Source September 2012

september 2012 | thameswater.co.uk

£675m sewage works

upgrade update

‘We did it right’ Team Thames at the Olympics Environment Minister drives

Busy Lizzie

Money well spent

in Bangladesh

contents

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Environment Minister drives Busy Lizzie Borehole with media manager Simon Evans

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Committee let off steam before meeting Thames 4 Bangladesh quarter one update Latest on £675m upgrade to sewage works

With my sister for the 200m final

Indoor Olympic champions Standing proud with their own London 2012 medals are Mark Smikle, Duncan Hodges and John McAteer.

The heroic trio claimed the alternative bling in a hotly-contested indoor Olympics involving capital delivery’s London network team and contractor MGJV. Organised by engineer Dave Powell and MGJV’s

Beckton team’s ‘electric performance’ Capital delivery feared an unprecedented power demand could cut Beckton sewage works short this summer. A crack team found a solution

Editor’s column

BY HEATHER LEWIS-JONES

What a month. The Olympics was brilliant – sport all day, every day for two weeks. I was on out-ofhours press office duty during the first week of London 2012 and was buzzing.

In reality, it meant repeating “no media enquiries” in each of the daily conference calls at 8am and 4pm. But like the rest of Team Thames, I was there just in case.

Armed with the kit. Ready to react like a lightning Bolt.

Thankfully, all the hard work had been done before the main event and everything ran as smoothly as our man Mo Farah (see page 5).

As Danny Leamon says, “five years of blood, sweat, tears, dedication and teamwork paid off”. Check out more Olympics news in this month’s edition.

Congratulations also to Andrew Triggs-Hodge for his rowing gold, which had nothing at all to do with eating £5 chocolate bars. stuart.white@thameswater.co.uk

xtra pressures posed by London 2012 and the potential need to switch on the desalination plant at full power meant there was a risk demand could outstrip supply at Beckton.

Project lead Bob Mole said it was crucial to get a solution in place before the Olympics but that such a complex project would normally have taken up to two years, and not months, to get right.

Bob said: “The greatest achievement was the way our colleagues in operations, asset management, legal and finance helped us clear all hurdles.

“I’m really proud of what we’ve achieved and feel privileged to have been given the trust and help of so many people – this proves what is possible when everyone pulls together.”

Initially, design assurance engineers Tim Smith and Steve McMullan worked out the scale of the problem and helped develop a plan of attack.

One strategy looked at power resilience, making sure everything at Beckton capable of

2 | september 2012 www.thameswater.co.uk

Elaine Searle, the team-building competition featured some traditional events with creative twists.

These included javelin (aka darts), discus (paper plates weighted down with packets of cup-a-soup), shot put (foam wrapped in silver foil), rowing (grown men pushing themselves across the floor on sandwich trays) and shooting (a popular event involving homemade targets featuring managers’ faces and plastic guns with foam bullets from Poundland).

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providing power was in top working order.

Operations made modifications to the biodiesel generators to improve their reliability and engineer James Brown was seconded into the effort.

The other approach looked at bringing in additional power by installing temporary generators in two stages, the first of which was completed by contractor Tamesis within just three months of the project starting.

More power, however, would be needed to keep Busy Lizzie digging the Lee Tunnel below the surface and the generators would have cost around £10 million for a short term fix.

Bob said it made more sense to “invest in a long term power solution” for the site, and authorised an upgrade by UK Power Networks (UKPN) – who are responsible for providing the supply to the site.

The team gained internal approval in record time with capital delivery’s Ray Tilley instrumental, facilitating the first payment to UKPN within just a week of contract signature.

And an integrated project team led by Tabatha Bailey, who also had responsibility for the negotiation and agreement of crucial wayleaves, helped condense 18 months work into just two.

Asset management colleagues Claire Tyrrell and Justin Camis also helped to draft papers and present them to the investment committee to ensure this crucial project was completed in time.

See page 14 for an update on the £675 million upgrade to London’s five main sewage works

OLYMPIC SPECIAL

‘WE DID IT RIGHT’ Team Thames deserves a gold medal for its performance at London 2012. Source spoke to flag bearer DANNY LEAMON

Rob Smith, also pictured on the cover, at the Olympic Park with Alex Henderson

BY STUART WHITE

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ondon 2012 exceeded all expectations.

At the closing ceremony, a triumphant Seb Coe told the world “we did it right” and few would argue against the former Olympic champion.

Team GB finished third in the medal table with 29 golds and, as was the intention, inspired a generation.

Behind the scenes, Team Thames was doing everything in its power to keep out of the headlines. Keeping a low profile and protecting the brand was the aim for Olympics principal project manager Danny Leamon and he said the team produced the perfect race.

Like the athletes, all the Danny Leamon training paid off.

“Five years of blood, sweat, tears, dedication and teamwork ensured we very much played our part,” Danny said.

“Going into the Games, one of the real goals was to protect and where possible enhance Thames Water’s brand and reputation. We have achieved both.”

While moments of sporting greatness, including Jessica Ennis in the heptathlon and Mo Farah’s double on the track, will live long in the memory, London 2012 will also be remembered for those who made it all possible – the ‘Games Makers’.

“Thames Water has very much been a Games Maker,” added Danny. “Those people who built

the stadiums, who kept the transport system moving, who kept us all safe and those volunteers from across the UK who gave up their time just to be a part of the greatest show on earth.

“Our nation surpassed all expectations in showing the world how great it really is.”

Danny said resilience work completed in the lead up to the Games proved to be invaluable with very few incidents occurring in and around the London venues.

And with Team Thames strategically placed

Adam Arnold

In the twoon patrol week gap between the Olympics and Paralympics, which started on August 29 and continues until September 9, the team have been working closely with organisers Locog to make sure things run just as smoothly.

Speaking before the Paralympics, Danny said: “It would be great to wallow in our success but there are many challenges ahead.”

“FIVE YEARS OF BLOOD, SWEAT, TEARS, DEDICATION AND TEAMWORK PAID OFF” in hubs close-by, flashpoints that did arise were “resolved professionally and efficiently”.

He added: “We even lent a hand to other agencies including the Royal Parks, London Underground and some of the local authorities, for which we have received great praise.”

The control centre at Kemble Court

Smoothing way for Wiggo win

BY SIMON EVANS The evening before the London 2012 men’s road-cycling time trial, contractors for Locog were working feverishly to repair a badly pot-holed road leading up to Hampton Court Palace, the cyclists’ final destination and grandiose setting for the medal ceremony.

But the job was bigger than first anticipated. The Locog workmen ran out of material to repair the roughed-up surface.

The world’s eyes would be on

this spot the following day and cyclists crashing to the deck due to ruts in the road would not be a good look for GB plc. Who did Locog turn to in its hour of need?

Team Thames.

They asked for four tonnes of resurfacing material and any spare manpower to help get the job done.

“We jumped to the rescue through the night, providing as much as they needed, which turned out to be closer to 16 tonnes,” said asset director Bob Collington.

The next day a director at Locog sent the following note to Bob: “Please pass my thanks on to Thames Water who really saved the day last night. Great guys who pulled out all the stops to help us out. Fantastic job appreciated by all on venue.”

Later that day Bradley Wiggins rode to glory, claiming his historic fourth gold medal. Had it not been for Team Thames, the side-burned speedster might well have come a cropper. Not that anyone, least of all him, would have known.

www.thameswater.co.uk september 2012 | 3

OLYMPIC SPECIAL

London 2012 headline that never was…

Thames Water’s aim during the Olympics was to do the basics well. Out of sight, out of mind. This goal was achieved, says SIMON EVANS Two days before the opening ceremony, a 42 inch-wide main supplying water to the Olympic Park started leaking when an old lead fitting gave up the ghost. Team Thames immediately re-routed water to the area from other parts of the network – a procedure rehearsed a month earlier during extensive preparations.

The repair required a clamp to go round the end of the pipe where the joint had failed. And it needed to be done in the next 24 hours.

Clamps that big can’t be bought off the shelf at B&Q. It would have to be custommade by UTS, the specialist supplier in Newcastle upon Tyne. Sure enough, by 11am the following day the clamp had been made. That was great – but it was 300 miles away.

Trucking it down from Tyneside would take more than six hours, leaving precious little time to carry out the repair before the day of the opening ceremony.

“I know, let’s fly it down,” said Team Thames supremo Danny Leamon. Flying was the only credible option, but with a no-fly zone in place across the capital, it wasn’t going to happen. Chris Fitzgerald, Thames Water’s security manager, and asset director Bob Collington both tried in vain to get permission.

It was now a job for Clive Dickens. Weaving his unique brand of no-nonsense magic, Clive succeeded, where Bob and Chris had failed, in obtaining special dispensation to breach the no-fly zone.

He then hastily organised a private flight for UTS to fly the clamp down the country to a lesser-known airport at Stapleford Abbots, in Epping Forest, Essex, an hour’s drive from the broken pipe.

“This was a feat which neither Chris nor I could achieve,” Bob would later confide.

“Clive is extraordinary.” When the flight touched down, he was revving his van on the runway ready to whisk the clamp to Walthamstow. Clive was at the scene of the leak at 4pm. By 7pm it was fixed.

So, within 24 hours of the 42-inch main leaking, it had been repaired and water was once more flowing through it – and the world’s media were none the wiser as the lights went up in Stratford.

4 | september 2012 www.thameswater.co.uk

Making sure our water was fit to drink

The world’s elite athletes and millions of spectators at the London Olympics didn’t have to worry about the drinking water because of Thames Water’s regulation department.

Team manager ALEX SAUNDERS explains the work involved in ensuring all the Olympic sites were up to speed It is due to the hard work, determination and resilience of the water regulations department that every athlete, official and spectator at the London Olympics was able to drink safe water provided by Thames Water without giving it a second thought.

I’m so proud of how well the team has coped under some very testing situations and really pulled together to get this vital job done.

The role of a water regulations inspector is to inspect the design, installation, composition and maintenance of any water fixtures and fittings connected to our network.

This is done to prevent waste, misuse, undue consumption, contamination and erroneous measurement of our water supply.

In doing this we protect our customers and our business.

Over the last 18 months the team has become increasingly involved in preparing for London 2012. With 36 competition venues hosting 26 different sports, 3,000 flats in the Olympic Village housing more than 14,000 athletes, and the whole event being watched by an estimated 11,000,000 visitors to London, it is clearly a huge job.

Since the beginning of 2011 three inspectors, Ted Reeves, Paul Fenning and

From left, the team of James Groves, Tony Jackson, Martin Oscar, Roman Zieba, Tim St Jean, Ted Reeves

Tony Jackson, have all been working full time on the Olympic site to inspect the materials and fittings used in the construction of the park, Olympic Village and new Westfield shopping centre.

Every day on site has presented a range of varied and interesting challenges, but as Tony said to me: “It has been a once in a lifetime opportunity to work on one of London’s biggest ever developments.”

In recent months the number of inspectors on-site increased to deal with the rapidly growing workload as the Games drew closer.

Martin Oscar, Tim St Jean and James Groves were working flat out to ensure the large number of temporary catering and concession facilities all conformed to the regulations.

With a large focus on the Olympic park, the 25 off-park venues should also not be overlooked. The rest of the water regulations team all worked hard in the final month before the Games started to inspect high profile venues including Wimbledon, Hyde Park and Earls Court.

On some sites, inspectors have worked in partnership with local authorities to help educate their own public health officers.

Overall it was a great team effort – well done!

OLYMPIC SPECIAL

We knew Mo was a star This is double Olympic champion Mo Farah pictured in the July 2007 edition of Source where he was billed as an “athlete of the future”.

He is seen at the London Youth Games handing out Thames Water bottles with volunteers.

The Londoner was one of the stars of the Games after winning both the 10,000m and 5,000m races on the iconic track. He even got a respectful nod from Usain Bolt after the Jamaican sprinter celebrated a relay world record by doing the ‘Mobot’ as he crossed the line.

Team connected to rowing glory Team Thames Valley clear Eton Dorney hurdles in time for the Olympics and British gold rush

BY HEATHER LEWIS-JONES

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ton Dorney was the stage for Team GB’s immense rowers to shine as they powered to four gold, two silver and three bronze medals.

The haul made them the most successful Olympic rowing team for a second successive Games and confirms their place as one of the strongest sporting units in the world.

And Thames Water’s Thames Valley team played a key supporting role in their success.

They were given just three months to arrange a temporary connection to the 30,000-capacity Olympic site which was used for all but two days of the Games and captured some of its most incredible scenes.

Senior contracts manager Richard Lewis said: “It’s remarkable what we were able to achieve in such a short timescale. It’s great to know we’ve all done our bit for London 2012.”

Organisers Locog had calculated that up to 80 tankers a day would be needed to meet

the site’s water and waste needs, and asked Thames Water as the Official Games Provider to arrange a more feasible solution in the form of a temporary connection.

Capital delivery contractor Optimise launched into action, designing and pricing the project within weeks – a process which would usually take several months – to gain approval in early May.

“IT’S REMARKABLE WHAT WE WERE ABLE TO ACHIEVE IN SUCH A SHORT TIMESCALE” But this was just the first hurdle. Located in Buckinghamshire, Eton Dorney is a purposebuilt lake set in a 400-acre park within a nature conservation area and it was this idyllic setting that posed one of the team’s biggest challenges.

To complete the installation, Richard’s team had to cross a main road, two rivers, a racecourse, and nature reserve, as well as

negotiate permission from several different third parties.

He said: “The success of the project comes very much from the good will we and our contractors built up with third parties.”

Keeping the work on schedule was crucial given the tight timescales involved and gaining the support of local people was also important.

Optimise’s customer team arranged a meeting on site with residents to explain what they were doing and how it would affect them.

Despite the short notice and speed of the works, the team are proud to say that there were no customer issues during the project.

After three intense months, it was a satisfying moment for everyone involved when the new connection was switched on just days before the opening ceremony, on July 24. www.thameswater.co.uk september 2012 | 5

NEWS

New look for best practice hub A vital tool in the drive towards a safer and healthier workplace will receive a striking makeover in September.

Health and Safety Hub is a major online resource-sharing initiative between Thames Water and its partners, designed as a one-stop-shop for all health and safety material.

Formerly known as One Safety Hub, it is the place to go for news, training materials and other media illustrating best practice.

Capital delivery director Lawrence Gosden said: “The relaunch will not only give new impetus to achieving the three zeros target; working towards zero accidents, zero harm and zero compromise – its new name also highlights the importance of health.

“We’re hoping that the new improved, easy to use site will encourage partners to further share lessons learnt and best practice.”

The modern, hi-vis look is set to be unveiled this month and makes it even easier for users to access and share the latest information.

The upgrade took on board feedback from contractors and includes a much more powerful search engine, a dynamic homepage, a trial of an online forum and a new form for partners to submit content.

Visit www.healthandsafetyhub.co.uk.

The final ‘Hero of the Month’ Wastewater quality technician Dawn Higgins was named Hero of the Month after helping to save a lady who had crashed her car on a wet and wild day.

Swindon-based Dawn was first on the scene when she saw the car upside down and partly in a ditch. She acted smart under pressure by positioning her van and turning on her hazard warning lights to make the area safe to assist.

The car was filling with smoke so she quickly made sure the lady was just in shock before helping her from the car, and then called the

Lottery win buried in Steve’s full inbox You come back off holiday.

Your inbox is full. The pain starts. The work builds.

You want to go home.

You have won the lottery.

Work is good

BY STUART WHITE

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Water pump’s Olympic facelift Those heading for the southern entrances of the Olympic Park along The Greenway will have noticed this striking spray-painted water pump.

After teaming up with the London 2012 Changing Places Programme, Thames Water and the Mayor of London’s P&G Capital Clean-up, London Wildlife Trust and art collective Invisible Dust gave the area a facelift before the hundreds of thousands of spectators arrived in east London.

Paths were cleared, invasive species were hacked back and this graffiti-plagued relic of a bygone industrial era was transformed into a thing of beauty. Good job.

6 | september 2012 www.thameswater.co.uk

emergency services.

Dawn has only been with the company a short time and is already a valued member of Donna Meacham’s team.

Sampling field service manager Donna, who nominated her for the final Hero of the Month award before the launch of the new Employee Recognition Scheme, said: “She was very professional and responded in a truly positive way. Dawn’s actions helped a difficult situation with a cool head and understanding to help this lady to safety.”

teve Griffiths was the lucky winner of the much-coveted WaterAid Lottery Olympic jackpot.

The top prize was boosted up to £2,012 from the standard £800 to celebrate the start of the London Olympics in late July.

Customer services team manager Steve, based between Swindon and Reading, said it was a welcome surprise picking up the email notification buried in a full inbox after returning from annual leave.

He said: “I was over the moon. I saw the email and at first thought ‘what is this all about – you’ve won the lottery’. But then I realised and it made my day.

“A few people know and were really pleased for me, and have been saying to buy the cakes. But I’ve been keeping a bit of a low profile. It is a great help as I’m saving up for a deposit to put down on a house.”

Steve, 30, has been playing the WaterAid Lottery for six months and buys five shares each time. He has never won before and has since vowed to carry on playing.

He said: “It’s a good lottery to get involved with. When the money comes straight out of your wages you don’t even notice it.”

The WaterAid Lottery has been running for more than 20 years and currently has around 1,400 players, made up equally of pensioners and Thames Water staff.

It currently generates nearly £6,000 each month with 25 per cent returned as cash prizes.

The Olympics Steve Griffiths promotion resulted in 63 new players and 19 existing players increasing their contribution – a rise of £300 in individual shares.

Since 2000, more than £600,000 has been raised for WaterAid through the lottery which – at £15 per head – would have helped over 40,000 people in the world’s poorest countries have a lifechanging supply of safe water and access to sanitation. Email ginika.okoye@thameswater.co.uk to join in time for October’s draw.

July’s £25 winners were: CFJ Ward, Ryan Britnell, Barry Howe, Philip Gilley, Natalie Webb, BV Noble, Robert Nockolds, David Thompson, Mel Varcoe, EU McGee, VR Mortimer, Carol HamiltonKing, AJ Dearden, IM Larkins, Alan Cross and J Sully.

LOVE A LOTTERY? Thames Water has relaunched WaterWatchers with £250 of shopping vouchers up for grabs every quarter. See page 16 for more.

Pictures by Stewart Turkington

Richard Benyon with Martin Baggs inside the Lee Tunnel

Environment Minister drives Busy Lizzie Chief executive MARTIN BAGGS was joined by RICHARD BENYON for an interactive tour of the Lee Tunnel – London’s deepest underground structure

BY NATALIE SLATER

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tanding at the helm 75 metres underground, Environment Minister Richard Benyon took control of the biggest tunnel boring machine ever used by the UK water industry.

Standing next to Thames Water chief executive Martin Baggs, he drove the 120-metre long Busy Lizzie at Beckton, in Newham, East London, as it began the task of drilling the £635 million Lee Tunnel – designed to stop the 16m tonnes a year of raw sewage currently discharging into the River Lee. After being lowered into its shaft in

December, engineers have put in months of work to assemble the machine for its four-mile journey to Abbey Mills Pumping Station in Stratford, where it will connect to London’s largest combined sewer overflow point.

The Lee Tunnel will also connect to the proposed Thames Tideway Tunnel as part of a wider scheme to prevent 39m tonnes of raw sewage flowing in to the River Thames every year.

Mr Baggs said: “The Lee Tunnel is a key part of our plans to improve the quality of the River Thames and make it a river we can be proud of.

“As well as improving the quality of the river

for wildlife and recreational users, the project is providing much-needed jobs for local people. And by cleaning up the River Lee, the project is making an important contribution to the area benefiting from the Olympic regeneration and legacy.

“This is a complex and challenging engineering project, and the largest scheme we’ve ever delivered. But we’re making good progress, and the project is on target and on time.”

Mr Benyon added: “The scale of this site is almost too much to take in. But it’s not just about this impressive piece of engineering, or about the quality of the equipment being used, because what we are going to be left with is something which is going to remove huge amounts of sewage from our river system.”

Busy Lizzie, named by Ryan Waters from Maryland Primary School after winning a competition, is eight metres in diameter – wider than three double decker buses sideby-side, and the cutter head alone weighs 800 tonnes.

Work on the Lee Tunnel project started in September 2010 and, to date, 2.25m man hours have been spent on it by a 400-strong workforce – a quarter from the local area. www.thameswater.co.uk september 2012 | 7

COMPETITION Contractor’s new life in the fast Lanes After winning the biggest contract in its 20-year history, Lanes Group has opened a brand new office and depot in Slough, Berkshire.

The new centre will be the headquarters for management and operational teams working on the Thames Water wastewater network services contract.

Lanes will provide a range of services, including emergency blockage clearance, dealing with internal and external flooding, pollution, remedial drainage, tankering and overpumping, to two Thames Water regions – Thames Valley and north London.

The premises, on Slough Trading Estate, are part of a £3 million capital investment by the group to service the £27m per year contract which could run for up to eight years.

Lanes director Andy Brierley said: “The premises are perfectly placed for access to the geographical area we are covering and we had everything in place ready for D-Day so that we could hit the ground running.

“We are very proud to be working with Thames Water. Look out for our new fleet of vehicles and plant which bring together our own eye catching Lanes’ pink livery with the Thames Water branding. Customers will certainly be seeing a lot of them in the South East.”

Take the IS challenge A chance to win £500 of team building vouchers for using technology that makes your life easier. What more do you want?

BY NAOMI BRYANT

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re you using the new information services technology that can make work more efficient and less stressful? If so, you and your team could be in with a chance of winning £500 of recognition vouchers.

It’s simple to enter. Use technology like IP Telephony, audio conferencing, instant messaging, desktop sharing or Documentum in an interesting, innovative and useful way, and let the IS team know about it. The best examples over the next two months get the prize.

Aiden Heke, head of IS, said: “There are teams at

Thames Water who are really making the most of the new technology we have. This means they’re working smarter and achieving more, so we want to celebrate this and help the rest of the business learn from these good examples.”

There are two categories you can enter: • Biggest use of collaboration technology – the most people using things like audio conferencing for a large dispersed team, instead of everyone travelling to a meeting for example.

• Best use of collaboration technology – the smartest application, like holding a Team Talk meeting using shared desktops.

All you have to do is email IScompetition@ thameswater.co.uk with the details about what you did and what the benefits were, along with validation from your line manager (L6, ML5 or above).

All entries must be received by Friday, November 2 and will be judged by members of the executive.

What are you waiting for?

THE PRIZE WILL BE £25 PER TEAM MEMBER, UP TO A MAXIMUM OF £500

Why do we need to impact plan?

KIRSTY TELLING, a Q12 champion, looks at what happens next after the 2012 survey results came in last month The Q12 results for 2012 are in.

Overall the Thames Water grand mean is 3.80, which is marginally down 0.07 from last year.

Highly engaged teams are known as best practice teams. This year, teams were assessed against a range of criteria to qualify as a best practice team: • Participation equal to or greater than the Thames Water participation • Grand mean equal to the upper quartile of the Gallup database (4.36) 8 | september 2012 www.thameswater.co.uk

• The three impact planning questions equal to or greater than Thames Water score This list of teams that achieved best practice can be found on the portal. Congratulations to you all.

Now comes the important part – impact planning.

Your Q12 champions are here to help you have meaningful discussions about your scores.

Research has shown employee engagement affects financial performance, customer perceptions, and the performance of everyone Some questions that may help start honest discussions are: “What gets in the way of you doing your job?”

“What does leadership do that gets in the way of you doing your job?”

“If you could change one thing about our collective behaviour, what would it be?”

in the organisation. Our employees are our greatest assets. Your collective ideas, feedback and enthusiasm help us grow and succeed.

Gallup International reported that businesses in the top 24 per cent of employee engagement had less staff turnover and remarkably higher percentages of customer loyalty, profitability and revenues.

This will be even more important to us in the coming months and years due to the introduction of competition in the water industry.

This research has also shown that impact planning and effectively following through on the outcomes will increase employee engagement.

Outstanding customer service begins with engaged employees: you are the key to excellent customer service.

BOREHOLE with media manager Simon Evans

Each month BH drills down on the news and issues affecting Britain’s biggest water firm

Tip top Team Thames

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or his airport runway heroics helping get that massive Olympic Park trunk main fixed two days before the Games began, BH once more salutes the ingenuity and indefatigability of Olympic monk (see August Source) Clive Dickens, (p4 news story), poster boy for Team Thames.

But Clive was not alone. It was a team effort. A tip top Team Thames effort.

All 250 of you kept the Games running smoothly, ensuring the sport, not us, was the media’s main focus. High-fives all round.

Camera magnet Clive Dickens on the scene with Bob Collington to help fix a leak near Earls Court

Good news story – no drought about it Nothing like a bit of media skulduggery to get BH hot under the collar.

It goes like this. At the end of July seven key tributaries feeding the River Thames were flowing at seven times the volume they were back in April, when we and six other firms imposed hosepipe bans following the two driest years on record. So BBC News reported after we issued a press release to update our customers. The reason? Monstrous amounts of rain.

In four short months record downpours increased flows in these once-parched rivers, including the

All about delivering under pressure Without it diver Tom Daley would have gone bump. Without it swimmer Michael Phelps would have been doing commando-crawl.

Thankfully, Britain’s biggest water firm came up with many millions of litres of its glistening product when it really mattered, enabling the Olympic aquatics centre to operate as planned.

“It’s all about delivering under pressure,” a spokesman said.

Kennet and the Pang, from 33 per cent of their long-term average to a whopping 229 per cent.

In a rarity for the time of year, water levels also raised in the natural storage basins deep below ground, which are usually topped up only in winter when greenery is less thirsty. Reason? As above – a seriously soggy spring.

To avoid tempting the topsy-turvy British weather, we took pains to sound a gentle note of caution. Although greatly improved, groundwater in four of the seven river areas was still slightly below normal. So “we need steady rain this winter”, we said.

To recap: had a drought. It hammered down. No more drought. But “steady” rain this winter would be good. Overall, situation much improved. Got it?

Of course you have. So did the Beeb.

However, a few days later a naughty freelancer, who, in the interests of discretion BH will not name, decided to twist our words into a hysterical scare story and send it to a wellrespected British broadsheet.

“Wet winter is ‘vital to avoid another drought’,” shrieked the rag, attracting the attentions of our chums in the online division of another national paper. Equally keen not to let the facts get in the way of a good yarn, they roared: Despite all the rain Thames Water is “praying” for “a soaking wet winter to avoid another drought”.

Nonsense. As soon as the piece fizzed on to the web its author received a call from a furious Thames Water press officer. Shortly thereafter the word “soaking” vanished from the headline and the copy.

Who said fictional writing wasn’t alive and well in our proud island nation?

Twitter – one good, one bad

Closed account wi th Thames Water. Took 5 mins including instant refund to ba nk account.

Why does it take yo u 3 weeks to close Council tax ac count?

Please sort out the burst water main Thames Wat er, I don’t want to brush teet h with coke and have wet wipe shower before seeing Blur tonight !

Peter shines on BBC Radio Oxford Peter Taylor, programme delivery manager, was interviewed on BBC Radio Oxford at the end of August about the plans to improve drainage and the sewer system in Kennington. We needed somebody with in-depth knowledge of the proposals. Peter stood up, did a top class job of informing listeners of the drop-in and the benefits of the proposed work. Nice work.

Mascot Dickens delivers Dutch In the days leading up to the games, the Dutch ladies’ hockey team bumped into Thames Water’s Olympic monk Clive Dickens checking valves on the Olympic Park. They were instantly smitten, posing up for cuddly photos with the great man. Inspired by this encounter, they went on to win gold. BH understands Team GB’s hockey women, who bagged bronze, are now in talks with Team Thames about releasing Clive to join them for Rio 2016 as the official squad mascot.

Old Ford, Team GB’s 30th gold Team GB won 29 gold medals at the London Olympics, newspapers said. In fact, it was 30. Also on the podium was Thames Water’s Old Ford water recycling plant, which turns Londoners’ sewage into water for irrigating greenery and flushing loos on the Olympic Park.

In his own medal table for the Games’ most sustainable buildings, Shaun McCarthy, chairman of the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012, gave gold to Old Ford, ahead of the Energy Centre and the Velodrome. “It turns poo into water,” a breathless McCarthy told the Huffington Post. www.thameswater.co.uk september 2012 | 9

PRICE REVIEW 2014

Shopping for strategy feedback The public consultation on Thames Water’s 25-year strategy has entered its final weeks, with more than 1,500 customers and staff giving their views The PR14 roadshow in The Oracle, Reading

Three-part business plan In the 2014 Price Review, Ofwat will require water companies to prepare separate fiveyear plans for what it calls the ‘wholesale’ and ‘retail’ parts of the business.

The aim is to help companies find opportunities to be more efficient and save money, ultimately driving down customers’ bills. The move will also support the introduction of more competition in the future.

Thames Water will additionally be required to draw up a third plan covering work on the Thames Tideway Tunnel.

Wholesale plan This will cover the day-to-day running of the operations business, including the costs of sourcing, treating and supplying drinking water, plus treating and disposing of wastewater.

Retail plan This will cover customer service activities such as billing and the running of call centres.

These are the activities that will be at the forefront as the industry becomes more competitive. If a customer chooses to switch supplier, they will effectively just change their customer service provider, as the water and waste services will still be provided locally.

Thames Tideway Tunnel Thames Water is the only company required to submit a separate plan for a major project during PR14.

10 | september 2012 www.thameswater.co.uk

BY ANDREW BOYD

I

ndependent consultants Mott MacDonald have been in shopping centres to hear first-hand what people think should be Thames Water’s main priorities in the period to 2040 and beyond.

Day-long events, also attended by Thames employees, have been staged in towns such as Aylesbury, Reading, Oxford and Swindon. More are planned in the run-up to the end of the consultation on September 21.

The company will use the feedback to help develop a draft strategy, expected to be published at the end of the year.

Stakeholder engagement advisor Ed Dodman, who was at August’s session in Reading’s Oracle shopping centre, said: “The stand was busy – we probably spoke to more than 300 people throughout the day.

“They brought up a wide range of issues, including metering, the level of bills and the December 2012 – produce draft 25-year strategy covering 2015 until 2040 for consultation Spring 2013 – publish final 25-year strategy Spring 2013 – produce draft five-year plan for consultation

change in ownership of private sewers. A number talked about how they were conserving water, which was encouraging, and many took away a free shower timer.”

Venues have been chosen to represent a cross-section of the area Thames Water serves.

Remaining visits include St Albans – part of the waste-only area – Walthamstow, Wimbledon and the Royal Berkshire Show, near Newbury.

‘LOTS OF PEOPLE TALKED ABOUT HOW THEY WERE CONSERVING WATER, WHICH WAS ENCOURAGING’ The long-term strategy will play an important part in forming Thames Water’s more detailed five-year business plan, which is due to submitted to Ofwat as part of the 2014 Price Review.

If you’ve not yet had your say, visit www. thameswater.co.uk/haveyoursay and complete the questionnaire.

TIMELINE covering 2015-2020 Spring 2013 – produce draft water resource management plan Spring 2014 – submit final water resource

management plan Spring 2014 – Submit final five-year business plan Summer 2014 – Ofwat’s draft decision on five-year business plan End 2014 – Ofwat’s final decision on five-year plan

HERITAGE

Who said meeting rooms are boring?

Public’s fresh view of historical water world

The health, safety and environment committee let off steam before a quarterly meeting with a difference at Kempton Park The imposing machines had once been the heartbeat of the water treatment works at Kempton Park, in Middlesex, and supplied north London with drinking water taken from the Thames from 1928 until 1980.

The building had gone “cold and dead” before the Kempton Great Engines Trust was formed in 1995 to create a museum at the works and restore live steam to one of the engines. A new boiler house was built for the trust by Thames Water in 2002 to help make this possible.

The Steam Museum is open to the public, for more details please see www.kemptonsteam.org.

The meeting in full flow.

Above, Thames Water chairman Sir Peter Mason is given instructions by trust volunteers

Thames Water at London Open House: Beckton Sewage Treatment Works Britain’s largest sewage treatment works, home to mainland Britain’s only desalination plant and the site of Britain’s largest tunnelling project.

Abbey Mills Pumping Station, Newham Sir Joseph Bazalgette’s original pumping station generates the highest number of requests for site visits. Described as the ‘cathedral of sewage’.

Walthamstow Wetlands, Walthamstow Reservoirs, Waltham Forest The largest man-made body of water in London. They tell the story of Victorian engineering and the industrial heritage of the Lee Valley.

New River Head and Oak Room, Islington Walk along the site of the New River, a 400-year-old aqueduct designed to bring clean water from Hertfordshire to London. They can then tour the historic ‘Oak Room’, the former board room of the New River Company.

Western Pumping Station, Westminster The station is a fine example of industrial architecture boasting Allen engines that still pump sewage into the gravity fed system towards Beckton.

Pictures by Stewart Turkington

T

he great engines at Kempton provided a spectacular backdrop to July’s health, safety and environment committee meeting.

Thames Water’s head of secretariat David Hughes said the iconic venue proved extremely popular among the directors and was “very well received”.

The directors were taken on a site visit of Kempton Park water treatment works and were then shown around the steam museum and engines by Kempton Great Engines Trust volunteers before getting down to business at ground level, 60ft below the two peaks of the 800 tonne triple expansion engines.

Thames Water is throwing open the doors of some of its hidden gems and engineering marvels as part of Open House London.

The city wide celebration of the capital’s buildings and neighbourhoods takes place on the weekend of September 22 and 23.

Kempton Park, the ornate pumping station at Abbey Mills and King George V Reservoir pump house in Enfield are all playing a part in the celebrations.

John Liddard, Thames Water’s access and recreation co-ordinator said: “So many beautiful buildings are hidden away from view or inaccessible due to the busy day to day work that happens around them.

“This is a rare chance to get inside Britain’s biggest sewage works in Beckton, or to view the home of ‘Busy Lizzie’.”

To find out more and to book visit the London Open House website at www.londonopenhouse.org.

King George V Reservoir, Enfield The grade II listed buildings in the complex are in the Edwardian Baroque style and were opened in 1913. The buildings still incorporates the gas fuelled liquid piston pumps designed by H.A Humphrey Crossness Engines Trust, Bexley The Victorian beam engines designed by Sir Joseph Bazalgette have been restored and are looked after by the Crossness Engines Trust. www.thameswater.co.uk september 2012 | 11

Thames 4 Bangladesh:

How your money is mak Thames Water has supported WaterAid for more than 30 years and, with the backing of contractors and customers, donated over £15 million to the charity. Thames 4 Bangladesh, which started in April 2011, is a four year project to raise £1m to help four towns most in need. The company also aims to raise a further £1m to support WaterAid’s work globally while always making sure the money is put to the best possible use. Here, BECKY JOHNSON provides a quarter one update Where the money has gone It’s currently monsoon season in Bangladesh. This means very little can be done in terms of pouring concrete and building infrastructure.

Instead, WaterAid uses this time to work with local people, both educating them on their rights to safe water and sanitation, providing training on hygiene practices, and planning future work.

Paikgacha

Kalaroa

Kalaroa, in the south west, is located close to the Indian border. Although the area has 40 deep tube-wells, groundwater levels are declining due to agricultural demand, leaving some dysfunctional during the dry season. Groundwater is also contaminated by both arsenic and iron.

This year we will provide access to water for 600 people and sanitation for 690 people. We will also train 2,000 people on their rights to water

Why they need our help: Paikgacha is very neglected, deprived and under-served by all sectors due to its location, border area and water logging. Safe water and sanitation facilities are insufficient and most of the tubewells are contaminated by iron, arsenic and saline – all hazards to human health.

Our plans: This year we will help 1,900 people gain access to clean water, 1,400 of the poorest people gain access to safe sanitation and establish a water system for the town.

Between July and September we’ll be installing 16 rainwater harvesting systems at homes and schools.

Fundraising this quarter More than £120,000 was raised between April and June 2012. The biggest fundraising events were:

Fulbaria

Why they need our help: The poorest communities in Fulbaria have no piped water supply or toilets. Their tube-wells are often affected by arsenic, and frequently dry up due to a declining water table. People face long walks to reach rivers and ponds which are contaminated by rubbish and human waste.

Our plans: Money raised will provide access to safe water for more than 2,200 people and safe sanitation facilities for almost 2,800 people, while up to 8,500 people will receive training. We are also helping to improve drainage in Fulbaria Market Place after traders told us overcoming blocked drains will help them expand.

12 | september 2012 www.thameswater.co.uk

CASE STUDY: Fulbaria Pilot High School These girls pictured are among 1,50 0 children at Fulbaria Pilot High School that had to share a single toilet, resulting in long queues and no priva cy.

Girls had to use the toilet in front of the boys leaving them feeling ashamed, particularly during their periods.

In June, we completed a 14-month project here, which included constructing two new toilets – one for the girls and another for the boys, and repairing the existing one. Children at this school will now no longer need to dread going to the toilet and will find life that bit easier.

Clay Pigeon Shoot: £82,290 A total of 24 teams of eagle-eyed contractors and suppliers fired into the Pangbourne sky at the Royal Berkshire Shooting School during our annual Clay Pigeon Shoot (see Source page 19).

Raft Race: £14,772 Although our annual Raft Race was postponed due to a fast current, we’ve already raised almost £15,000.

The event, which will see more than 30 teams battle it out in the one mile race along the River Thames in Reading, will now take place on September 13.

OlympiAid: £8,473 Teams of three battled it out Olympics-style in five water-related tasks, including the ‘volatile valve’ and balancing buckets.

king a difference £2m

two-year target

Shakhipur

Shakhipur is a new town in the central region of Bangladesh, which does not have access to safe water or sanitation.

How we’re helping: This year our activity will include providing clean water for 1,220 people, sanitation for 690 people, and training for 5,000 people. We’re also working with locals to develop a sludge management plan. Between July and September we’ll be renovating 21 tubewells and installing nine latrines.

2011: Before, Amy Dutton uses the hand-dug well in Shakhipur

CASE STUDY: Rakibnagar Abashon, Shakhipur A slum community of 80 families that suffer illness, disability and poverty, live in government-funded housing in Shakhipur, where they share communal latrines which do not have running water.

The government installed six tubewells, but these quickly ran dry when the groundwater they tapped was exhausted. People here faced a daily struggle, resorting to accessing filthy water via hand dug wells, including this one pictured.

In February, we completed an 11-month project which included drilling a borehole to provide a source of clean water. The borehole had to be deep to avoid the water being contaminated with arsenic.

As well as regularly testing the water, we also pump it to nine points in the town. Work is ongoing to build a waste water system for the community.

10 date: £758,2 to d e is ra l Tota

£120,173

Of which is quarter was raised th

Coming up

It’s not too late to sign up to any of these fundraising activities – there should be something for everyone!

For more details please contact alex.betteridge@thameswater.co.uk Raft Race, September 13 5-20 Challenge, October 5 Five-a-side football, October 31 Sky Dive, October 13

2012: After, the new water-tower which distributes supplies to nine water points in Rakbinagar

Thanks to our sponsors: www.thameswater.co.uk september 2012 | 13

LONDON TIDEWAY IMPROVEMENTS

High five for ‘remarkab

Swapping shovels for paint brushes

Significant progress is being made in the £675 million mega upgrade to London’s five main sewage works which discharge into the River Thames

BY CRAIG RANCE

BY SONIA RANA

Thames Water engineers swapped shovels for paint brushes as they helped paint a local village hall in Wiltshire.

The team gave a fresh lick of paint to the community building in Baydon to say thank you to those who have put up with the disruption of a new pipe line being laid through their neighbourhood.

Contractors Optimise, who are laying the new pipeline across fields from Bailey reservoir, under the M4 motorway, to Baydon water tower got the job done on August 11.

Kim Austen, a trustee of Baydon Village Hall, said: “The hall had started looking a bit neglected, so we got some new windows and did the painting before we get new flooring and heating put in.

“Once the summer is over it will be used for pre-school, toddler and brownie groups. We wouldn’t have been able to do all the painting and decorating if it hadn’t been for the guys’ help. They really made all the difference.”

The water pipe will improve the network that serves people to the east including Membury and Hungerford Newtown.

The village of Baydon is supplied with water from boreholes at Ramsbury, but a lot of the construction traffic is based in the village.

Pupils from Baydon primary school have already visited the work site to see how engineers lay water pipes and taken part in a poster competition promoting road safety.

Work is due for completion next month

ust over two and a half years ago an army of construction workers from all over the country arrived at Mogden, Crossness, Beckton, Riverside and Long Reach to get stuck into some of Thames Water’s biggest ever engineering projects.

A combined workforce of well over 1,000 have since worked tirelessly across the five sewage treatment works, relocating intricate underground services and pipes, digging and moving enormous amounts of earth for the extensions and laying up to 20-metre deep foundations to support new equipment.

And now all of the additional sewage tanks – collectively able to treat over 1.5 million tonnes of extra sewage a day – have been built at each of the sites.

Nick Fawcett, head of programme delivery, said it’s “quite incredible” to see how much has changed in a relatively short amount of time.

“We’ve been looking at drawings of the extensions for years and they are now turning into reality,” he said.

“At Beckton, UK’s biggest sewage works, I vividly remember a pretty much flat surface just over a year ago, and now over 20 massive treatment tanks – a total surface area bigger than the Olympic Park – have transformed the landscape.

Sewer solution Thames Water is building 1.4km of tunnel sewers to take away the waste of new homes at Wichelstowe – a specially planned extension for Wiltshire town Swindon.

The 1.2m diameter tunnel sewer will be constructed between the new development and Mannington Recreation Ground where it will connect in to the local network.

Work to build the shafts and tunnelling started at the end of July, with the project set for completion in May 2013.

Tunnelling is a less disruptive construction method than laying pipes in an open trench, however there will be some traffic restrictions around the area set for 4,500 new homes, three primary schools, shops and a village pub.

14 | september 2012 www.thameswater.co.uk

New control panels at Riverside

J

Site inspections at Crossness

“It’s remarkable to see the progress and it’s a similar story at the other sites. We’re bringing about huge changes that will make London’s biggest sewage works fit for the future.”

The programme of upgrades, due to be finished in 2014, are a critical part of the London Tideway Improvements programme. They will boost sewage treatment capacity – by as much as 60

able’ upgrade effort Electrical installation at Long Reach

LTI

Updates from around the sites

Long Reach and Riverside Flows entering the new Sewage flows are already Riverside tanks arriving and being treated in the new tanks and the two projects are now gearing up to finish this year.

Both teams have cleared a number of hurdles and challenges, including digging deep trenches alongside existing equipment and maintaining the site’s treatment processes while taking some of the older plant out of service for refurbishment. New SCADA control systems have been installed to monitor the new plant.

Long Reach’s ageing site-wide control system is being replaced with a technology called Wonderware, which will enable performance visibility at other company locations.

This is the first site across the Thames area to have the technology fitted.

Crossness Commissioning of some of the new works has started 18 months before target completion date. The team are progressing well with a £25m refurbishment of the existing works while the plant continues to process up to 11 tonnes of waste every second.

They have also just finished laying five enormous 33,000 volt cables under the River Thames to power the new works – three miles of cables underneath a canal, a school, homes and two dual carriageways.

Crossness Nature Reserve received £384,000 worth of enhancements to mitigate for habitat lost as part of the work.

per cent at Beckton – to treat increased flows during heavy rain and prevent the need to discharge raw sewage into the River Thames.

The extensions will also improve the quality of water returned to the river at the end of the treatment process, meeting much tighter discharge standards recently set by the Beckton, pictured now and in June 2011, has been transformed in just over a year

Environment Agency – and this level has already been achieved at Riverside.

Nick added: “With all of the building work essentially complete, the focus of activity is now on the mechanical and electrical installations to get all of the the new tanks up and running, and ready to hand over to the operations Head of programme teams on site.” delivery Nick Fawcett

Mogden Half of the new works has just been brought online and the extra capacity means the team can start making odour improvements to the existing works.

The team have also changed the design of a massive retaining wall, built using surplus soil on site rather than concrete, reducing CO2 emissions by 225 tonnes, and minimising construction traffic.

They also relocated their construction offices – just metres from properties – a year early, meaning they can advance with landscaping a massive earth embankment overlooked by a number of properties.

Beckton All of the new treatment tanks, built from pre-cast concrete panels, have been fully water tested with not a single leak found. The method used results in a much better product compared to building them from scratch on site. It also saves time, money and improves safety.

A 750-metre tunnel which will transport treated water from the extension to the existing outfall has also been created by ‘Beckton Becky’, a state-of-the-art tunnel boring. Beckton Becky recently broke through the reception shaft after six months of tunnelling 20-metres below site.

The team also recently managed to safeguard the site against the extra power demands posed by the Olympics – see page 2 for full story. www.thameswater.co.uk september 2012 | 15

IN FOCUS: WATERWATCHERS

Higher reward for every lead WaterWatchers are on the road reminding people of the service that made the company more than £1 million last year

BY STUART WHITE

T

he WaterWatchers team have upped the stakes for every reported lead and introduced a new quarterly prize draw.

Sales and billing process advisor Claire Olijnyczenko is in the middle of a company-wide roadshow relaunching the initiative for all Thames Water employees and contractors.

WaterWatchers is a team based in customer service in Swindon who investigates reports of unbilled water use.

They will now pay £30 – up from £10 – direct into your salary for every lead that produces a bill.

This will also trigger an automatic entry into the new quarterly prize draw to win £250 of high street shopping vouchers – accepted at over 85 leading retailers including HMV and Halfords.

Claire said: “I have been on the road promoting WaterWatchers to all staff, reminding them that it still exists and telling them of the new benefits. We want all Thames Water employees and contract staff to be aware and care.

“It has been great meeting everyone and I have received positive feedback from the teams, especially field staff who tend to find the most leads.”

Claire said the team receive around 100 leads a month and identified 927 households and 134 commercial accounts last year, resulting in new bills of more than £1m.

Claire Olijnyczenko presents Stephen Barry with the shopping vouchers his wife is likely to spend

This year’s target has been raised to £1.4m and so the team are calling on your help to feed the information.

Claire added: “WaterWatchers rely entirely on employees and contractors tipping them

Shopping vouchers ‘for the wife’ Beckton-based risk management technologist Stephen Barry, 28, who has worked for Thames Water for nine years, won the first quarterly prize draw and walked away with £250 shopping vouchers. But the man featured in front of the giant Crossrail machine in July’s Source admits it might have been a mistake telling his wife It was the first time I had ever passed over a lead. I wasn’t even sure WaterWatchers still existed but I’d heard colleagues talk about it and typed the email address in Lotus Notes, and it popped up.

I had visited a new college for 16 | september 2012 www.thameswater.co.uk

construction work training in Ilford, Essex, for the Crossrail project and my site contact mentioned he had not received a water bill.

I checked on the customer information system and I could not find an account. I

off, using their experience and knowledge during their daily work to highlight properties they believe are not being billed.

“It’s a great example of different parts of the business working together to help the company succeed.”

Submit a lead via the new form on the portal or text 07797 800 808. Alternatively, email waterwatchers@thameswater. co.uk or call 0845 301 0200. Email claire. olijnyczenko@thameswater.co.uk to find out more about WaterWatchers or to arrange for her to visit a team meeting. really needed one in place for my benefit to set-up a trade effluent bill but thought I would also pass on the information to WaterWatchers.

I received the £30, which was great, and was then told I would be entered in the draw. I was really surprised when I got the call to say I had won.

I’m going on holiday with my wife this month to Cornwall and need some new trainers, but I think my wife has already got her own ideas on how to spend them and I might not get much of a look in.

WHAT SHOULD I REPORT? Missing meters and supplies Conversions or refurbished properties Unmetered irrigation supplies Supplies bypassing the meter feed

NEWS

Annual tunnel inspections Thames Water engineers have been inspecting London’s water transfer tunnels.

Teams are checking for any damage and giving the intricate brickwork a spruce up.

More than 12 kilometres of the tunnels – which carry water for millions of Londoners – have been checked this summer, and cleared of sand and silt.

The tunnels carry untreated water from reservoirs and rivers in London to water works across the capital where it is treated to the highest quality and pumped out to taps.

Jason Aldred, head of programme delivery, said: “It is a complex job. We never know what we are going to find until we get down there.”

London schools wise up to water

Thames Water’s support for schools programme has seen students rising to the challenge

Tunnels range between 1.5m and 2.5m in diameter. This is in Walthamstow

Fire brigade help Thames extinguish drought flames The common bond between Thames Water and the fire brigade is water. During the drought it was more important than ever to work together

BY GEOFF JOHNSON

E

ach of the 11 fire brigades in the Thames Water region actively contributed to the company’s water saving campaign during the drought.

Before the hosepipe ban was lifted midJune, there was concern at the impact the driest two years on record could have on their operational capability in fighting fires and so they volunteered to help out.

“THE BRIGHT RED ENGINES WERE PROUD TO BE DIRTY” Thames Water recognised the key role fire brigades could play in actively marketing water wise messages to the public.

Following discussions, leaflets were made available at each fire station and headquarters, and posters highlighting the campaign were pinned to information boards. Some brigades even had water efficiency demonstration packs on display.

Each station was given shower saving devices, and ‘Hippos’ and ‘sava flushes’ were provided – although many stations already had them fitted.

Some of the brigades chose

to do dry training runs and stopped flow and pressure tests unless absolutely necessary.

They even postponed charity car washes to show their support to the campaign, and the bright red engines were ‘Proud to be dirty’.

In return, Thames Water could also help the fire brigades plan for a worst case scenario. On June 14, the London Fire Brigade were given a presentation on what procedures would be in place to allow pressures to be restored, including Thames Water response time capabilities in reacting to fire calls.

Work and engagement in this area is ongoing but the company has undertaken to provide a pressure and flow range at fire hydrants across the pressure reduction areas to allow the London Fire Brigade to make critical decisions about its response to fire calls in an emergency drought order situation.

The brigade’s help doesn’t just stop with the end of the drought as they regularly report potential illegal use of fire hydrants and leaks they spot.

DID YOU KNOW? The Fire and Rescue Services rely on 170,000 hydrants across the network to draw water from to fight fires.

More than 200 students from Eastlea Community School devised innovative ways to save water and make Newham the most water efficient London Borough.

Four Thames Water volunteers along with helpers from other local businesses facilitated the day, organised by East London Business Alliance, for the 15-year-olds.

Clare Sandels, community investment and education manager, said: “We were astonished at the huge range of ideas.

They worked really well in teams to create advertising campaigns, posters and models for their water wise ideas.”

A panel of judges, including Thames Water’s Monica Kumah and Councillor Alec Kellaway, chose the winning design – a specially adapted shower timer for the visually impaired.

The device calls out a countdown towards the end of a four-minute shower and then sounds a siren. As an added incentive, the students incorporated a hot-water shut off after four minutes.

Liz Banks speaks to the class at the Hounslow science fair

Over in Hounslow, west London, 120 Year 7 students got stuck into the Thames Water taste test as part of a day-long science fair, organised by Hounslow Education Business Partnership.

Thames Water’s Liz Banks, Clare Sandels and Alex Mahon set the 12-year-old students the challenge of identifying five different brands of water, including the fresh taste of Thames’ finest, and more than 10 chose tap as their favourite.

Karen Field, head of science at Hounslow Manor School, said: “I am sure some of the students will now consider working in fields they hadn’t considered before as a result of this fantastic day.”

If you would like to help out with a school volunteering activity email karen.rudkin@ thameswater.co.uk. There are opportunities for individuals and teams to get involved in a whole range of activities. www.thameswater.co.uk september 2012 | 17

SOCIAL

MEDIA

Burst floods high road and Twitter A burst pipe flooded Kilburn High Road in three feet Follow us of water in the week leading up to the Olympic @t hameswater Games. It was caused by a burst on a 16-inch Thames Water main. As part of our response, we posted this message on Twitter to update our customers: @thameswater A burst pipe is causing traffic disruption to Kilburn High Road and tube station. Our engineers are on site. Sorry for any inconvenience. This was the reaction that morning:

Nicola Reece @Gloss80 WHOA!!! #Kilburn high Rd!! Burst water main! It’s like a river!! No Lie! Peeps taking shoes off & paddling!!!

Serious!

Lis @mumble_rosie Kilburn High Road is closed and has been turned into a swimming pool

BBC London Travel @BBCLondonTravel Kilburn High Road is like a lake this morning – burst water main in both directions between Brondesbury and Kilburn High Road stations.

Abigail Morris @Abigailamykaren @thameswater puts those ads about being careful with water and timing your shower into perspective.

London Fire Brigade @LondonFire We’re dealing with a burst water main on Maygrove Road in Kilburn. 6 fire engines & over 30 firefighters at the scene. More soon.

Jen @MissiMartinez Woah! Kilburn High Road is looking a tad wet. Think this is the closest to Venice I’m gonna get!! #kilburn Matt Noble @mightynobble Looks like they might be having the sailing down kilburn high road this olympics.

Online editor SHAUN LOWMAN explains how Thames Water uses Twitter The digital team uses Twitter as a communication tool between Thames Water, our customers and other stakeholders.

Its versatility means we can broadcast service information during an incident, or message individual customers about issues personal to them.

But while Twitter is a useful medium for us to promote company messages, it is far more valuable to monitor what’s being said to and about Thames Water.

Customers often alert us to leaks we are unaware of, and won’t hold back in venting their frustrations if an aspect of our service hasn’t met their expectations.

Reacting quickly to this is key. Resolving account issues, correcting misinformed opinions, or acting as an information point not only keeps our customers in the know, but protects our brand online.

And because Twitter is the favoured method of communication for an increasing number of people – particularly Londoners, like in this Kilburn incident – its importance to the company will only increase.

James King @jamesrobking Will Thames Water blame the hot weather for the burst water mains on the Kilburn High Road. I wouldn’t be surprised. Top end of Kilburn High Road is a lake. Avoid.

Tom @Tom Welland @LondonFire a tad excessive for a burst main! I hope you’re charging the water company.

What is Twitter?

John Hiley @JohnHiley Kilburn High Road is literally a river. Police & fire engines everywhere. #kilburn

Richard Bickler @ArbourDesign @LondonFire surely that’s a waste of fire fighters ability to attend other shouts. Appreciate safety aspect all round though.

David Smart @Davidsmart1973 @bradwiggins Your old stomping ground (Kilbur n High Road) is flooded this mo rning Wiggo! Burst water main.

18 | september 2012 www.thameswater.co.uk

Harnessing the power

Twitter is an online social networking service that enables users to send and read picture and text-based messages of up to 140 characters. These are called ‘tweets’.

The site currently has more than 500 million active users generating over 340 million tweets daily. Twitter also deals with over 1.6 billion search queries per day and is one of the top 10 most visited on the internet.

Unregistered users can read tweets, while registered users can post tweets through the website interface, text messaging or a range of apps for mobile devices.

For some, it is the first port of call for breaking news and gives users the chance to share their views and live images.

Pictures by Stewart Turkington Chief finance officer Stuart Siddall shows them how it’s done

Money-spinning shoot hits the target

Teams of contractors and suppliers raised more than £80,000 for WaterAid in the 2012 Charity Shoot

S

harp-shooter Dennis Wait showed patience is key by winning two awards at the annual WaterAid charity shoot.

The annual event raised a fantastic £82,290 for WaterAid as eagle-eyed guests fired into the Pangbourne sky under the instruction of Dylan Williams at the Royal Berkshire Shooting School.

A total of 24 teams made up of contractors and suppliers took part in this summer’s social event that is always a blast.

Auction prizes included an activity weekend in Cumbria for eight, donated by Dove nest Group, four World Cup qualifier tickets to England versus Ukraine at Wembley from Optimise, a trip for two on the Orient Express from MGJV and the Thames Water/WaterAid lot of dinner for six cooked in your home by award-winning restaurant Haweli.

There was also a silent auction, which had four tickets for Madness up for grabs courtesy of Veolia Water and a luxury hamper from IS Consulting, and a business card raffle run

by GBM. PRIZE WINNERS Top Gun: Justin Seeley Top Lady: Sarah Dye Top Team: PJ Klay (Michael and Patrick Keary, Kieran Howard, Dennis Wait) Glorious Twelfth Team: Hoping for a MIRAcle (Ed Beckley, Peter Dyer, Jennifer Steen, Paul Anderson) Clay Conservationists: Murphy’s Law (David Babb, Seamus Ryan, Tommy Knight, Dominic Nelson) Top Archer: Dennis Wait The Sweep: Dave Hillyard www.thameswater.co.uk september 2012 | 19

NEWS

New tool to help network teams A new product brought to life in the infamous Executive Den by CATH HUNT was launched last month

BY STUART WHITE

V

alve Vision will save time, money and a lot of frustration for Thames Water’s engineers and customers.

The new tool is an upgrade to the corporate geographic information system (GIS) tool to show which critical valves are in good working order.

Valves can sometimes be covered in tarmac, seized closed or broken, and before the upgrade, operations had no way of knowing their status by looking on GIS. Now, with the introduction of these new place holders, the company is able to hold accurate information on the operability of all network valves. This is particularly important when dealing with Thames Water’s 18,000 critical valves.

Asset data improvement analyst Martin Tucker, who came up with the idea pushed forward by Cath Hunt during her Foundation Leadership Programme, said it is “purely to help the network teams” and that it will “save them a lot of time and effort”.

“I would have loved a tool like this,”

he said. “I have been an NST and it will allow us to shut mains more effectively, first time. I am proud of what we have achieved and glad to see it now being used by the business.”

Valve Vision will help save leakage as well as cut customer complaints of low pressure or no water by giving the event control room and engineers accurate knowledge of which valves to target to shut off supply.

Senior water planner Cath, who is based at Kemble Court, and developed and implemented Martin’s idea as her Business Challenge, added: “This simple idea is born out of practicality. It gives the teams a better understanding of what valves are accessible and working. The Executives said it was a no-brainer in the den so it is great to see it up and running.”

“IT GIVES A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT VALVES ARE ACCESSIBLE AND WORKING” Cath, who described her Executive Den experience at Reading Town Hall as “frightening”, originally pitched for an investment of £35,000 in February 2011. Refining of the scope of the tool yet maintaining the functionality required by key users meant Cath could reduce the overall cost of the development by strategic data analyst Robert Miles and IT provider Wipro by 50 per cent.

Due to the introduction of WAMI, delivery of Valve Vision was delayed several times but it finally went live in August.

TOP 5 BENEFITS OF VALVE VISION: Reduce customer complaints Plan and complete works first time Reduce contractor waiting time and council fines Emergency response time reduced Accurate data to prioritise repairs

Applications are now being accepted for the Institute of Water’s Rising Stars Programme 2013.

Thames Water’s ‘Rising Stars’ have until September 21 to demonstrate their potential and appetite to progress in the industry.

As part of the Institute of Water’s ongoing work to nurture rising talent in the sector, it has teamed up with Utility Week magazine to reward eight people under the age of 30.

The programme, now in its second year, is designed to encourage the development and raise the profile of young individuals employed in the sector.

Profiles of those selected will be featured in Utility Week and there will be a programme of initiatives specifically designed to help their development throughout 2013.

Rising Star Ashley Moule, a network asset engineer from Welsh Water on the 2012 programme, said: “It has provided me with further opportunity to develop, broaden my experience, see other parts of the industry, and has given me a platform to demonstrate my ability to my company and colleagues.

“It has also provided opportunities that wouldn’t normally be available. I would encourage others to embrace this opportunity and apply for the 2013 programme.”

Institute of Water chief executive Lynn Cooper added: “This tailor made programme is a great opportunity for eight youngsters and I look forward to following their progress over the coming year.”

Candidates will be asked to write a short paper outlining why they consider themselves to be a Rising Star, and explaining where they would like to be in 10 years. If you are under the age of 30 and wish to be considered for the 2013 programme, contact Lyndsey Gilmartin for an application form by calling 0191 422 0088 or emailing training@ instituteofwater.org.uk. Applications must be returned by noon on September 21.

Cure for congestion

Cath Hunt next to the Olympic torch on display at Clearwater Court 20 | september 2012 www.thameswater.co.uk

Are you a water industry rising star?

The Reading Festival crowds had a clear route to the main stage after Thames Water roadworks on Caversham Road were put on the rocks.

A lane had been closed while 252 metres of old creaky cast-iron pipe was replaced as part of the company’s commitment to reduce leakage.

With bands like Foo Fighters and The Cure in town, lane restrictions were cleared by Monday, August 20.

Andrew Popple, Thames Water’s head of programme delivery, said: “We will be back some time in September to complete the job.

As we let the concrete cure, folks down the road will be rocking out to The Cure, which has to be a good thing.”

Clear view of HQ

BY ANDREW BOYD This shot of Thames Water headquarters was taken by sci-fi movie style eye-in-the-sky technology.

The innovation team are looking into potential uses for the rotor-powered aerial platforms, which can carry cameras weighing up to 9kg.

The idea came from commercial director Piers Clark, who saw them in action at a Dragons’ Den-

style event he was chairing.

Dubbed ‘Extreme Mobile Information Gathering Systems’, the devices have been demonstrated at Kempton water treatment works and here at Reading’s Clearwater Court – a session held for the executive team.

Head of innovation Rupert Kruger said: “This sort of kit has previously been used in the film industry.

If you have any ideas for it, especially if it eliminates the need for working at height, please get in touch.”

Potential uses for the airborne cameras so far include:

• Taking images of inaccessible roofs and buildings • Surveying pipes on the underside of bridges or the top of water towers • Checking the condition of storage reservoirs Another use could involve spotting leakage from trunk mains. Nic Clay-Michael, the team’s water networks projects manager, said: “Water is often at a different temperature from the surrounding environment, so an infra-red camera could show where water is escaping.”

Anyone with ideas should email brightideas@thameswater.co.uk.

Eco-friendly future of gardening Britain’s biggest water firm is offering eco-friendly watering systems to its 14 million customers at 15 per cent below the normal market price

BY SIMON EVANS

G

reen-fingered Thames Water customers can spend more time sun-bathing while their solar-powered, automatic drip-irrigation systems keep their gardens green.

Customers can buy the Irrigatia kit at 15 per cent off the standard price while Thames Water’s hard-working employees are being offered a further 10 per cent discount.

The systems are completely self-sufficient, requiring no mains water or electricity supply, and they use up to 90 per cent less water than a hose.

Drip-irrigation tubes are fed by a solar-powered pump, which sucks water from a water butt, or other non-pressurised water source, and sends it to plants at three-hourly intervals throughout the day The water firm has signed a five-year agreement with manufacturers Irrigatia and customers can order the drip-irrigation kits online at www. thameswater.co.uk/offers.

Nick Sumption, Thames Water’s partnership manager, said: “Once it is switched on, an

“THIS IS THE WAY FORWARD FOR THE MODERN GARDENER” The more sun, the more they water Save plants from getting parched and water when on holiday Water up to five large hanging baskets or 24 10-litre pots

Irrigatia system will water your plants every three hours, applying more water when it is sunny. And unlike us, it won’t forget to water those prized azaleas – even when you go away.

“The more sun, the more watering – and, of course, the more sunbathing. This is the ecofriendly way forward for the modern gardener.

They give plants exactly what they need when they need it, using up to 10 per cent of the water a hose does.”

It is advised to position the solar-powered pump unit in a sunny position in the garden so the battery is fully charged.

George Evans, managing director of Irrigatia, said: “There is no other product like this on the market today. The fact Thames Water can tell its 14 million customers about it will be immense, helping more people experience the benefits of the increased plant growth that can be achieved in the garden and greenhouse when using an Irrigatia system.”

The pump will water up to five metres above the water source and the last dripper can be up to 60 metres away from the water source.

An Irrigatia kit’s recommended retail price is £79.50, or £67.57 to Thames Water customers taking advantage of the 15 per cent reduction, or £59.62 to employees.

They are ideal for small gardens, and can be used for pots, raised beds, hanging baskets, vegetables and greenhouses. www.thameswater.co.uk september 2012 | 21

NATURE

Wild about nature

Carlo Laurenzi OBE, London Wildlife Trust chief executive, with Martin Baggs, Thames Water chief executive

There are a number of nature events to get involved with in September.

Two free, open to all Wild About Hedgehogs evenings are taking place in Swindon (September 11, 6.30pm to 8pm) and Reading (September 18, 6pm to7.30pm).

There is also a giant BioBlitz going on at Farmoor Reservoir on Sunday, September 16.

These exciting events are a way for people to take conservation into their own hands by getting directly involved in monitoring and surveying the environment.

Contact Cathy Purse for more information and to get involved.

Catch a look at this stunner This blue trout is being released into Farmoor 1 Reservoir by ranger team leader Matt Prior.

He said it is “particularly special” having the species in the Oxfordshire water after a restocking exercise on August 7.

Five hundred rainbow trout of 1.4kg and above were joined by a few brown trout and a handful of the striking blue trout in the Thames Water reservoir.

Matt said the blue trout are notoriously hard to breed and that they are very popular with anglers.

“They are very pretty and look like a streak of aqua marine swimming in the water,” he said. “They fight harder and jump a lot more than rainbow, and are very exciting to catch.”

Farmoor Reservoir is a catch and release water famed for its quality of fish and their tremendous fighting qualities.

Matt added: “We stock both reservoirs at Farmoor throughout the year but the quality fish such as the brown and blue trout we’ve stocked on this occasion are particularly special.”

Farmoor 1 Reservoir, five miles west of Oxford, costs £25 for a day’s fishing or £15 for the last four hours. Call the Farmoor rangers on 07747 640707 or visit www.farmoor-reservoir.com for more details.

22 | september 2012 www.thameswater.co.uk

Making the most of wildlife havens Thames Water and London Wildlife Trust have joined forces to help boost conservation in the capital

BY CLAUDIA INNES

I

n an effort to better recognise the value and make greater use of Thames Water’s sites as wildlife havens, the firm has signed a strategic alliance agreement with its long standing partners London Wildlife Trust.

Sewage treatment works such as Crossness and water sites like Kempton are great refuges for a surprisingly rich and often rare variety of plants and animal species, and this new alliance will help protect wildlife where it is most needed.

Part of the new alliance with London Wildlife Trust includes big plans to develop the Stoke Newington reservoirs as a visitor destination, where the firm hopes to encourage school children and the wider community to protect biodiversity in an accessible urban setting, while teaching the importance of issues such as water resourcing and safe sanitation, water efficiency and conservation.

The aim is to inspire people and provide better access to Thames Water’s best sites.

The company has a long history of successfully delivering a broad range of environmental projects, but in the last year has focused more on engaging a wider breadth of communities

and young people with the capital’s natural environment and on protecting and enhancing what we have.

As well as nature reserves, the firm has secured approval for a brand new biodiversity strategy and is now well into the second year of a unique employee engagement scheme ‘Wild About Thames’, which gives people a chance to encounter the wildlife on our sites directly.

Thames is also currently working with the London Borough of Waltham Forest on an ambitious Heritage Lottery funding bid to transform the 200 hectare reservoir site at Walthamstow into a distinctive urban wetland and nature reserve.

The 10 reservoirs are internationally recognised wildlife habitats and plans include wildlife and heritage trails, restoration of the Marine Engine House to create a ‘Water and Life’ visitor centre and a number of new educational resources.

The project was a winner of a 2012 London Planning Award under the ‘Best Conceptual Project’ category. This prestigious award was established to celebrate developments that make a notable contribution to the landscape of London.

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FUNDRAISING

Fired up mum’s volcanic challenge Document analyst DAWN HAUGE-BROWN, 49, talks of her charity volcano climb in our latest tweet interview – with answers restricted to 140 characters!

BY GEMMA MATTHEWS

Dawn Hauge-Brown with her proud daughter Tilly

So you are climbing Mount Etna in Sicily. Why and how?

Three friends are going on a three day trek up Mount Etna; the tallest active volcano in Europe.

I wanted a challenge before turning 50.

Anything else, as don’t you each have to reach £1,550 in total?

Yes, we are self funding the trip so all we raise goes to the charity.

We’ve also held a quiz, disco, car boots and done bag packs.

Seems a bit steep. Doesn’t it worry you Etna is live?

It worries my daughter, 9, more than me to be honest. I wanted to show her I’m not just a regular mum and this seemed perfect.

Have the people at work been supportive?

Eight colleagues helped me with the cake bake and they have been very encouraging – one even went walking with me at lunch times.

Are you excited about your own Italian job?

I am now. It is certainly something different to do – not many people can say they’ve climbed a live volcano!

What does it involve?

The first two days trekking prepares us for the really hard climb to the summit at the end.

We will be sleeping in huts on the way up.

So you leave on September 19, are you ready?

I used to be really sporty and have been walking lots, but

We had a cake bake at work, which made £154. My daughter also did an Olympic Challenge which made £47.

How long have you worked for Thames Water?

I’ve been here since 1986, and had lots of different jobs. I now work in technical information who look after all asset data in Reading. it’s much harder with our backpacks. Raising the money has also proved a challenge.

You are climbing for St Michaels Hospice in Basingstoke. What do they do?

They provide palliative care services to adults in North Hampshire suffering from lifelimiting illnesses.

Good luck. Can I still sponsor you?

Yes – go to www.justgiving.com/ teams/tadleytrio to donate. As a team, we need to raise £4,650 so any help is appreciated.

How have you raised the money?

Stage open for panto stars Thames Water Amateur Theatre Society is hoping to recruit both on and off stage stars for its 2013 panto Snow White and the D.W.A.R.V.E.S. The society rehearse in Walnut Court, Swindon, every Sunday leading up to the performance and the big show will take place at the end of January at the Wyvern Theatre in the Wiltshire town.

Thames Water business communications advisor Kate Northcott said a role requires a certain amount of commitment, but would urge anyone tempted to get involved.

She recently joined society members for a visit to one of the 2012 nominated charities, Blue Cross in Burford, to present them with a cheque for £2,400 from profits raised in this

Kate Northcott and the Thames Water Amateur Theatre Society members hand over the cheque for £2,400 to Blue Cross

year’s panto, Beauty and the Beast.

Kate said: “We got to meet the horses and were told how the animal adoption programme works, as well as meeting all the cats, rabbits and gerbils.

“We even got a chance to meet a couple of rescued dogs and have our pictures

taken with them. All in all it was a fab, very informative day, and the Blue Cross was over the moon with the donation.”

Anyone across Thames Water is welcome to join the 2013 panto. Email Paul Aust to let him know which part of the show you want to get involved in. www.thameswater.co.uk september 2012 | 23

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