowships are awarded to British citizens from all walks of life to travel overseas, to bring back knowledge and best practice for the benefit of others in their UK professions and communities. The aim of Claire’s overseas travel was to: n investigate the operation and maintenance of hydro sites; n to review environmental licensing requirements; n to compare and contrast the effectiveness of hydro schemes, to discuss the carbon saving and environmental pros and cons of these plants and finally; n to see examples on the ground of all types of hydro projects. Claire spent 10 days in Norway followed by a month in Africa, visiting South Africa, Lesotho, Zambia and Tanzania. She met local operators and researched environmental sensitivities and how they have been dealt with. Claire shares her experiences with us below.

Norway I spent time with the NVE, which is the Norwegian water and energy regulator (it licenses water abstractions and hydro).With no feed in tariff to skew things, small hydro is invested in purely on economics. This is why the NVE issue licences for 60 years, before they may reassess them. Even then, the NVE is not allowed to change the reservoir head data, but can only request more discharge during the dry season. This has some big repercussions. The older licences have no compensation flow requirements at all, and for some river schemes, such as the Glomma River, near Oslo (the biggest catchment in Norway) – which has around 20 hydro schemes over around 20 km (low head, big flows) – this has meant migratory fish don’t stand a chance. Consequently the regulator has focused on increasing populations of perch and pike, which will thrive in these systems, rather than encouraging migratory fish with installing fish ladders. This is quite a different viewpoint from the Scottish regulator. Another environmental problem the regulator is grappling with is the eel, which is critically

endangered, and is continually getting killed by turbines. The eel migrates along a river system by swimming down at the bottom, under water, whilst migratory fish swim up over the top. So any mitigation put in to assist migratory fish has no benefit to the eel, and dead eels are a real problem. The total annual energy production in Norway is 125 TWh (terawatt hours). Of that, a vast 75 TWh can be stored in reservoirs (i.e. 7 months’ worth). It is because of the enormous size of these reservoirs that Norway is now selling its Green Battery services to the UK and mainland Europe, offering energy storage to cover fluctuations in wind supply. Although there is not as much opportunity in Britain as in Norway, there is some scope to develop the existing pumped storage in Scotland.

South Africa I visited several pumped storage sites in South Africa. Pumped storage is a method of producing electricity to supply peak demands by moving water between reservoirs at different elevations and it often involves mixing water from different catchments. I visited a site where this was the case. No flow is allowed from the lower dam to minimise the risk of contamination of fish from one catchment to the other. This seemed to be an effective control mechanism that might be used elsewhere. Pumped storage may provide a solution to Scotland disposing of excess wind energy. The University of Pretoria is being funded by the South African Water Research Commission to develop a pilot site on a downstream pressurised water supply pipe. This is a full scale pilot, using a 16 kW crossflow turbine on the inflow to a break pressure tank. Water enters the tank at 100l/s, with 50m of head, so the site makes a suitable trial to market the concept to municipalities and water boards to encourage them to do likewise. A new pressure reducing valve (PRV) has been added in as a security before the turbine, together with a bypass. Any excess energy generated will go via a heat sink to the water in the reservoir.

This might be a way of minimising freezing pipes in Scotland.

Lesotho I visited the Muela Hydropower Plant operated by the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority .A key environmental sensitivity that the project has had to deal with is the Maluti minnow, the world’s smallest freshwater fish. The minnow is only found in one of the feeder catchment dams. The cost effective solution has been to install screens on the outlets of the feeder tributaries of the dam, to prevent larger fish entering the tributaries, thus providing protection for the minnow for breeding at least in the tributaries.

Zambia In Zambia I was the guest of ZESCO (the Zambian electricity supply company), which has a hydro capacity of around 1700 MW, with around 95 % of the country’s power coming from hydro. A serious environmental problem on the hydro plants in Zambia, and at Kafue Gorge hydro plant in particular, is water hyacinth (Eichhorniacrassipes). The hyacinth clogs the intake screens and in low flow periods, can stop all water flow completely to the plant. The situation is now managed by manually dredging the buffer dams, and there are mini-mountains of hyacinth drying out all around the dam, waiting until they are sterile enough to be used for fertilizer. At Kafue Gorge hydro station, ZESCO replaced their old transformers some years back. These contained Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCBs) which are now banned as they are dangerously carcinogenic. Furthermore, a contractor had spilled some drums containing PCB oils. All the contaminated material was collected into drums and is now stored in rusting drums with the contents starting to leak out again. The drums are waiting to be exported to a suitable waste site (not available in Zambia). It seems like the drums are trapped in legal red tape – a real tragedy for a company trying to do the right thing.

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FEATURE:HAVE YOUR SAY 1

4 2

Tanzania There is currently a power crisis in Tanzania, with the drought in East Africa impacting Tanzania too. The last two rainy seasons have been poor, and the hydro header dams are at critical levels. The country has been load shedding since the beginning of this year, around 300 MW short on average. Consequently TANESCO (Tanzanian Energy Supply Company) are under political pressure, and are currently commissioning two new thermal plants in Dar es Salaam. I found no examples of Cleaner Development Mechanism funding used for hydro sites in Zambia or Tanzania, and yet both of these countries have opportunities for further hydro development, in particular in Tanzania, where the swing to thermal power is noticeable. This is because diesel-

powered thermal plants are being installed, as they are cheaper and quicker to bring on-stream. I visited derelict hydro sites in Tanzania that need investment â&#x20AC;&#x201C; surely this would be a better environmental solution in the long term!

Summary The Scottish government is busy laying out its plans for becoming a Hydro Nation. I hope that my findings will assist Scotland and the UK in moving firmly towards more hydro power, confident in the knowledge that it is possible to develop hydro whilst protecting the environment. The full report detailing my findings and any recommendations, both for the operating companies and for the UK, in terms of implementing environmental good practices,

Pylon located in the river bed below hydro buffer dam, outside Oslo, Norway.

Claire looking down on the building site of the Ingula Pumped Storage scheme (1332 MW capacity), South Africa.

Inlet to break pressure tank with a 16 kW crossflow turbine, Pretoria, South Africa.

Claire Walking down adjacent to the 107m high penstock feeding the power house at Victoria Falls Hydro station (108 MW).

can be found on the Winston Churchill website:

http://bit.ly/nGAZs1.

And finally, for those of you that have a burning idea you want to research, may I endorse the Winston Churchill Travel Foundation. They will support virtually any idea for travel, with the proviso that it can bring benefits to the UK on your return.

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www.feralco.com 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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GA Valves are manufacturers and distributors of valves to the water & sewage industries. Including gates, checks, air valves & miscellaneous valves. UK distributors and Technical Support of Dorot Flowcontrol valves.

Paul Coleman ACII Kingsbridge Risk Solutions Limited Kingsbridge House, Wargrave Road Twyford, Berkshire RG10 9NY Email: paul.coleman@kibl.co.uk Telephone: 0118 960 2400 Fax: 0118 934 9764 Mobile: 07917 386207 Web: water.kibl.co.uk / www.kibl.co.uk

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.

VAG are established market leaders in water, wastewater handling solutions. Think twice before you invest in your next ďŹ&#x201A;ow control solution VAG Valves UK Limited St James Business Centre, Linwood Road, Linwood, Scotland, United Kingdom PA3 3AT T: 0141 848 1181 F: 0141 848 1187 E: sales@vagvalvesuk.com www.vagvalvesuk.com

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BUSINESSCARDdIREcToRy ECCS Group offers: Hire of butt & electro-fusion plant 63mm -1200mm McElroy TracStars 250 - 1200 For more information contact: Andy Lamb ECCS Group Limited Lower Bathville Armadale EH48 2JS 01501 733335 (office) 07912 084927 andylamb@eccsgroup.co.uk www.eccsgroup.co.uk

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;Recruiting the right people with the right skills within the Water industry is a crucial factor in organisational growth and requires specialist expertise and resources. Let Capita help you ďŹ nd the best candidates.â&#x20AC;? Jennifer Dodd, Marketing Manager T: 01628 408 100 M: 07799 340 791 www.capitaresourcing.co.uk

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17/11/11 14:26:31

President's Day at Bluebell Railway By Steve Youell

The tranquil backdrop of the East Sussex countryside was the setting for the South East Area’s renowned President's Day. Over 90 members and their families arrived at Sheffield Park Railway Station (the start of the Bluebell Railway) to experience a steam train ride on part of the Lewes to East Grinstead line which formed the old London, Brighton & South Coast Railway back in the 1960’s Guests enjoyed refreshments on the platform and watched the train arrive into the station. We boarded the carriages, and the sound of the trains whistle signaled the start of the 9 mile trip to Kingscote Station. At Kingscote Station we disembarked to get an ice cream and explore the surrounding station area. At this point the locomotive un-coupled and went to turn around; this gave an excellent opportunity for the budding photographers and train enthusiasts to gather around the locomotive and examine its workings and even go on board to learn about the running of the train. With the train now re-coupled it returned us to Sheffield Park where we all gathered upstairs in the dining area. We sadly said goodbye to South East Chairperson Catherine Fearon who, after recently moving to Anglian Water, has decided to step down from her role. Catherine, who also held the role Area Secretary, will be missed and the South East Area would like to thank Catherine for all her efforts during her time on the committee. The committee introduced Jim Marshall (Policy

South East Members John Bartrum and Robert Siaens exploring the locomotive & Business Advisor, Water UK) as the new Chairman. Jim’s knowledge and understanding of the water industry coupled with his enthusiasm and drive will ensure that the area builds on the foundations that Catherine has set up.

After lunch we were able to explore the station which included the engine shed, train museum and the surrounding gardens. The Area would like to thank Black & Veatch for sponsoring and organising an excellent day.

Thames Tideway Event Thames Water are in the process of planning and constructing the London Tideway Tunnels: the Lee Tunnel and the Thames Tunnel. They are aimed at substantially reducing the volume of untreated sewage that is discharged from London’s Victorian sewers into the River Thames and its tributary the River Lee. July saw South East Area Members arrive at Black & Veatch’s Head Office in Redhill to hear two presentations, the first by John Greenwood (London Tideway Tunnels Senior Consultant, Thames Water) and the second by Derek Arnold (Design Section Manager, Black & Veatch) on the background of the project, and the different issues and challenges that the project has faced. The Lee Tunnel is designed to capture the flow from the largest combined sewer overflow at Abbey Mills Pumping Station and transfer the flow to Beckton Sewage Treatment Works. This tunnel is now under construction. The proposed Thames Tunnel is being designed to capture or control flows

By Steve Youell

from the 34 most polluting combined sewer overflows that discharge untreated sewage to the River Thames between Acton in the west and Charlton in the east. Currently in the early design phase, the Thames Tunnel is proposed to run approximately 25 kilometres through central London, broadly following the path of the River Thames and the Limehouse Cut to connect with the Lee Tunnel at Abbey Mills. Thames Water is working to identify the sites it will need to construct and operate the Thames Tunnel. Phase one of its public consultation on its preferred route and sites took place between September 2010 and January 2011. Phase two of its public consultation is planned for autumn 2011. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2013/14, for completion in 2020. Our thanks go to John and Derek for the excellent presentations and to Black & Veatch for hosting the event.

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17/11/11 14:26:39

SOUTHEASTAREANEWS

A Day in the Life of a Leakage Technician By Paul Holton

On Friday 30 September South East Area launched an exciting new series of events: ‘A Day in the Life of...’. This series of events has been set up with a view to looking at the day to day jobs that hold the Water Sector together; from Treatment Work Operatives, to Water Quality Samplers and Meter Readers. The South East Area committee are planning to run several ‘A Day in the life of…’ events over the next year to allow members to gain an in-sight into the different jobs that we have often heard of but know little about. The initial response to the first event, ‘A day in the Life of a Leakage Technician,’ was absolutely fantastic; with 45 members and non-members packing into South East Water’s Auditorium in Snodland.

Mike Masters

South East Area sponsors Primayer gave the final presentation. Kevin Brook (Primayer UK Sales Manager) enlightened everyone on some of the newest leakage detection devices and data logging equipment that Primayer have to offer. Kevin explained how Primayer’s data logging devices can be used to support the Data Technician in finding areas for Leakage Technicians to work in and how their leakage detection devices can be used to support the Leakage Technician hone in on the leaks.

Paul Holton (Committee member, event organiser and South East Water Leakage Manager - East) introduced the event and explained how South East Water deals with leakage on a day to day basis. Following introductions, Nigel Hagger (SEW Data Technician) eloquently explained the importance of data and data analysis in finding areas for Leakage Technicians to work in to give them the best chance of finding leaks. Then the floor was handed over to the young, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable Leakage Technicians Andrew Haylor (SEW Leakage Technician) and Farrell Gardner (Hydrosave Leakage Technician). The audience were captivated as Andy and Faz went through all the different methods of leak detection they use; all of the programs that support them; and all of the analysis and work they cover on a day to day basis when trying to find leaks. They explained all aspects of their daily work including: n Checking valves. n Checking data. n Using detection equipment (e.g. a listening stick, correlators, loggers etc). n Dealing with customers and customer leaks.

provide and how they support SEW with meeting their leakage objectives.

All of the presenters answered questions from the audience at the end. Special thanks goes to Keith Hilson (SEW Head of Leakage) as he answered many of the higher level and more complex questions.

What was so clear from their excellent presentation was that the job of a Leakage Detection Technician is not a simple one. It is a job that requires multiple skills to be used every day. Jaime Knight (Hydrosave Regional Operations Manager) had the hard task of following on from this superb presentation. Jaime familiarised the group to Hydrosave (South East Water’s leakage contractor); explaining what services they

It was clear from the high number of questions that the audience had been interested and enthralled by the event. Dr Jim Marshall (Chairman and Water UK Policy and Business Adviser) said: “This first ‘day in the life of…’ event has been a great success. We have all gone away from today’s event knowing so much more about the day to day life of a Leakage Technician and how they pin-point leaks. I cannot wait to attend the next ‘day in the life of…’ event to find out more about other roles in the water industry that get little or no acknowledgment.” Presentations from this event are available to view on the Archived Events section of the website.

This first ‘day in the life of…’ event has been a great success. We have all gone away from today’s event knowing so much more about the day to day life of a Leakage Technician and how they pin-point leaks. Dr Jim Marshall, Chairman and Water UK Policy and Business Adviser

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MIDLANDSAREANEWS

President’s Day Canal Boat Trip Area President Frank Daly invited members and their friends and family to attend his President’s Day at the heart of Birmingham’s historic canal network. By Sarah Williams A canal boat trip through cityscape and countryside awaited the party, guided by local historian Ian Jelf, who shared his 20 years of experience, talking us through the passageways of the city centre and the open areas outside it, from run down factories to vibrant pubs and restaurants. So as well as a relaxing and enjoyable trip (with excellent food and drinks thrown in) what did we learn?

Birmingham has more canals than Venice – over 100 miles of them, including two long tunnels, several aqueducts and even a waterway version of Spaghetti Junction. Next to the modern architecture of the Bullring and Brindley Place, the canal basin where we started the tour is 200 years old. In 1800, Birmingham was the hub of the Industrial Revolution in Britain and the centre of England's canal network. In the 1830s, railways opened and competed for business with the

canals. By the 1960s, road and rail was quicker and cheaper than the canals and they stopped being used by businesses. The canal area then became run down, the dirty water lined with derelict warehouses. However, Birmingham's canals are now being revitalised and are again becoming a major part of the city’s life and we all enjoyed an opportunity to see them from a different, much slower viewpoint than usual.

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17/11/11 14:26:46

NORTHERNIRELANDAREANEWS

“Water Water Everywhere” – Learning to live with it.

By George Irvine

This year’s Autumn Seminar took place on Friday 7 October in the Tower Hotel, Derry when 70 delegates and guests heard from speakers on the theme of “Water Water Everywhere” – Learning to live with it. Area President George Butler welcomed everybody and introduced the Keynote speaker Dr. Trevor Elliott (Reader in Environmental Engineering, Queens University, Belfast) with a presentation on a ‘Sustainable Water Environment’. Dr Elliott gave a fascinating presentation and suggested water resource projects are sustainable if water of sufficient quantity and quality, at acceptable prices, is available to meet demands without causing environmental deterioration. Dr. Elliott spoke about the Water footprint Assessment Manual; and the Jubilee River Project in Maidenhead, Windsor and Eaton which is cost effective yet sustaining the environment. Dave Foster (Director of Environmental Protection, NI Environment Agency) gave a presentation on ‘Great Expectations’ or as he suggested this could be ‘Changing Expectations’. Dave considered the past, present and future. The Urban Wastewater Directive and Nitrates Directive were reviewed; the current Water Framework Directive was considered and the future was anticipated. Climate change will have consequences for water management with increased rainfall, drought and water quality. New technology will be key and new legislation will add to this in the future. Next was Professor Sue Christie from Environmental Link with a presentation entitled ‘So far so Good?’ Maybe not! Sue began by explaining where water came from, who cleans it and who uses it. Within Northern Ireland most water (55%) is used in households and of this most is used for things not requiring drinking

water standards. She posed the question do we need to treat every single drop we need especially given the reluctance to pay for it? Dr. Ian Humphreys (CEO, Tidy NI) completed the morning session with a presentation entitled ‘Don’t Rubbish Northern Ireland’ which was all about their recent media campaign looking to address this very costly issue. Before breaking for lunch Maureen Taylor from Welsh Water gave a short presentation about the Institute of Water National Innovation Awards and Keith Hunt from NI Area committee introduced the NI Area competition for 2012, details of which can be found on page 18 of this Journal. After lunch David Porter (Director of Development, the Rivers Agency) gave a presentation on ‘Reservoirs, Rivers, Rain and the Sea’. David spoke about the Rivers Agency programme and plans to have a preliminary flood risk assessment by December 2012. Flood Hazard and risk maps are to be completed by December 2013 and Flood Risk Management Plans by December 2015. Claire Cockerill from the Freshwater Task Force gave a presentation on ‘Linking Catchments to Consumption’ that suggested there is a failure to appreciate the true value of water and a sustainable and integrated approach is needed. Claire concluded with the final thought: “While conservation efforts are vital to clean up our river environment, unless we simultaneously tackle our consumption behaviour, river catchments will continue to suffer.”

Paddy Brow and Des Nevin from NI Water were next on ‘Facing the Challenges’. Paddy began by suggesting sustainability requires new approaches and he detailed a 6 pillar approach: Demand, Solution Types, Solution Selectors, Projects, Innovation and Economic Appraisal. Des then introduced operational examples that used telemetry monitoring, investment and new technology. This was followed by Kevin Murray a Consultant from Ireland on the subject of ‘Water Metering – The Problem to all our Solutions?’ Kevin believes that comprehensive water metering is a worthy aspiration; but has some concern that it is dominating the discourse. He suggested there were far wider and deeper issues surrounding the fair and effective delivery of water services. Kevin touched on some of the key issues for water policy in the Republic of Ireland and how the metering question can get in the way of a rational solution. The final speaker was Jacob Tompkins (Managing Director, Waterwise) with a presentation on ‘Customer Cravings – Are they Deliverable.’ Jacob suggested they were but at a cost! we need to educate the public on water saving devices and that heating water is the most expensive use of energy in the home. George Butler thanked all of the speakers for their excellent presentations. A number of these presentations are available to download on the Archived Events section of the website.

“While conservation efforts are vital to clean up our river environment, unless we simultaneously tackle our consumption behaviour, river catchments will continue to suffer.” Claire Cockerill from the Freshwater Task Force

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17/11/11 14:26:49

Family Day – Visit to Cragside, Northumberland By Simon Cyhanko

Northern Area members saw the beginning of autumn in with a brilliantly attended family day at Cragside in Northumberland. Why Cragside you might ask? Well Cragside, or rather Cragside House, was the first house in the world to be lit by hydro-electricity. It is also located in beautiful and deepest Northumberland, near to Rothbury. Overall it was the perfect place to spend some quality time with friends and family. Northern Area President Richard Warneford started the day by welcoming everybody and highlighting the benefits and value of membership. A guided tour followed. The first stop was the old pump house built in the 1860s by wonder engineer Lord William Armstrong. Here our enthusiastic tour guides explained how the pumps (driven by the weight of the water from the nearby Timberton Lake) forced fresh spring water collected close by, up to a basin tank above Cragside House itself, thus satisfying the drinking water needs of the house. However, this process was also used to generate the electricity for the house since 1878 – making Cragside the first

house in the world to be lit by hydro-electricity! After what seemed like a distance of about three miles, and a dozen sets of stairs, the group were all able to enjoy a fantastic view across Armstrong’s valley, looking back up to the

house. This view was however partly hindered by approximately seven million trees and shrubs that were planted early in the 20th century and recent research has proven that Cragside has its own unique micro-climate, partly as a result of this plant-life. Having manoeuvred up the valley, we were able to cross Armstrong’s iron bridge, originally constructed in 1866 and restored in 2009. The bridge was a bit of a short cut and took the hike out of the walking down, then back up the valley sides, and led us to the power house, which was built in 1886 to meet the increasing demand for electricity at Cragside House. Ironically this increased demand for power had been caused by Lord Armstrong himself, after he fitted 45 new lamps! Having finished at the power house and after all the kids (young and all) had played with all the gadgets there, we all walked up to the house itself, before giving our tour guides a well deserved round of applause. This was followed by a fantastic lunch, before the group all went off on their separate ways. Some spent the rest of the afternoon in the visitor centre, or enjoyed the lovely weather walking around the forest walks in the expansive gardens, or in some cases, enjoying the good food festival in the local town of Amble. Overall this was a successful and enjoyable family day, with kids, parents and grand-parents from across the northern area all having a great day.

“Douglas was sculpted from an old Douglas Fir tree and now looks after the Cragside valley!”

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17/11/11 14:26:56

NORTHERNAREANEWS

Technical Visit to Siemens

Technical Visit to Bran Sands By Janet Howard

By Janet Howard Northern Area members recently enjoyed an excellent technical visit to Siemens in Congleton, Cheshire. This factory produces variable speed drives that are used in many industries including the baggage handling mechanisms of most major airports. The event started with an excellent presentation detailing Siemens “lean” journey and the creation of their Lean Academy. By applying lean principles Siemens have reduced the production time of their most popular product from 90 days to 1 day. They realised early in this journey that this could only be achieved by engaging with their shop floor teams and getting their ideas and input. This gave shop floor teams a real sense of ownership and control. The group were given a factory floor tour and were able to see the concept of ‘Lean Cell Design’. Each team looked at their workstations and the duties that were carried out there. They identified areas which slowed them down and came up with an ideal design of their work area. After building a prototype of this workstation they were able to assess the suitability of the station and incorporate any changes before the unit itself went into production. Key achievements from ‘Lean Cell Design included: n £500 K+ Cost Savings. n Average 45% space reduction. n Average 37 WIP reduction. n One piece flow production. n Throughput time reduction. n Increased quality. This was an excellent technical visit and the Northern Area would like to thank the team at Siemens for being such excellent hosts.

The Northern Area, in conjunction with Northumbrian Water, recently hosted an excellent technical visit at Bran Sands Effluent Treatment Works. The group were given a great presentation about this site which is NWL’s largest capital investment scheme. This site is quite unusual as the effluent it treats is mainly made up of industrial effluent from the Middlesborough Dock area, with a lower percentage of municipal waste. In creating the site at Bran Sands that we see today the initial project had multiple objectives: n To meet NWL’s statutory obligation to provide municipal sewage treatment under the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (91/271/EEC) by 2000. n To provide industrial effluent facilities to serve the needs of Teesside industry - both now and in the future. n To create an active partnership with NWL’s industrial customers on Teesside, to the benefit of both industrial and domestic customers. n To improve water quality, by removing discharges from 12km of the Tees estuary and by providing treatment for industrial and municipal effluents. By 2006 the team at Bran Sands were operating the largest working drying plant in the UK with seven thermal drying lines. However during 2006/2007 many external factors prompted a review of the current operating strategy at Bran Sands. There had been an unprecedented

repeated rise in the cost of energy impacting greatly on thermal drying. There was also discomfort with the high maintenance costs of drying, as well as OFWAT’s demanding efficiency targets in final determination. Opportunities had been identified in emerging advanced digestion processes, including incentives for renewable energy generation (ROCs). There was also a growing corporate awareness in NWL of environmental responsibilities and choices. The review concluded that advanced anaerobic digestion (AAD) and combined heat and power (CHP) would provide the business with a more sustainable and effective sludge strategy. AAD also provided multiple environmental benefits such as: n Energy from waste. n Reduced CO2 footprint. n Reduced odour potential at sites. n Improved sludge products – safety, odour and value. n Less transport movements. AAD has now been successfully implemented at Bran Sands. Sludge is converted to biogas/ renewable energy and as a safe product for recycling to farmland. The drying facility has been retained on site as a contingency. At the end of the presentation the group were given a site tour and could see AAD in action. The site team could not have been more accommodating and made it a really enjoyable and informative event.

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17/11/11 14:26:58

Environmental Pioneers

The shredder hall at Deerdykes

Members of the Scottish Area visited the Deerdykes Organics Recycling Facility, situated near Cumbernauld. After a briefing we were shown round by Project Manager Kristine Leitch. By Kathy Auld Deerdykes is the largest organics recycling facility in Scotland and the first site in the UK to combine anaerobic digestion and in-vessel composting. The site is a former wastewater treatment site, belonging to Scottish Water, which was surplus to requirements. It no longer handles faecal matter. During the tour we saw the composting operation aspect, which was installed first in 2005. So far it has turned more than 120,000 tonnes of food and garden waste into 60,000 tonnes of environmentally friendly compost. This compost is sold to farmers for agricultural use. At the moment there is no demand or plans for bagging and selling for domestic use. Incredibly, it is estimated that food waste in Britain is as much as 18 to 20 million tonnes per annum, with half of that being industrial and commercial (eg food processors and supermarkets). The anaerobic digester unit was declared in operational use by Environment Secretary, Richard Lochhead a year ago. At a capital cost of £7.5million the unit recycles 30,000 tonnes of solid and liquid food waste per annum, turning it into around 8,000 kw of electrical power (2,000 homes). It does this by

turning the biogas produced by the breakdown of organic materials into electricity and heat, through a combined heat and power engine. The electricity will be used to power Deerdykes itself, with the surplus going to the National grid. The plant consists of a shredder hall, which shreds waste to approx 50mm and separates food from packaging and then from metals. The turbo dissolvers adds liquid sludge and return liquors from the process to breakdown the material and separate further any packaging by create a “soup”. It aims for a10% dry solids content. There are screens to take out contaminants, control units to control and report on the functionality of the plant, sumps and macerators, pipe bridge and buffer tanks of 1500m3 capacity that allows continual steady flow to the digester. To meet Animal Health (ABPR) requirements means that no waste food can get back into the food chain. In order to comply with this the material is pasteurised by a heat exchange system. The material is then held in a digester tank of 4000m3 capacity for 17 days at a temperature of 35-37 degrees. The bugs break down the food and produce methane gas. This is held before moving to one of two CHP’s (Combined Heat and Power) engines. The CHP’s are 500kw Perkins engines. It

produces 1 Megawatt of power and 1.2 Megawatts of thermal power. The thermal power is used to heat the pasteurisers and 1/3 of the energy is used in running the plant, the rest is renewable energy. The remaining digestate is processed into cake to be used in agriculture, with the liquid treated to remove high strength factors such as Ammonia before being discharged, under licence, to sewer. The plant was built and run by Horizons, Scottish Water’s commercial business. This has a diverse range of services such as enabling high speed broadband through the sewers and generating energy from wind, waste and water. It has to be self funding as no revenue from Scottish Water customers can be used, as this funds core business activity. Scottish Water is encouraged to diversify and generate business. It is also encouraged to be as carbon efficient as possible and this plant demonstrates how both these factors can be achieved. Thanks to Kristine for her interesting and informative tour. Her enthusiasm for her role and the process is very much evident throughout what must have been the same tour that she has given many times before.ऀ

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17/11/11 14:27:05

SCOTTISHAREANEWS

Don’t Panic Captain Mainwaring! 1

5 By Kathy Auld I know we confused some of our younger members by the title, so for those who are in the dark Captain Mainwaring was the frustrated leader of the Home Guard in the sitcom Dad’s Army. One of his men used to call out this phrase frequently, when things were going awry. To complete the title of this year’s Autumn Seminar, held at Tulliallan Police Training College, and make it clearer Scotland is ‘Building the Hydro Nation’. The Seminar got off to a great start. Pat Wouters (Director, UNESCO centre for Water Law) gave an insightful presentation on ‘Water Security, Global, Regional and Local challenges’. This was followed by President Nick Ellins’ perspective on ‘Water Strategy in England and Wales,’ and an update on how Scottish Water is ‘Always Serving Scotland’ by Andy Dunbar (Asset Strategy Manager, Scottish Water). Session two delivered fantastic presentations on how ‘Scotland is building a Hydro Nation’. We heard from Bob Irvine (Deputy Director, Scottish Government); Peter Mason (Technical Director, MWH); and Richard Allan (MD Horizons, Scottish Water). Session three was titled ‘Weathering the Challenges’ and the challenges are great, but they give opportunities for lessons to be learned. George Butler (Asset Management Director, NI Water) talked about Northern Ireland Water’s response to the big freeze/thaw last winter. Rob Mustard (General Manager - Waste Water Operations, Scottish Water) spoke about ‘Wastewater Operations in a Changing Climate’

From left to right: Speakers Patricia Wooters, Andy Dunbar and National President Nick Ellins

Angry mob (Kevin Moffat)threatens to foam the Water Company

Mrs Aye, Fish Processing Owner

You're Nicked!

Douglas McNonsense of McNonsense News

and Mark Dickson (GM Customer Service, Scottish Water) considered Scottish Water’s plans to deal with emergency conditions.

Kevin Mooney for persuading people to part with their cash and those that bought tickets. The proceeds are going to WaterAid.

The session was rounded off with a team event. This is a feature of every Autumn Seminar and this year’s did not disappoint. The teams were given a contamination emergency to deal with; and as the photographs show this was a lot of fun. This was a light-hearted event using role play and lots of imagination but it gave a serious underlying message, and was carried out with energy and a great deal of teamwork. Thanks to the committee members that took part by taking various roles. Without this co-ordination it wouldn’t have worked so well.

The Saturday session brought some white faces and tired red eyes to the auditorium but everybody agreed that it was worth it to hear from Paul Maxwell (General Manager - Operations Service Centre, Scottish Water) and Tony Newall (Asset Management Strategy Manager, Scottish Water), who gave an insight into ‘Scottish Water’s Intelligent Future and Lifecycle Planning’.

Ronnie Mercer (Chairman, Scottish Water) was the sole speaker of the final session of the day who gave his usual thought provoking and honest view of Scottish Water: ‘Contractor of State or Community Provider; an evolving role’. A short panel Q&A followed before we stopped for the day. Dinner and drinks preceded the riotous quiz and raffle. Unfortunately Stan Wardle and Alex Rae could not make the Seminar this year so I was drafted in as Quiz Mistress. I had a good teacher to follow and gave a performance I hope Stan would have been proud of! Thanks Stan. The winners, Scottish Water graduates, were treated to a drink from the bar (even though they didn’t know who Captain Mainwaring was!). The raffle raised £318 and the golf prize (donated by KSB) was auctioned off for £300. I hope Martin Fearon and friends enjoy their day. Thanks to the companies and individuals who donated prizes,

Roy Davidson (Health & Safety Co-ordinator, Scottish Water), was our young speaker who gave an enjoyable and thought provoking paper on the future of Health and Safety Behaviour. Roy demonstrated that you can do things safely that might first seem dangerous through carrying out risk assessments and appropriate safety precautions. Roy enjoys extreme sports such as ice climbing and serious white water rafting, which you would think is strange for a H&S person, but carried out safely by a responsible and trained person can be enjoyable. Roy also won a series of Wipeout AND broke the course record, in a Kilt. I wonder how long that risk assessment took? Thanks again to Tulliallan and its staff; all our fabulous speakers; the exhibitors and the committee for a great Seminar; and to our delegates for attending. Next year has been booked for 14 -15 September, so get the dates in your new diaries now. Presentations from this event are available to view and download on the Archived Events section of the website.

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SOUTHWESTAREANEWS

Green Energy from Dartmoor Visit to Mary Tavy Hydro Electric Plant

The 9 September was a damp and misty day across Dartmoor, however undeterred by the conditions, a small but select gathering of Institute of Water members were welcomed to the Mary Tavy Power Station by Ross Mitchell (Site Supervisor, South West Water.)

One peculiar feature in the turbine hall caught my eye – a great big outcrop of rock protruding from the corner into the building – when I asked for an explanation I was told that they had got tired of digging into the granite bedrock so had decided to just build around that bit!

Ross gave an interesting presentation on the history of the site and how it works today. We were then free to take a tour of the grounds and the turbine hall and chat to the very enthusiastic on-site maintenance staff. It was obvious from the tidiness of the site and the shiny brass fittings that the staff took very great pride in keeping their turbines in tip-top condition.

Mary Tavy – Facts and Figures

n There are two separate hydro systems conveniently named number one plant and number two plant. n Water is fed from the River Tavy and held in two reservoirs, Wheal Bennetts reservoir for number one plant and Wheal Jewell reservoir for number two plant.

n Originally commissioned in 1932, the plant was extended in 1936 when it was England’s largest hydro-electric plant

n The water is taken from the river to the reservoirs in 200 year old water channels called “leats” which are kept flowing by the leatsmaintenance team based at the plant.

n Mary Tavy has six turbines with a combined capacity of 2,610 kilowatts – enough to power 1,700 properties

All in all a very interesting visit and thanks go to Ross and his team for making us so welcome.

2011 Dr Allen BoltOn Golf Day On 22 July twenty two golfers from the South West Area together with guests and Welsh Area ‘bandits’ enjoyed a round of golf; evening meal and presentation at the Cumberwell Park Golf Course set in a glorious location just outside Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire. The course hosts 4 separate nine holes that can be mixed and matched to create a varying test of golf for all abilities. The course was opened in 1994 and is already one of the best courses in the South West and has been awarded 4 stars in Golf World's Top Courses in Britain. It has also hosted the last two Institute of Water South West Area versus Welsh Area Ryder Cup matches.

The weather held fair for all of the day and as a result the standard of golf was very good. David Gore of South West Water was one of the last players out on the course and produced an amazing 43 stableford points which seemed to be a winning score. As the scores were scrutinised and finally counted the first three ball players were found propping up the bar. They had started early and with an empty course in front of them had scooted round leaving them to enjoy the afternoon sunshine, a few lagers and red wine as the rest of us joined them. They handed their cards in and one of their group, Keith Evans (a stalwart of the Welsh Area team) submitted a jaw breaking 44 points to sneak the win.

By Karen Wright

By Richard Barton

The final scores were: Keith Evans

44 points

David Gore

43 points

Adrian Morgan 40 points The night was rounded off with the continuing merriment of Keith and the exploits of his round, tales of England/ Welsh rugby heroics and the victorious Welsh Area Ryder Cup Team. As the South West Area players left, our thoughts were filled with plans for revenge, but also laughter and fun from the events of the day.

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17/11/11 14:27:31

EaSTERNAREANEWS

Technical visit to lowestoft STW

Upcoming Institute of Water Events 2012 January

South East area: competition in the Industry 17 February

Eastern area young persons Forum

By Lucinda Gilfoyle

march

In October, the Eastern Area organised a visit to Anglian Water’s most unusual sewage treatment works to look at how customer needs have influenced every aspect of the site design.

South East area agm & Weekend School

Opened in 2002, the treatment works at Lowestoft (also known as Corton works) was built to meet the requirements of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive to provide secondary treatment for the catchment. Stringent drivers to safeguard the aesthetic value of the surrounding area, to protect community confidence, to meet the industrial demands of from nearby Lowestoft town and, to showcase the leading technologies of the time led to the creation of a treatment works that is set into the countryside and encased within a covered dome some 130m wide and 160m long. Although originally designed as a centre of process excellence for the training of staff in addition to international visitor education, large parts of the site are no longer in use as a result of changes in the communities it serves. The loss of several large traders in conjunction with changes in the tourist industry has meant that the site no longer handles the volumes and strengths of crude sewage that it was originally designed for. This has had a significant impact on the outputs the site was designed to deliver in terms of renewable energy and sludge digestion. The visit included a presentation on the sites history; the impact of customers on site design and performance; the challenges of the catchment; future development and a technical discussion of how the treatment process works. This was followed by a guided technical tour where guests were invited to view the process steps up close within the dome.

Brighton region 9 march

midlands area dinner dance Stratford Manor Hotel 18 – 20 april

Northern area Spring Seminar: delighting the customer Longhirst Hall, Morpeth 19 - 20 april

Northern Ireland area conference: procurement Slieve Donard Hotel, Newcastle, Belfast 4 may

Eastern area Technical visit Anglian Water site tbc 16 may

National agm & South East area Night Water UK, Queen Anne’s Gate, London 17 - 18 may

annual conference and Exhibition

annual conference and Exhibition ‘2012 - Changing the Industry for a Sustainable Legacy’ 17 - 18 May The Royal Society London

‘2012 - Changing the Industry for a Sustainable Legacy’ The Royal Society, London 18 may

president’s dinner and awards Abbey Mills Pumping Station, London 22 – 24 may

Sustainabilitylive! 2012 & 24th drilling & Tapping championships IWEX, NEC, Birmingham 28 June

Wales area Summer Forum 2012 Please visit www.instituteofwater.org.uk for up to date details on all events

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Answers for the environment.

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