Institute of Water Journal 188

WINTER2015 ISSUE188

IN THIS ISSUE: UNDERGROUND ASSETS PUBLIC HEALTH WASTEWATER SOLUTIONS RIVERS INSTITUTE OF WATER JOURNAL

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION A warm welcome to the Institute of Water journal.

My name is Tim Wagstaff and I am excited to say I’m one of the new board members for the Institute of Water.

Being a board member has still not sunk in, even after attending my first board meeting in September! I was given the opportunity to apply to be a board member as a past Rising Star. After a very close selection from a number of high calibre candidates I was told at the annual conference in Cambridge I had been made a board member for a three year term. I have been given the honour of being responsible for the National Innovation Awards.

As everyone knows when an opportunity arises you are best to grab it as quickly as you can which is what I did. I feel this should be the same when it comes to innovation. Innovation, whether in a product, technology, customer service or education campaign, if harnessed can make a step change in any industry and this is no different in water or sewerage. We need to encourage people to grab new ideas to discover potential opportunities.

In preparing for my first board meeting I talked to a number of previous National Innovation Award finalists including representatives from Radio Data Networks, Wessex Water, Kelda Water Services and Southern Water who all extolled the virtues of innovation and how important it was. They’ve helped identify ways to further raise the profile of innovations in the industry. My aim over the next three years is to continue to promote innovation in the water and sewerage industry through the Institute of Water National and Regional awards.

I have a number of ideas to get the right people in the industry and supply chain talking, provide further benefit to you the members

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Features by highlighting the latest innovations that can actually be used in your area of work and make a difference. I aim to improve the level of engagement the Institute of Water has with the supply chain going back to the roots of the Institute in sharing best practice by unleashing the power of the memberships’ industry experience.

So to start raising the awareness of innovation The Institute needs your help. We want to hear about the best innovations in the water industry right now so tweet us @InstWater or email us info@instituteofwater.org.uk with the best innovations you’ve seen this year using the #IWaterInnovation including a photo.

We’ll then showcase the most innovative in the next Institute of Water journal and encourage you to apply for this years Institute of Water Innovation Awards.

This year I will be attending many regional innovation events so if you see me come and say hello as I would love to hear your ideas on raising awareness of innovation in the water and sewerage industry further. Good luck with grabbing those opportunities.

22-37 Underground Assets 38-45 Public Health 50-67 Waste Water 72-73 National Infrastructure Plan 76-79 Rivers

Regulars 4 Members Update

6 Engineering News 6 Science News

7 Environment News 8-9 Rising Stars

10-13 WaterAid 14-15 CPD 82-90 Area News

Tim Wagstaff

Board Member, Institute of Water

Institute of Water HQ: 4 Carlton Court, Team Valley, Gateshead, Tyne & Wear NE11 0AZ Website: www.instituteofwater.org.uk President: Peter Simpson Chairperson: Ian Limb Chief Executive: Lynn Cooper Editorial, Marketing & Communications Manager: Dan Barton Tel: 0191 422 0088 Fax: 0191 422 0087 Email: dan@instituteofwater.org.uk Advertising: Martin Jamieson Tel: 0845 884 2333 Email: martin.jamieson@distinctivegroup.co.uk Designed and produced by: Distinctive Publishing Tel: 0845 884 2383 Email: production@distinctivegroup.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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MEMBERSUPDATE Welcome new Company Members...

CABWI ON BOARD CABWI Awarding Body is a nationally-recognised awarding organisation, which specialises in developing and awarding vocational qualifications for the water and wider utilities industries.

HQ UPDATE We’re delighted to welcome two new members of staff to the team at Institute of Water HQ. Sarah Dunn has joined us as Professional Registration Coordinator and Lucy Archer has come on board as Marketing and Events Administrator.

Our HQ team now looks like…

Lynn Cooper Chief Executive lynn@instituteofwater.orrg.uk

It awards vocational qualifications in the Regulated Qualifications Framework and is one of the recognised awarding bodies for the Street Works Qualifications in Excavation and Reinstatement in the Highway, under the requirements of the New Roads and Street Works Act. CABWI was established in 1991, as The Certification and Assessment Board for the Water Industry. The name was changed to CABWI Awarding Body in 1998, to reflect the fact that its schemes cover water, utilities, highways and related skills.

In 2014 CABWI became a registered charity, to enhance its focus on the development and

Dan Barton Marketing and Communications Manager dan@instituteofwater.org.uk delivery of cost-effective vocational qualifications which provide the knowledge and skills required by those who work in operational and supervisory roles in the water and utilities sectors. Our charitable status allows us to work with employers and training providers to develop qualifications and, increasingly, endorsed training programmes, to support the development of careers for young people in the water and utilities industries.

Sarah Dunn Professional Registration Coordinator sarah@instituteofwater.org.uk

Lucy Archer Marketing and Events Administrator lucy@instituteofwater.org.uk

Jordan Maloy

WELCOME TO CSC SERVICES Polyurea Coating technology. This has a number of advantages to conventional materials used for this purpose due to its fast setting time, extreme resistance to atmospheric attack and durable abrasion characteristics, allowing for a fully sustainable solution.

CSC Services is a specialist contractor providing cost effective, high performance cleaning, concrete repair, specialist coatings and leak sealing solutions to: n Reservoirs n Water towers n Water tanks (above and below ground) n Water and Waste Water Treatment Works

Innovative leak sealing Use of the latest sealing technology enables coating with minimum disruption to service. CSC Services has invested in the latest WRAS approved

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Single source solution Established since 2002 CSC Services offer specialist reactive teams able to deal with most structural refurbishment problems. All operatives are confined space qualified, hold CSCS cards, EUSR Water Hygiene cards and City and Guild Water Jetting certificates as a minimum.

Membership of the Institute of Water will allow company operatives and directors to keep up to date with the ever changing sector and the complex challenges it faces.

For more information please contact Director Mark Lemon on 0191 410 3444 or 07738 517206.

Find us at www.csc-services.co.uk or visit us at Utility Week Live 2016.

Business Administration Apprentice jordan@instituteofwater.org.uk We’d also like to send our best wishes to Francesca Madden who left this summer after two and a half years in her role at Institute of Water HQ.

2016 DIARY

As we continue to embrace technology and the digital age the Institute of Water will no longer be producing a diary – sorry to disappoint those who have looked forward to receiving it over the years.

It’s

we do best

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M A R T I N

B A G G S ,

C E O ,

T H A M E S

W A T E R

ENGINEERINGNEWS

Congratulations to our latest Engineering Registrants!

Elaine Minihan Process Engineer, Mott MacDonald I had taken a number of career breaks to have my children and I was working on a part time basis. My career had begun to feel a bit static and I felt that this was the right time to seek chartered status. However at this time I was not too sure how I would be able to juggle between the extra work that would be required and a work/home life balance.

experience in some of the competencies that I felt I was lacking. Looking back now, this really was one of the best career decisions I have made, I took on new projects that although challenged me proved to be thoroughly enjoyable and I did manage to fit it all in!

I decided to pursue chartership to give my career the kick start it needed as I had to actively seek out projects that would give me

I am so glad that I made this choice and I would really encourage others to start the chartership journey.

Keith Daniels Project Coordinator, DwrCymru Welsh Water As a Project Coordinator for the South West Wales Area, my work entails delivering new schemes, assets improvements, new assets and maintenance.

pointed me in the direction of EngTech.

This covers a variety of works such as dosing stations, pumping stations, water main rehab and sewer main rehab.

At first I thought this sounds out of my reach but after looking it up on the Institute of Water web site I found I was meeting the requirements on an everyday basis.

I have worked in the water industry for twelve years and find it very interesting, but wondered with all the knowledge I have gained how could I use this to gain some certification for myself.

I then spoke to a few work colleagues and one

I then become a Member of the Institute of Water and compiled a portfolio on one of my schemes and applied for EngTech. I feel this is a good stepping stone for me and means I am recognised in the water industry.

SCIENCE NEWS Robin Price VP Science We’re working hard on the Science front as always with many new registrants on the way - watch this space in early 2016 to find out more about them.

The Science Council has recently released some brilliant new marketing videos about Professional Registration in Science, as well as an interesting case study – you can find both videos on our website so please take some time to view and share them and help spread the word about Professional

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Registration. Our last edition carried an interview with the new Chief Inspector at the DWI, Marcus Rink, where he told us about his experience in the water industry and why he is such a strong supporter of the Institute of Water. In case you missed it, check out the last Journal edition online (www.instituteofwater.org.uk), it’s fantastic for us to have such great support from one of the water industry’s regulators. It’s been another great year for the Institute of Water in terms of bringing new Scientists on board and we’re really excited to continue this success into 2016!

Robin Price

ENVIRONMENTNEWS

Celebrating a milestone!

It’s always good to record a milestone, and this edition of the Journal does just that. Our first three Registered Environmental Technicians are showcased on these pages. Steve, Sarah and Mark are a reminder that there are thousands of people working across the water sector, in a wide variety of roles and organisations, for whom sustainable thinking is an integral part of their job.

Environment Registration is based on a number of competences which are deliberately generic in order to cover the diversity of people working in the environmental field. Applicants would be expected to have at least two years full-time relevant work-based practice. They would also be expected to demonstrate that they have a knowledge and understanding of the environment

and how it can be managed sustainably, the ability to communicate effectively with others, and a personal commitment to professional standards. That sums up pretty much everybody I’ve ever met in in the water sector!

Water website and the application form. It’s not as complicated as it looks!

I’m delighted that Steve, Sarah and Mark have shown the way through their Registration – many congratulations!

The role of Technicians is becoming increasingly important as processes and equipment become more sophisticated to meet rising environmental challenges and expectations. Becoming a Registered Environmental Technician is a way of showing that you have reached a standard, and are also mindful of your ongoing personal and professional development. If you think that you would like to gain recognition for your high levels of professionalism and competence, and join our three trailblazers, have a look at the Institute of

Ian Barker Vice President – Environment

Congratulations to the first ever Registered Environmental Technicians

Steve Coles

Sarah Harries

Mark Sampson

Process Controller, Anglian Water

Pollution Technician, Dwr Cymru Welsh Water

Hydrologist, Northumbrian Water

The new REnvTech qualification offered by the Society for the Environment appealed to me for a number of reasons.

As a technician in the water industry who has worked mainly in a pollution role, I felt that the Registered Environmental Technician award would give me recognition for the work I carry out.

Having wanted to start the professional development process a couple of years ago, I finally opted to apply for Registered Environmental Technician through the Institute of Water, after speaking to IoW CEO Lynn Cooper, who has always been very helpful and supporting in her communications. There is also a strong link to the Institute of Water through our own CEO Heidi Mottram, who is a past President of the organisation.

Away from work I would consider myself as a person who has Environmental awareness and I possess a role within my company Anglian Water as a Biodiversity Champion.

I thought the REnvTech qualification would add some validity to the work I have done for Anglian Water, and go some way to showing that I follow sympathetic environmental principles in my home life too.

Although I found the application process reasonably straightforward there were times when I was glad to have experienced colleagues around me to give me guidance on how best to capture all I am doing within the application.

As a new member of the Institute of Water, I look forward to working on my CPD, and hopefully making the next step up to Chartered Environmentalist as soon as possible.

It acknowledges that my skills and experience are being used to help preserve our environment, leading to a sustainable environmental future.

The award also shows my employer and other colleagues a level of competence in the field and my commitment to best practice.

I believe the Registered Environmental Technician status to be a stepping stone in my career for working towards CEnv. Overall it promotes professional standards, experience and commitment. It also increases the status of the Environmentalist profession.

REnvTech is a straight forward process and a great way to show my contribution to the environment and the water industry over the last 6 years, where I have worked within the Water Resource Planning department. I am fortunate to have worked on many diverse projects over the years, with the common theme that they have all had a strong environmental element. I hope I can build on this qualification and further my CPD in order to one day achieve Chartered Environmentalist status.

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Out and about with our Rising Stars

The 2015 Rising Stars have been out and about recently, with a visit to Liverpool Wastewater Treatment works in September.

The day kicked off with a talk by Lee Bryce from the Northern Area Committee. There was a lively discussion on the benefits that membership of the Institute of Water provides to both new and existing members. As Rising Stars, we are all clearly invested in the Institute and see the value of contributing our time, however this is not always obvious to outside observers or one-time event attenders. The biggest question from the discussions was “Is the chartership carrot big enough to maintain membership with the new generation of water industry professionals?”.

In other words - what additional benefits do our members currently get, and should we be trying harder to promote these or develop additional up-skilling opportunities?

We discussed the way the Institute is developing a focus on great customer service, and how this would add diversity to the events delivered throughout the country. The group agreed that the Institute of Water remains ahead of the game in terms of the open nature of our members. Whether you are an engineer, scientist, operational staff, contractor, administrator, director or chief executive, our membership is inclusive. Rarely will you get the opportunity to network with such a range of industry professionals in such a friendly atmosphere.

Overall, everyone agreed that we welcome positive change in the Institute and hope that events continue to adapt to the growing demand

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of our membership base. With that thought, it’s a good reminder that your opinions are more important than ever – make sure that your local area is aware of what you expect to receive from your membership, and watch events develop as a result!

Emma Dennett (Regulatory Reporting Manager, UU) held the mid-morning slot, where she came to share her knowledge of working with OFWAT to meet regulatory demands. Emma’s presentation shed light into areas that some of the rising stars hadn’t previously been exposed to, particular those coming from a contracting background.

Emma began by explaining exactly who OFWAT are and what they do by defining OFWAT’s role as the economic regulator of the water and sewerage sectors in England and Wales. By defining the role of OFWAT, Emma squashed the common misconception that OFWAT also regulates the quality and environmental aspects of the industry. Emma illustrated that these duties lie with the Drinking Water Inspectorate and the Environmental Agency respectively.

Emma stated that UU’s economic regulation team have a set of core duties that they must deliver in co-operation with OFWAT: n Management of the regulatory return (which provides information relating to the company’s financial and operational performance over the past year)

n Management of the principal statement and charges scheme, which proposes levels of charges for the coming year n Working with OFWAT to support and contribute to the price review process n Manage compliance and provide support and advice across UU. The economic regulatory duties are mirrored in UU’s customer commitments for AMP6. Emma explained how these customer commitments are also the measures of success by which OFWAT score UU. Emma’s slot concluded with an open table for questions to be asked by the rising stars which sparked lengthy discussion on the potential impact of open water in 2017. Emma and the rising stars each gave their thoughts on what the future of the industry may look like in 5 years, when the next set of regulatory demands will be defined by OFWAT. The general consensus was that Open Water may result in new organisations investing in the sector, and becoming the customer provider, whilst current water companies may take a step back and take on the role of wholesalers. This may result in vast change for Emma and her team at UU, particular with regards to interaction and pressure faced by the economic regulatory demands of OFWAT.

RISINGSTARS

Nick Benton, Katherine Owens, Martin Bowes and Andrew Taylor on the top of the SBR at Liverpool Wastewater Treatment Works.

Following these two really interesting and thought provoking discussions, there was a change of direction, as the group spent time with Hannah Cope (Insights Facilitator, UU) going through “Insights” techniques. We started with an ice breaker, sharing something about ourselves which was unusual. We certainly learnt a lot about each other, and discovered the Rising Stars of 2015 are a very unusual bunch indeed!!

This rest of the session was a great chance for the Rising Stars to start to think about how they will actively continue their personal development once their year as a Rising Star is over. Using the

“Insights” approach we were able to reflect on our strengths and weakness, and what development areas we would want to prioritise for ourselves.

We also look at our natural style and preferences, and had a really interesting discussion about how we react and feel differently about work situations.

The time for self-reflection and discussion about “what next?” for our development was really valuable as we prepare to hand on the Rising Stars baton to the Stars of 2016.

Following our morning of speakers, it was good to get the chance to go on a tour of Liverpool

Wastewater Treatment works. Costing around £200 million, this scheme to build a Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR) on the site of an old Dock will allow Liverpool Wastewater Treatment Works to cope with 11,000 litres of water a second and serving more than 600,000 customers in Liverpool. It was fascinating to learn about how the dock was backfilled, but done is such a way that it could one day be returned to its former state. The heritage value of the site also had to be preserved, so there were interesting reminders of the site’s shipping past as well as design features to help the double decker SBR look more like a ship.

Whether you are an engineer, scientist, operational staff, contractor, administrator, director or chief executive, our membership is inclusive.

Rarely will you get the opportunity to network with such a range of industry professionals in such a friendly atmosphere.

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A BRIGHT FUTURE BEGINS WITH A HEALTHY START We all want to make sure a baby has the best possible start in life. Mums and dads want their children to be born safe and healthy in a clean environment. Grandparents want to see younger generations prosper without the threat of infection and disease. Midwives and hospital staff simply want to be able to do the job that they trained for – to deliver life. But none of this is possible without safe water, toilets and good hygiene.

Unfortunately, around the world, access to these basic human rights is limited, and every minute a mother loses a newborn baby from infection caused by a lack of safe water and an unclean environment.

At WaterAid our work is about changing lives, especially those who are affected most by lack

of access to water, hygiene and toilets: pregnant women and their newborns.

As part of our new strategy we are expanding our work with health centres – helping to bring clean water, improved hygiene and proper toilets to clinics around the world. These services will enable midwives and doctors to do their work safely in a clean and hygienic environment, helping to save more lives. Through our global advocacy work we are also calling for global and national commitments to ensure all health-care facilities have clean running water and proper toilets, and that good hygiene is included in all relevant training.

Our ongoing work bringing taps, toilets and hygiene to communities also impacts on mums and their new babies – safe water close to

home removes the need for pregnant women to undertake arduous walks for water. It also means clean water close by for mum and her new baby, and a cleaner environment at home.

This winter, WaterAid is launching our biggest ever fundraising appeal – Deliver Life. During the appeal, every £1 given by the UK public will be doubled by the UK Government, so we can reach twice as many mums around the world. This means we can give them, their newborns and their families a brighter start and a better future – simply through clean, safe water, proper toilets and better hygiene.

Please visit deliverlife.wateraid.org to donate now – and follow the story of Kiomboi hospital.

In Kiomboi hospital, in the Irambe district of Tanzania, more than 7,000 women give birth each year.

James Mombeki

Mwasha Seni

Kiomboi hospital Currently, the hospital has piped water for just one hour a day. Many of the taps, toilets and washing facilities no longer work, which, combined with the lack of safe running water, makes practising good hygiene all but impossible for staff and patients much of the time.

James Mombeki, 38, is the Operating Theatre Manager at the hospital: “Every step of the procedures done within the theatre needs water. If there isn’t enough water for doing the procedure or for cleaning the equipment after,

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then it’s a big challenge for us. It may lead to further infections, diseases and illnesses.”

later she had to wash using water collected from the river.

Mwasha Seni, 22, gave birth to her third child, Holo, a few months ago. She lives far away in a village called Sherlouie, and when she was pregnant had to collect water herself from the river there.

Unfortunately, Mwasha suffered with a case of sepsis. “The wound was very painful and I had a stomach ache,” she said. “I was given medication and had injections.”

Holo wasn’t in the right position for delivery, so the medical team at Kiomboi did a caesarean section to deliver her. Mwasha couldn’t wash the day after the procedure. Instead, two days

Visit deliverlife.wateraid.org to follow the story of Kiomboi hospital.

Pics WaterAid / Anna Kari

WATERAID

Untapping customers in poor urban communities In September, the UN member states came together to sign the new Global Goals for Sustainable Development, aimed at eradicating extreme poverty by 2030, with Goal 6 dedicated to the provision of water and sanitation for all.

Luxmi Rani Pal, 55, collecting safe water without payment in Kalaroa, Bangladesh. The water plant management committee has issued free water-collecting cards for 'ultra-poor' families

The road to 2030 is a long one, but by providing context-specific responses to communities’ needs, we can achieve universal access. This must be fair and affordable for all, and we must focus on those hardest to reach geographically and economically.

WaterAid’s Urban Technical Support Manager, Timeyin Uwejamomere, discusses how water utilities can provide solutions to four main challenges, so that we can reach everyone everywhere by 2030.

It always surprises me when water utilities in developing countries’ cities assume people on low-income can’t and won’t pay for water.

Ignoring this huge potential customer base is such a missed opportunity.

The UN estimates that 60% of urban residents live in low-income areas. In sub-Saharan Africa alone, this amounts to over 220 million potential water customers. However in many cases these people are forced to buy water from informal and unsafe providers, rather than a local utility.

Today more people on a low income are in a position where they are willing and able to pay for services. The concept of poor households as valuable customers is not part of the urban narrative for many policy makers, water sector regulators and utility managers. However, there is ample evidence to show that low-income city residents will pay for water, on a regular basis and often more reliably than their wealthier neighbours with household connections.

A WaterAid study of African water utilities (2010) identified that although 91% of utilities have expressed an interest to serve the poor, only one in two actually have a pro-poor strategy.

Utility managers who have taken advantage of this market opportunity have done so by finding solutions to four main challenges: product, politics, price, and participation Clean water is not often understood as a product.

However, it is a natural substance that undergoes treatment – think of this as production -- and delivery. Understanding clean water in this way ensures long-term high standards of quality and delivery. It also encourages utilities to design flexible delivery methods; creative solutions such as yard taps (private taps shared between several

Credit: Habibul Haque/ Drik/WaterAid

households), community water kiosks (booths for the sale of water) and public standpipes (a freestanding community tap).

A common argument against extending water and sewage networks to poor communities is the politics of who will pay for the additional infrastructure. Utility managers may be drawn into funding battles over resource allocation.

While governments have a responsibility to invest in clean water access, they will also see clear economic benefits through improved health and productivity of communities. Lack of water, sanitation and hygiene costs SubSaharan African countries US$47.6 billion a year - more than the entire continent receives in development aid.

Utilities need to be smart about how they price water to the urban poor. They often struggle to understand how poor communities can be relied upon to pay for water on a regular basis. However there are many ways to do this - the national utility in Uganda has introduced successful pre-paid meters, for example, cutting out the premium charges introduced by middlemen and water haulers. Here in the UK, some water utilities have implemented customer-funded social tariffs to ease the cost of water for those less able to pay.

Similar approaches can be adapted elsewhere.

In Kalaroa in Bangladesh, the town authorities installed an arsenic and iron removal plant, funded by Thames Water, with an electric purification pump to serve a population of over 3,000 people with clean water. A tariff system was developed for the plant based on ability to pay and the poorest community members can access the plant free of charge.

Utilities are often pre-occupied with charging

connection fees to new customers. Such payments are the equivalent of a supermarket asking customers for an entrance fee. New customers are handed hefty connection charges, to enable utilities to pay off infrastructure loans which, ironically, the utility may have been offered under 50- to 100-year repayment terms. A WaterAid study of 12 African utilities revealed that connection costs amounted to 37% of the annual income of a person earning $1.25 per day.

This barrier to water connection prevents new customers from joining; decreasing the utilities’ ability to rapidly roll out new connections. Water utilities, even as monopolies, insist on connection fees to their own detriment.

Innovative pricing and delivery mechanisms need to be designed through community participation.

Customer surveys must include those that are currently not served. A key aspect of such surveys is feedback and accountability. Some utilities are starting to establish low-income service units (LICSUs) which are specialised units comprised of staff who understand poor urban communities. Working with NGOs like WaterAid, these departments attempt to embed pro-poor urban planning into traditional engineering and infrastructure-focused utility managements.

The Global Goals have set a challenge for the world.

To rise to this, water utilities need to rethink the way they understand low-income urban customers; designing creative solutions to deliver a product that is smartly priced, politically negotiated and embedded in community participation. Ultimately, people need to be able to hold utilities accountable to deliver a high quality water supply, just as in any other consumer relationship. If this new market is tapped, prosperity can flow, for utilities and customers alike.

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Water industry success in first Water Innovators challenge WaterAid’s new employee development scheme has seen more than a dozen teams from across the water industry spend nine months brainstorming, baking and battling to be crowned Water Innovators.

13 teams from six water companies were challenged to ‘solve, fund and learn’ in this pilot, created in response to the industry’s request for an employee development scheme that would develop staff skills while also helping WaterAid address the water and sanitation crisis faced by the world’s poorest communities.

WaterAid Nepal provided two challenges for teams to choose from: the ‘water challenge’, to address water source depletion and promote rainwater harvesting in rural areas, and the ‘toilets challenge’, to look at how WaterAid Nepal

The winners were: Overall winner: Anglian Water, The Kathmandu’ers

Best community approach: Mott MacDonald, InSanitation

Most innovative: South East Water, Natural Harvest

Best technical approach: Mott MacDonald, Team 4

Best learning and development: Thames Water, Keep it Clean

Special commendation: Balfour Beatty

Best fundraising:

“We are thrilled with the success of the first year – each of the teams demonstrated the three core elements of ‘solve, fund and learn’. Aside from fundraising, it was great to see how the teams together created brilliant ideas for our WaterAid Nepal team, while individuals benefited personally and professionally. We at WaterAid are really thankful for all of the support we’ve received from our water industry partners and are looking forward to next year already!”

Isabelle Herszenhorn Innovation and Strategic Engagement Team Leader at WaterAid

can advise local authorities in the building, management and promotion of public toilets in urban Kathmandu.

From an initial pitch to secure seed funding, the teams – made up of individuals with a variety of skills and specialities – worked together to solve the problem, fundraise for WaterAid and develop their skills and leadership qualities.

The winners were announced at an awards evening in London in October, and presented by WaterAid’s Director of People and Organisational Development Rachel Westcott.

“We work hard on the continuous development of our staff, and the Water Innovators project provided a great opportunity for just that.

It brought together employees from across departments, encouraged them to step out of their comfort zones, and helped develop their skills. We’re all delighted the Kathmandu’ers came out on top as they put in a tremendous amount of hard work, but the wider benefit is for the business and for WaterAid, as it’s likely to encourage even more people to get involved next year.”

Richard Boucher Anglian Water’s Strategy and Business Change Director

Thames Water, KathmanDO

Special commendation: Balfour Beatty

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Water Innovators 2016 is set to be a global challenge, with teams from across the UK, America and Australia all competing to solve real problems from WaterAid projects in Cambodia, fundraise for WaterAid and learn new skills and leadership qualities. Entry opens on World Toilet Day (19 November). To find out more contact waterinnovators@wateraid.org or visit www.wateraid.org/uk/waterinnovators

WATERAID

SOME OF THE WINNING TEAMS AND THEIR IDEAS Overall winners Anglian Water, The Kathmandu’ers The Kathmandu’ers impressed the judges throughout the programme, from the initial pitch, to the mid-point check in, as well as their approach to learning consistently throughout the scheme. As part of their fundraising, they created the Thirsty Games, an inflatable obstacle course for employees. Their solution took learning from the Anglian Water brand strategy and applied it to the Nepal context, encouraging the Nepal utility providers to develop a brand and recognise the recipients of sanitation as customers, thereby improving service and encouraging responsible use of facilities.

The Kathmandu’ers told us, “It’s been really good at bringing people across Anglian Water together – we get to increase our network and combine our resources. We’ve all learnt some great skills, such as how to develop and implement a programme, and build professional networks, relationships, trust and broad management skills. Water Innovators showed us that WaterAid is much more than fundraising and it was fun to do, too.”

Best technical approach Mott MacDonald, Team 4 The judges thought that Mott MacDonald’s Team 4 demonstrated a clear focus and approach to proposing a technical solution to the Nepal water challenge. This, coupled with their awareness of the local context, feasibility and alignment to the challenge brief, meant they stood out in this area. Their solution recognised that there was no ‘one size fits all’ response, but created a framework which could be achieved by adopting an Integrated Water Resources Management approach built on principles of robust asset management.

Most innovative South East Water, Natural Harvest with miniature ‘Clives’ Winners of the ‘Most innovative’ award, South East Water’s Natural Harvest created quite a stir with Clive, a Minecraft character who built a virtual rainwater harvesting system from bricks bought by individuals as ‘raffle tickets’. As a way to fundraise for the project, the judges loved how Natural Harvest took a traditional giving method and adapted it, using new technology to really engage with a broad range of people.

All photos: WaterAid/Ben Roberts

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CPD and the real world We’re delighted to announce that Matt Bower has become the Institute of Water’s new CPD Champion.

Matt heads the Operations Team at the Drinking Water Quality Regulator for Scotland where he has worked for 11 years. Matt, a Chartered Scientist, joined our Membership & Standards Committee and Science Panel in 2014 and is writing his first Journal piece in the role of CPD Champion.

By Matt Bower

Matt Bower

CPD Champion What do the most successful people in every industry have in common? Probably many things, but one of them will be that they have continually updated their skills and expertise to keep pace with the changing demands of their business.

As we all know, the water industry is constantly changing – it’s one of the things that makes it such a fascinating field to work in. If we are going to get to (or stay at) the top of our game, it’s vital that we keep learning and use what we have learnt to respond to new challenges in the workplace, or for that matter find new ways of dealing more effectively with familiar ones.

It’s probably fair to say that all learning is of some value, but that benefit can be greatly increased if it is part of a structured approach, with some forethought and planning as to what we are trying to achieve and how we might best do that. This is Continuing Professional Development (CPD), and it’s highly likely that we are all doing it to some extent, in some form or another, already.

CPD IS ABOUT MORE THAN TRAINING COURSES When we think of learning, most of us will probably initially think of a classroom-type situation with an instructor passing on information to a structured syllabus. This method of learning suits some people, but not everyone. Thankfully it is just one of many forms of CPD, many of which we probably participate in almost without realising we are learning at the same time:

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n Attending conferences, seminars and events n On the job learning

n Writing papers and articles for the Institute of Water Journal, website and any other relevant publications

n Academic studies

n Distance learning

n Volunteering on an Institute of Water Area Committee

n Assisting and supporting others

n Occasional lecturing and speaking at relevant events

n Becoming a mentor or mentee n Work shadowing or secondments

FEATURE: CPD

CPD WITHIN THE INSTITUTE OF WATER

CPD Award ENTRIES NOW OPEN

Almost by definition, CPD is a personal thing – we all have different skillsets and goals.

The Institute of Water acknowledges this – while there’s an expectation that we will, as members of the Institute, engage in some form of CPD, there’s no minimum requirement in terms of time. It’s about taking part in meaningful learning that enables us to develop and makes us better able to deal with the rigours of our working lives - quality trumps quantity every time.

2015 CPD Winner Kara Sadler receives her award

If we have Corporate Membership with the Institute of Water, either as a scientist, engineer or environmentalist, the individual professional bodies have their own expectations and policies on CPD. Chartered Scientists in particular are required to actively engage in CPD to remain on the Science Council register and are required to confirm this annually. Similarly, engineers are expected to maintain and enhance their competence through CPD, with an emphasis on planning and reflection.

Chartered Environmentalists are also expected to participate actively, although requirements are less prescriptive, and depend on the individual requirements of the licensing body.

Further details can be found on the website of the relevant licensing body – the Science Council, the Engineering Council, or the Society for the Environment.

Every year, the Institute of Water undertakes a review of participation in CPD by its members.

This takes the form of a small sample of members who are invited to provide evidence of their ongoing participation in CPD. This process has the benefit, not only of satisfying the requirements of the professional bodies, but also of keeping the Institute in touch with members’ approaches to CPD, enabling the provision of feedback and the development of best practice.

The monitoring exercise is about to start – if you are approached to provide your CPD record, firstly – don’t panic. The Institute wants to see how you are approaching your personal learning; it’s down to the individual and there’s no single correct approach. As a small incentive, the best submissions are entered into the Institute’s annual CPD award.

Why not spend a little time actively managing your CPD? All learning is useful, but with a small amount of planning and reflection, something that is useful becomes something invaluable.

The Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Award is open to individuals at any stage in their water sector career who can demonstrate commitment to continuous learning and improvement. Applicants will be expected to belong to a professional body but not necessarily the Institute of Water.

Short-listed entrants are invited to attend the Institute of Water’s Annual Awards Dinner where the winner is presented with their trophy in a prestigious ceremony, surrounded by senior figures from the water sector.

Entries are judged against four criteria: n Identifying development needs and opportunities

n Setting goals and target dates n Recording development achievements and learning outcomes n Evaluating achievements and reviewing them against development needs To apply send your CPD for the last 12 months to info@instituteofwater.org.uk and the closing date is March 31st 2016.

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Water Informatics: Science and Engineering EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training

The Centre for Doctoral Training in Water Informatics: Science and Engineering (WISE CDT) was launched in April 2014. The WISE CDT is an innovative research centre, co-funded by EPSRC, industry, and the GW4 alliance universities: Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter.

The Centre was established to meet the growing need for engineers and scientists, capable of working at the interface of traditionally separate water science and engineering and informatics disciplines, in order to manage the water cycle effectively and sustainably.

The programme This is a 4-year advanced PhD programme designed to train a new generation of highly qualified postgraduates. Students complete a one-year Masters level taught component, where they take a range of taught courses and develop their research proposals. Following this WISE Postgraduate School, students progress to their PhD research programme.

Academic excellence Students are expected to spend 3 months at a partner academic institution or working with our

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industrial or government agency collaborators.

This opportunity develops the students’ research skills, and their transferable and leadership skills, within an international context. Our globally leading partner universities and institutions include: Columbia, Cornell and Duke Universities, EPF Lausanne, Environment Agency, Euroaquae, Georgia Tech, MIT, Met Office, Minnesota, National Resources Wales, NUS Singapore, NERC CEH, Penn State, Smart Water Networks Forum, Stanford, Tsinghua, UNESCO IHE, University of Texas, and the Welsh Government.

Industrial engagement Students may also spend 3 months on a research visit in industry working on industry-relevant research and obtain a breadth of practical experience. Industrial collaborators can benefit from exposure to new ideas and techniques. Our existing partners include: Arup Group, Bristol

Water, CH2M, HPC Wales, HR Wallingford, I2O Water, IBM UK, JBA Trust, Osisoft, RMS, RPS Group, Syrinix, Toshiba, US Geological Survey, Welsh Water, Wessex Water, and XP Solutions.

Research themes The WISE CDT is conducting innovative multidisciplinary research across three main areas:

Water Informatics n numerical modelling (data driven, physically based, uncertainty and sensitivity analysis…); n artificial intelligence and soft computing (tools and interfaces, machine learning, data mining, global optimisation…); n high performance computing (parallel computing, Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) computing…); n emerging technologies (smart grids, software as a service, embedded devices…).

UNIVERSITY OF BATH Water Science and Engineering n physical systems (flow paths for water through earth system: atmosphere, oceans, coasts, estuaries, rivers, lakes, soils, aquifers…); n bio-geochemical systems (chemical constituents of water and transformation through macronutrient cycles, contaminants: pathogens, pesticides, endocrine disruptors…); n ecological systems (life cycles of habitat dependent organisms and vegetation, impact of hydrological variations on the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems); n human/urban systems (engineered environment and infrastructure, water use, water resources management, pollution control, river and marine renewable energy…).

Complementary Research n statistical analysis (statistical data mining, geo-statistical analysis); n social and policy sciences (resilience, justice, ethics, behaviour, new markets, water rights); n economics (financial dimensions, water value, trade-offs and synergies); n business models for water utilities & markets based on digital services;

n complexity science (chaos theory, water and climate, reliability, efficiency).

Opportunity

the postgraduate school offers, makes them very attractive prospective recruits for the Water industry” David Evans, Associate Director, Arup

The WISE CDT offers up to 20 four-year, fullyfunded studentships each year, and will have 5 intakes – the first of these was in October 2014, and the second started in October 2015.

Industrial partners may also consider funding full or part studentships.

If you represent an organisation who could engage with the WISE CDT, or if you are a potential candidate for a WISE Scholarship, please contact us via email: T.C.Arnot@bath.ac.uk.

“The WISE CDT provides a unique opportunity for students to participate in shaping their own research topic. This, coupled with the wide range of skills they will acquire by completing all that

We can help you reimagine your water R&D

Water Innovation & Research Centre

Through the Water Innovation and Research Centre at the University of Bath our experts work with industry, academia, and other stakeholders to tackle the fundamental issues surrounding sustainable water. Through WISE, our Centre for Doctoral Training in Water Informatics: Science and Engineering, we work with collaborative partners to train the next generation of skilled water scientists and engineers.

To explore a partnership with water research experts and students at the University of Bath for your organisation, contact water-research@bath.ac.uk.

go.bath.ac.uk/water-research

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The 17th IWA UK National Young Water Professionals Conference 2016 30th March - 1st April 2016 University of East Anglia, Norwich, England Make sure you save the date for the 17th IWA conference in Norwich. The event will showcase the latest research and innovation from around the world, with a selection of inspirational young and seasoned professionals from both academia and industry.

Highlights of the conference will include:

A unique city, Norwich boasts an unrivalled collection of heritage, spanning 1000 years of history. This vibrant, cosmopolitan city is nestled in the beautiful Norfolk countryside but with great transport links, hosting an international airport and only a train ride away from London.

• A chance to engage with potential employers at the Careers Forum

UEA is ranked in the top 1% of universities in the world and in the latest Research Excellence Framework, more than 82% of UEA research was classified as being either worldleading or internationally excellent.

• Gala dinner in support of

• Network with other like-minded Young Water Professionals • Experience the sights and sounds of the East of England with group tours

Don’t Miss Out! Mark the date in your diary, and look out for more information on the Institute of Water and IWA website soon.

You can register your interest to attend and/or present by getting in touch with the organising team on iwaukywp@gmail.com

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Concrete – a proven service life Ofwat has introduced some of the most significant regulatory changes to impact water companies since the sector was privatised under AMP6. Stuart Crisp, Business Development Director of the Concrete Pipeline Systems Association (CPSA), explains why concrete pipelines will help water companies maximise the service life of their wastewater pipeline assets.

This year is a significant year for the water industry with Ofwat’s asset management period six, or AMP6 as it is more commonly known, coming into effect. The water regulator’s aim with the changes introduced under AMP6 is to increase the efficiency of asset management to ensure water companies deliver better value to consumers.

This new asset management period sets out to tackle concerns Ofwat may have had that some water companies were using capital expenditure (capex) to enable contractors to build assets, for example a new water treatment works, to make water companies’ business more valuable for their shareholders rather than focusing on reducing operational expenditure (opex) and on delivering better value to its customers.

Under the changes introduced in AMP6, Ofwat no longer views capital expenditure (capex) and operating expenditure (opex) as separate cost areas, instead it has asked water companies to present their business plans as the total expenditure required, or totex. The plan allows water companies to decide how they divide up their capex and opex expenditure to make up the totex figure. A water company might, for example, decide to invest in encouraging its customers to use less water rather than spend capital on increasing storage and supply capacity.

Ofwat expects the focus on totex to encourage increased flexibility and more long-term decision making in order to create the environment in which better customer value will be delivered.

It will be helped in this task by the deadline for outcomes being extended beyond the traditional five-year regulatory cycle.

To deliver this new focus will require a profound change in business orientation and culture across all aspects of water companies’ business. As a result, and understandably to an extent, water companies have yet to effectively get to grips with the significant operational shift needed to

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The concrete pipe lifter in action, safely offloading with no operative on the back of the delivery vehicle

realise totex effectively. Currently they appear to be paying lip service to totex while in reality most are continuing to drive down capital expenditure using existing procurement models and supplier terms of contract.

A key aspect of the effective delivery of totex is asset management to derive the maximum service life from an asset rather than simply procuring and installing products with the lowest price tag. To do this effectively asset managers will be required, in a risk-based context, to look at the life expectancy of an asset and assess how much it will cost for that asset to operate over its required service life.

The service life of a system is the length of time it can be expected to perform before its performance falls below the original design requirements without requiring renovation or replacement. Service life should not be confused with design life, which is usually the period over which an asset’s depreciation is calculated. A major advantage of concrete pipeline systems is that they have a proven long service life, typically in excess of 100 years. Even if an asset has a higher upfront cost, but delivers better operating value over the whole of its service life, then its selection can be regarded as an appropriate totex decision.

CPSA installations is Class B, which requires only the lower half of the pipe to be surrounded with granular material. By contrast flexible plastic pipe installations are typically Class S bedding, which require a pipe to be fully surrounded with granular bedding material around the pipe, leading to higher volumes and costs for the imported aggregates and higher disposal costs for the material removed from the trench and trucked to landfill.

A precast concrete soakaway pipe for SuDS applications

Concrete pipes in the factory ready for delivery to site

A big challenge for asset owners in demonstrating authentic totex savings is the need to make reliable forecasts on the future performance of assets and the interventions required in order to extend the service life of the asset. This will require a product or system’s supplier to provide adequate operational data and evidence relating to the system’s performance in use for an appropriate period of time.

pipelines, will look an even more attractive investment.

In the CPSA’s view, if lifecycle costs become an intrinsic element of the design-procureconstruct-operate-maintain process, with more sway than initial capital costs, then products with the greatest proven service life, such as concrete

When a pipeline is buried in the ground, embedment is used to transfer loads, such as those from traffic and the weight of the overlying fill, between the pipe and the surrounding soil. A common bedding solution for concrete pipeline

In addition to having a proven long service life, precast concrete pipes can also provide distinct capital cost saving opportunities when a pipeline’s structural design indicates that an alternative, and cheaper, bedding Class can be used.

When it comes to reliable drainage systems, we wrote the book.

Concrete is inherently strong and robust and is well placed to save capex costs through lower cost bedding design and opex benefits as a result of its long service life. It is also safe and fast to install using the award-winning pipe lifter www.concretepipelifter.co.uk.

The CPSA welcomes Ofwat’s new focus on totex and the aim of delivering customers better value.

We welcome invitations from clients, designers and installers to share our knowledge and experience with them to enable them to take advantage of the benefits offered by concrete pipeline systems in helping water companies deliver lower capital costs and totex costs and best value to water utility customers.

Any industry professional that wants to find out more about the long-term serviceability of precast concrete pipe products can download the relevant data sheets at: www.concretepipes.co.uk/page/maintenanceintegrity-and-durability

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Did you know that concrete pipes have a proven service life of well over a century? Or that the case for concrete includes its installed and whole-life cost, lower embodied carbon and structural robustness? This CPSA booklet shows you why concrete pipeline systems are the best choice for today and tomorrow. Download the proof at www.concretepipes.co.uk/20-reasons

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Introducing the new Class 500 MOPVC pipe from Molecor. Stocked & Distributed exclusively by R2M. • DWI Reg 31 Certificated • WRAS Approved • Extremely Robust, almost indestructible • Lightweight, saving money on lifting equipment and improving safety on site • Integral Couplers, push-fit socket spigot lengths, push-fit manually!

• Cost effective – lower cost than PE or Ductile Iron • Size Range 90 – 800mm • Pressure Rating 12.5 Bar, 16 Bar, 20 Bar & 25 Bar • Already in use in 1000s of installations across Europe and the rest of the World.

SAVE MONEY | REDUCE INSTALLATION TIME | IMPROVE HEALTH & SAFETY | HELP THE ENVIRONMENT

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Do you still think that the only choice of pipe material is P.E. or Ductile.

Think again or be left behind.

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DRAINSAID DRAINSAID’S M-COATING SYSTEM LEADS THE WAY IN MANHOLE REHABILITATION Leading drainage repair and maintenance specialist, DrainsAid, has invested in one the industry’s most innovative technologies, the new M-Coating system, which has already attracted a lot of interest from water utility companies and the drainage industry alike.

The new computer-controlled spray lining system, which has opened up new and exciting opportunities for the business, allows the company to effectively rehabilitate manholes of any size, in a fraction of the time usually required by traditional repair methods.

Showcasing the trailer-mounted system’s impressive features, DrainsAid has been working with Yorkshire Water at a site in rural North Yorkshire, helping the company repair several defective manholes which form part of a combined sewerage system serving the village of Hampsthwaite near Harrogate.

Ben McCluskey, Project Manager at DrainsAid, said: “We have worked with Yorkshire Water for many years, and they have always been keen to use innovative solutions, particularly when they improve safety due to less man-entry, drastically

minimise disruption and reduce the overall cost of repair.

“We carried out an initial survey which revealed that the chamber was suffering from groundwater infiltration, a flow test confirmed that the water ingress represented almost 1 litre per minute, which soon adds up!

If left to continue, the long term impact could have been considerable, and so we needed to ensure that this project went as quickly and effectively as possible, and fortunately for both our client and us, the M-Coating system was the only solution capable of resolving this issue so efficiently.”

The M-Coating system provides a three stage rehabilitation process in the form of cleaning, repairing and coating. Initially, the high pressure

cleaning head cleans the manhole and after blocking the infiltration the chamber is spraylined with a specialist mortar using a computercontrolled centrifugal spray head, completely refurbishing it in minutes.

“The environmental and financial consequences of not rehabilitating defective manholes can be high, and so the M-Coating system is an ideal solution for this type of application. It delivers the mortar to the chamber at a rate of 5000rpm, achieving a remarkably even coating” Yorkshire Water confirmed that The M-Coating system successfully repaired the chambers with no disruption to the local environment. In addition Yorkshire Water confirmed that the system had significant cost saving advantages compared to other manhole repair techniques.

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Double-See™ Vinyl Double Containment Piping Systems GF Piping Systems introduced Double-See, a pressure-rated double containment system for transporting hazardous liquids.

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GPS PE PIPE SYSTEMS

SAFETY FIRST FOR BROWNFIELD SITES The government’s commitment to promoting brownfield land in the Summer Budget, with the introduction of a zonal system to effectively give automatic permission on suitable brownfield sites, has brought with it an increased demand for water pipe.

As increasingly more brownfield sites are redeveloped, reliable pipelines will be required to transport large volumes of drinking water for new housing developments. Safety is always the number one priority when conveying water supplies, with developers often undertaking costly soil analysis and removal to ensure the public are protected.

GPS PE Pipe Systems' fully integrated barrier pipe and fittings system, Protecta-Line, removes the need for costly soil samples, offering a cost effective solution for the safe transportation of water supplies. The industry approved system is kitemarked to WIS 4-37-19, reassuring developers and housebuilders that any contaminants remaining in brownfield sites cannot permeate into the water supply.

Commenting on the expected demand for its Protecta-Line range, GPS Head of Product Marketing, Dominic O’Sullivan, said: “With the

government removing unnecessary obstacles to the re-development of brownfield sites, it is important to remember that this land can contain potentially harmful contaminants.

As such, a complete barrier system of pipe and fittings is required to ensure the integrity of the water supply is not compromised through the selection of inappropriate pipe or fittings.”

‘Our Protecta-Line system is already the preferred choice for many UK water companies, but we are gearing up for an increase in enquiries for our barrier pipe solution, as developers look for increased cost effective solutions to transporting water supplies through these sites.”

Continually looking to enhance its product offering, GPS has expanded the Protecta-Line range to provide sizes up to 630mm, making GPS PE Pipe Systems the first UK manufacturer to offer such a large diameter barrier pipe system.

core of PE80 or Excel (PE100) pipe. Its innovative design ensures that any contaminants remaining in brownfield sites and former industrial land cannot permeate into the water supply.

For further information on Protecta-Line or any other products within the GPS portfolio, log onto gpsuk.com or call 01480 442600.

The number one choice for barrier pipe, ProtectaLine is an award winning, fully integrated barrier pipe and fittings system. Its tough multi-layer construction incorporates an impermeable aluminum barrier layer wrapped onto a central

Award-winning innovation with the Protecta-Line range...

Protecta-Line is an award winning, fully integrated barrier pipe and fittings system.

Its tough multi-layer construction ensures that any contaminants remaining in brownfield sites and former industrial land cannot permeate into the water supply.

Find out more at: www.gpsuk.com/protecta-line GPS Protecta-Line Innovation 180x115mm.indd 1

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Protecta-Line system is Kitemarked to WIS 4-32-19 Proven barrier against all recognised brownfield contaminants Suitable for corrosive conditions – avoid the cost of expensive soil sampling Long-term security of supply NOW All the installation benefits of polyethylene AVAILABLE Reduced leakage larger diameter Excellent lifetime cost savings 630mm

Continually innovating 20/7/15 14:23:42

VIVAX

VIVAX-METROTECH VCAM5 PIPELINE INSPECTION CAMERA NEW HIGH RESOLUTION CAMERA HEAD Vivax-Metrotech Ltd have launched the new 46mm type CP camera head to add to the successful vCam5 pushrod pipeline inspection camera system.

The vCam5 is a versatile, cost effective system, its intuitive, easy to use control module makes it the choice of the professional Drainage engineer. The vCam5 has many benefits including an 8� Daylight Readable screen – no more covering up with a coat in bright sunlight or struggling to see the screen from a manhole. The huge 300GB of built-in hard drive as well as USB and SD card recording makes giving the client a file extremely easy. Everything is one touch control, from recording and taking a digital still image to controlling the lights and the built-in sonde. Everything is designed to make the job of the engineer easier. The controller is also compatible with 3rd party reporting software such as WinCan and Viewline.

The vCam5 has built in Li-ion batteries meaning no trailing wires to an external battery pack and 12v vehicle charging as well as the 240v mains charging makes using the vCam5 extremely versatile.

The stainless construction of the different sized reels always looks at its best with no paint to chip and rust. The reel has a built in sonde making it easy to locate, and the reel can be attached to a signal transmitter/generator (Genny) to make the entire length of the reel locatable with a Locator.

What also makes the vCam5 stand out from the pack is its innovative Wi-Fi feature to allow the user to connect to a smartphone, laptop or tablet and email or MMS Text images directly to the client from site. The client gets to see instantly the problem and give that authorisation straight away saving time and money on the job.

By using the built-in Sonde and the Fully locatable reel, which you can locate along the whole length of the reel, you can pinpoint the position of the blockage and the route of the drain easily and quickly. Used in conjunction with our brand new next Generation vScan CAT and Genny, the whole job is now easier and more accurate for the contractor.

We will be pleased to demonstrate this at our offices or on site. If you would like any more information please contact Vivax-Metrotech Ltd on 01793 822679 or email on salesUK@vxmt.com More information and brochures can be downloaded from the website: www.vivax-metrotech.com

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ABB

Announcing a new era in smarter water management As ABB’s Electromagnetic Flow Product Specialist, Alan Hunt has been heavily involved in the development of the AquaMaster3 with WITS DNP3, which promises to completely transform the way that the UK’s water network operators manage their assets.

In this article, Alan explains exactly what WITS DNP3 means and why its inclusion in ABB’s AquaMaster3 flowmeter could be the start of a new era of smarter water management in the UK. Firstly, can you explain exactly what WITS DNP3 is?

WITS DNP 3 promises to transform the way that data is collected and transmitted around the UK’s water networks. Put simply, it puts in place a single uniform framework for the collection and transmission of data around a network.

WITS stands for Water Industry Telemetry Standards, whilst DNP 3 is an internationallyrecognised communication protocol on which the standards are based.

Devices in a WITS network use just one communication protocol. The standard allows for master units in a master/slave network to communicate with a range of devices including remote terminal units, SCADA systems, Intelligent Electronic Devices and Human Machine Interfaces, irrespective of supplier.

A good analogy is a room of people who all speak different languages, all trying to talk to one person. Conversing with that person is obviously going to be much easier if they are multi-lingual rather than having to rely on separate translators for each language.

WITS works in exactly the same way. Provided a supplier is WITS-certified, their device can be plugged into a WITS network and can instantly start communicating with master devices in the network.

How did WITS DNP3 come about?

Every water company in the UK uses telemetry systems to keep an eye on what’s happening in their networks. These systems are made up of field devices, which collect data on a variety of parameters such as flow, pressure and temperature, and master stations, which collect the data and relay it to a control system.

Historically, problems have arisen where water companies have used their own suppliers to create bespoke telemetry standards. This led to the creation of lots of proprietary systems that couldn’t be easily integrated with one another without expending time and cost on developing

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separate drivers to enable communication between non-compatible devices.

I know of one instance, for example, where one of our customers faced having to develop 13 separate drivers, each of which would have needed a full year to develop and test. As a 13 year wait is not practical, it would have meant tying up a large number of people working simultaneously to get the drivers completed, each of whom could have been better deployed elsewhere.

Such agreements that effectively lock water companies and suppliers into single source, single customer relationships obviously benefit neither party, as it restricts their respective freedoms of choice and increases costs on both sides.

To solve these problems, a group of water companies and suppliers got together in 2003 to develop a single communications protocol that would allow devices and master stations from any manufacturer to talk to one another.

Their goal was to create a ‘plug and play’ solution where devices could literally be plugged in and immediately be compatible with master devices on the network without the need for extensive configuration work.

In developing this solution, they adapted the internationally-recognised DNP3 standard, which was originally developed to enable remote communication in electrical networks. More robust, efficient and interoperable than Modbus, DNP3 offered a fast, flexible and expandable solution that could be readily implemented across an entire network.

This group has since become known as the Water Industry Telemetry Standards group, which is today responsible for setting strict guidelines for device compatibility and the steps that suppliers need to take to satisfy the WITS standard.

Why was it decided to include WITS DNP3 into the AquaMaster3?

As with anything, being able to measure something accurately is the first step to managing it more effectively. Flowmeters are really the frontline in any water distribution network. The issue of leakage in particular means there is a world of difference between how much water should be passing through your network and how much is actually passing through it.

For a long time, our AquaMaster flowmeters have been widely used throughout the UK’s water

distribution networks to pinpoint discrepancies arising from leakage. As time has gone on and technology has developed, we have steadily added new features to the AquaMaster, including a number of world-firsts such as quad band GPRS GSM-SMS communications, in-situ verification and, most recently, integrated flow and pressure measurement.

The decision to add WITS DNP3 to the AquaMaster3 arose from a customer application where there was a need to be able to gather and relay near-real time data not only on flow and pressure but also the status of the flowmeters themselves. In particular, the company wanted to be able to proactively respond to both pipe abnormalities and any device faults before they could escalate into supply disruptions.

Helping you find new ways to manage your TOTEX requirements?

Certainly.

By using the AquaMaster3 with WITS DNP3, the company will now be able to get remote access to high resolution data on flow and pressure conditions together with detailed diagnostic information on the flowmeter itself, including any alarm conditions.

Together, these improvements will enable smarter and timelier deployment of investigation and repair teams, which will be equipped with the knowledge they need to pinpoint and rectify a fault.

Will the AquaMaster3 with WITS DNP3 help water companies with their TOTEX objectives? If so, then how?

Although the exact implications of TOTEX are still being figured out in the UK water industry, it is generally agreed that the approach applies equally to both the whole life cost of an asset and to the network as a whole.

On a total or whole life cost level, the ready availability of device level diagnostic and alarm data will enable water companies to be much cleverer in the way that they manage their assets. Using the diagnostic data from the AquaMaster3 with WITS, for example, will enable companies to ensure that their engineers are only deployed when and where necessary, eliminating the need for engineers to routinely visit devices.

The AquaMaster 3 also features an over-the-air programming feature, which enables its transmitter to be remotely upgraded, enabling new versions of software to be uploaded without having to visit the unit.

Because WITS DNP3 enables communication between master stations and different types of data acquisition and control equipment, the inclusion of the technology within the AquaMaster3 offers benefits at the holistic network level too.

In a lot of cases, problems measured at one point in a pipeline are often indicative of other issues further upstream. This means that fixing an apparent problem at the point of manifestation will often not actually be the same as fixing the actual problem at source.

By enabling near real-time flow and pressure data to be collected and readily shared between departments, the AquaMaster3 with WITS DNP3 gives operators much greater intelligence that can be used to more effectively pinpoint and rectify the root cause of problems in their networks.

Finally, how do you see the future of the UK water industry over the next five years?

A common criticism of the UK water industry has been that it has been slow to embrace innovation. I think a lot of this has been down to the boom-bust nature of the AMP cycle.

ABB Measurement & Analytics can help you transform the way you manage your water network.

Our AquaMaster 3 flowmeter, for example, now features integrated WITS DNP 3 technology plus the option of combined flow and pressure measurement. This gives you anytime any place access to near real time data, together with a raft of device-level diagnostics information that enables you to deploy your maintenance teams more effectively.

For more information, email moreinstrumentation@gb.abb.com or call 0870 600 6122 ref. ‘WITS’. To view our video, scan the QR code below.

There are signs that this is at last starting to change. The TOTEX approach in particular appears to encourage longer-term thinking and ongoing investment which should help to either reduce, or, better still, eliminate the impact of the ramping-down period of previous AMP cycles. This will be equally as beneficial for suppliers such as ourselves, giving us the certainty we need to develop new products and technologies.

If this does happen, then I believe that we are likely to see much greater innovation in the industry, as companies look to their supply chain to help them find ways to be smarter in the way that they manage their assets.

For more information about WITS, visit our dedicated landing page at http://bit.ly/ABBWITS, call 0870 600 6122 or email enquiries.mp.uk@gb.abb.com ref. ‘WITS’.

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AQUAM

BURST RESPONSE SERVICE ENABLED BY INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY Overland supply service quickly restores multiple households to mains water network Precision-engineered manifold is key to creating robust and stable temporary network Effective for use during emergencies and scheduled programmes of work MANCHESTER, UK: A specially fitted vehicle, which can quickly restore water to households that have lost supply in an emergency burst incident has been developed by infrastructure specialist Aquam Water Services. Everything needed to create a temporary replacement water network for at least 24 households is carried as standard aboard a single Overland Supply Vehicle (OSV) and installed by a two-person crew.

Aquam’s OSVs are available for purchase and lease hire and can be custom-fit to customers’ requirements

At the heart of the service is an innovative new technology. The Overland Supply Manifold (OSM) is a solid machine-cut nylon device developed by Aquam trade partner Aquacheck Engineering.

Each OSM becomes the hub of a temporary but stable potable water network, allowing up to 24 houses that have lost mains water supply to be reconnected swiftly and easily.

Yorkshire Water has already made the first acquisition of two Overland Supply Manifolds for its in-house network maintenance team.

Roman Boryslawskyj, a consultant at Aquam Water Services and former operations manager in water supply and networks for Yorkshire Water, pioneered temporary overland networks when working at the utility.

He says: “Although the idea has been around for a few years the difference is the new Manifold is made from a single piece of nylon - it is much more adaptable and robust.

Once the temporary network is in place it creates a very stable supply, which means householders will be able to use taps and toilets just as they would normally.”

Customer benefits Interruptions to potable water service are a key component of Service Incentive Mechanism (SIM) scores and for many companies an Outcome Delivery Incentive (ODI). Being able to restore potable water quickly to homes which have lost supply could dramatically improve utilities’ performance commitments for disruptions to the network and customer service. Ofwat also measures the number of customer contacts, which inevitably increase when customers lose supply.

Using the Overland Supply Vehicle during an emergency burst event means customers are quickly informed and supply quickly restored while works are carried out. Better management of leakage and burst events also helps utilities avoid compensation payments – which are mandatory to householders who have been cut off for more than 12 hours.

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Aquam’s Overland Supply Vehicle is fitted with equipment to restore supply to up to 48 households The potential uses of specialist OSVs does not stop at emergency bursts. Being able to create a stable and robust temporary network also has a role to play during planned maintenance.

Boryslawskyj says: “If water companies are serious about keeping potable water network disruption to a minimum this is a fantastic innovation.”

Many companies are now moving to zero interruption of supply. This means that planned work needs to ensure a continuous supply of water whilst work is carried out on the network. The Overland Supply Vehicle can be used by the planning team to work with contractors to help ensure that customers supply is not impacted by work whilst also providing more time for contractors to complete work should unseen events occur.

Fully equipped Each OSV is manned by two fully-trained technicians and carries everything needed to restore water supply to householders. The standard kit comprises an Overland Supply Manifold, 250m-lengths of both 2.5-inch and 1-inch collapsible drinking water hose along with connectors and adaptors.

The hose is the only product of this type approved by the Water Regulations Advisory Scheme (WRAS) for potable water use in the UK.

The Overland Supply Manifold can be used in series and with splitter valves, pressurereducing valves and a water meter to maximise efficiency and flexibility.

To ensure a safe, reliable supply and avoid damage to household systems, the on-board equipment also includes pressure-reducing valves. A water meter can be fitted to measure the amount of water diverted to households from the main to ensure it is not classed as ‘unaccounted for’ usage.

Traffic management Each van carries a full set of temporary roadworks equipment, meeting the requirements of Chapter 8 of the Department for Transport’s Traffic Signs Manual. The safety and technical equipment on board the Overland Supply Vehicles can be custom-fit to meet the requirements of individual utility companies and contractors.

Aquam undertook a demonstration for United Utilities at the company’s testing centre in Lancashire in June. The prototype Overland Supply Manifold was also shown to delegates at the Sustainability Live show at the Birmingham NEC in March.

Boryslawskyj said: “A lot of people at the exhibition were coming up to us and saying ‘Wow! Why has nobody thought of that before?’”

SEVERN TRENT WATER IMPROVES ASSET DATA QUALITY WITH GIS Severn Trent Water is improving the accuracy of its network asset data by introducing a new system using mobile GIS. Asset data is now becoming more complete and reliable, allowing better network management, helping prepare for Open Water and contributing to the company offering the lowest average combined household water bills in England and Wales.

The quality of asset data at Severn Trent Water had been declining over time, which was affecting service delivery. Like many water utilities, historic data was not always found to be correct, while the manual method of working with data meant it was not easy to rectify errors, so changes were not being done consistently. Severn Trent’s new approach now makes it possible for its 1,100 field workers to confirm, correct or collect asset data for the first time, using Esri UK GIS software to automatically update its asset database.

Field workers are using a mobile GIS application running on laptops, to generate asset data on a map in real-time. The GIS links seamlessly with the central asset register, which has led to 12,000 updates being fed automatically into the database every month, without any manual intervention.

These updates are immediately visible and usable

Institute of Water Journal-Nov 2015 1-2 page-paths.indd 1

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by Severn Trent’s 4,500 staff and external users. A further 1,200 more complex changes are processed by office-based technicians before being added.

The new working practices have been live for a year and are already dramatically improving the accuracy of asset data, as Steve Allen, GIS manager at Severn Trent Water explains: “The direct benefits of the new approach are measured in terms of time, cost and quality. Nine out of ten updates field workers make, are now instantly visible to all staff – from engineers to senior management and, as this now happens automatically using GIS, it also saves on cost.

In addition, data quality is improving all the time, as there is now a robust and reliable system in place to manage this. Overall, the solution involved achieving a fine balance between people, process and technology.”

Allen continued: “By increasing the accuracy of asset data, we have a better view of the network and can manage it more effectively which improves service delivery. From planning, maintenance and emergency response, to achieving water quality and sewer flooding ODIs, having better asset data is invaluable.”

12/11/2015 15:36

Distributor of valves, control valves, actuated valves and valve accessories

AIR OPERATED PINCH VALVES MANUAL PINCH VALVES CONTROL PINCH VALVES REDFLEX EXPANSION JOINTS TIDEFLEX CHECK VALVES

AR Valve Resources Limited Tel: +44 (0) 1227 719133 Fax: +44 (0) 1227 714919 Email: sales@ar-resources.com

www.ar-resources.com

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VIVAX

INTRODUCING THE NEW VIVAX-METROTECH VSCAN CABLE AVOIDANCE TOOL Vivax-Metrotech Ltd are excited to announce the Launch of the new vScan next generation Utility avoidance tool.

The vScan is a brand new innovative tool that helps the user avoid and locate underground utilities and infrastructure. With all the premium features of a Utility Locator as standard, the cost effectiveness of the vScan is second to none.

boxes and other metallic objects which is unique in cable avoidance tools. This cost saving mode reduces the number of locate devices required by the operator. Normally they would need to carry a metal detector as well as a cable avoidance tool.

The vScan and vScanM represent the latest in Cable Avoidance Tools. Its features surpass similar products and has a number of unique attributes that ensure increased safety to operators and infrastructure. Through numerous trials with contractors Vivax-Metrotech have designed a tool with the user and the fleet manager in mind.

Compass Line orientation indicator. Makes the interpretation of signals much easier to understand and encourages the use of the transmitter. Up to now this has only been available on high end cable locators, this is unique to cable avoidance tools.

A few of the completely unique, innovative features of the new vScan are listed below.

One of the most exciting features of the vScan is the optional Metal cover location mode. This mode Detects lost manholes, drain covers, valve

Vibration alerts: Alerts such as erroneous signals, incorrect usage etc. are reported to the user through a unique vibration device in the handle and is intended to report without interfering with the use of the locator. Alerts can also be indicated visually and audibly.

Its various standard features offered on ALL vScan units at no extra cost include: n Self-test/calibration n Data Logging with Optional GPS n Depth and Current Measurements n Large dot matrix display with auto backlight n Points of Interest If you would like a demonstration or trial of the new vScan Cable Avoidance Tool, please contact Vivax-Metrotech on 01793 822679 or email on salesUK@vxmt.com More information and brochures can be downloaded from the website: www.vivax-metrotech.com

vScan

Utility Avoidance Tool Premium features as Standard:

Lost Cover Locating – built in metal mode – find buried manholes, valve covers, drain covers etc.

Large, crystal clear dot matrix screen for fast, accurate locating Call us for your no obligation on-site demonstration.

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NIVUS

EASY-TO-OPERATE FLOW METER WITH HIGH ACCURACY NIVUS present a new transmitter generation for flow measurement using the transit time method.

The NivuFlow 600 was designed particularly for flow metering in full pipelines. To meet the highest accuracy requirements it is possible to equip the transmitter with up to 28 measurement paths. Pipe sensors as well as contactless clampon sensors are available for various measurement jobs. It is however not necessary to interrupt running processes to install both sensor types.

The measurement system is particularly suitable to measure the flow rates of various liquid media in a wide range of applications.

The considerably smaller enclosure, compared to its predecessor, saves space being installed in control cabinets thanks to easy DIN rail mounting.

Moreover, the NivuFlow 600 units are available in a special field enclosure designed for use in rough ambient conditions.

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The transmitter’s large graphic display permits quick and easy commissioning of the flow meter.

It provides extended diagnostic options and allows in-depth analyses of running processes directly on site.

and versatile options for communication and integration, operators have considerable scope when it comes to integrate the NivuFlow 600 into higher systems such as SCADA or process conducting systems.

The transmitter software was reprogrammed from scratch. Thanks to using future-proof protocols

www.nivus.com.

You can find more information on

ST GOBAIN

Saint-Gobain Pam UK saves Wessex Water time and labour Saint-Gobain PAM UK’s innovative ‘Universal’ joint is saving time and labour costs as part of a flagship project for Wessex Water.

Simon Cottingham, Sales Director of Saint-Gobain PAM UK commented: “We are working closely with the Wessex Water team to create value and ensure a highly competitive total installed cost. The project is another great example of where ductile iron pipe wins out when compared to other materials with increased total installed costs due to the requirement to import a granular bed and surround to structurally support their pipe.

Ductile iron pipes offer installation flexibility, with multiple pipes in a single trench, as well as a relatively short and discreet installation footprint, meaning trenches do not need to be left open for extended periods. With the native soils for this scheme being primarily chalk, the ability to backfill trenches quickly is key, since chalk left at a trench side for long periods could be exposed to the effects of heavy rain, making it unsuitable as a reinstatement material.”

When completed the water supply grid will allow Wessex Water to meet future demand for water and improve the security of supply for customers.

The scheme will meet reductions in abstraction licences required by the Environment Agency to improve flows in some rivers and protect their ecology. It will also mean that seasonal or occasional deteriorating raw water quality will be accommodated.

The company’s push fit boltless restraining joint negates the need for concrete thrust blocks, which are the traditional means of providing anchorage for socket spigot pipelines. With thrust blocks presenting transportation and installation challenges and raising environmental concerns, the Universal joint offers the alternative of a high performance self-anchorage system, which securely moors a pipeline while saving many tonnes of concrete.

The Wessex Water project on which the Universal joint is currently being used is the Corfe Mullen to Salisbury trunk main that is part of the water supply grid scheme. The scheme is the largest ever undertaken by Wessex Water. The eight year £225m programme of works spans two AMP periods and comprises more than 50 individual projects designed to resolve resilience issues within the water supply network. It will improve inter-connectivity within the existing water supply system to enable water to be moved from areas of surplus to areas of need and hence improve resilience to drought and unforeseen events.

Saint-Gobain PAM UK began supply of its EN545 approved Natural ductile iron pipe range last year for the project. By its completion in 2018, the scheme will see some 120km of pipe supplied by the company in a range of diameters from 700mm down to 350mm.

The project falls into the category of a ‘resilience scheme’, which means that once it is completed, it will be able to accommodate both high and low water demand levels. The use of the Saint-Gobain PAM Universal joint is ideal for such schemes since it can handle working pressures of up to 64 bar (depending on diameters).

The eight year programme of work includes the construction of more than 200km of new pipelines, 24 major new or refurbished pumping stations and 12 new storage tanks ranging in capacity from 2 to 8 million litres. For the new pipelines there are more than 120 crossings required that include major trunk roads, major rivers and main railway lines.

The contract showcases Saint-Gobain PAM’s logistics expertise and flexible approach to accommodating client requirements in a number of ways. The company began supply of its ductile iron pipe range at a time when floods hit the project’s location. Nevertheless, transportation of pipework and delivery to site were successfully achieved, despite the challenges of a landslip and road closure. In addition, the company was required to accommodate preferred rural supply routes.

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Cryptosporidium: The approach to the challenge in Wales Carol Weatherley Public Health Manager, Dwr Cymru Welsh Water

Cryptosporidium is a protozoan parasite that has been isolated from surprisingly wide range of animals including mammals, birds, fish and reptiles. It causes a gastro intestinal illness known as cryptosporidiosis regarded as a disease mainly of young animals and is very widespread in livestock in particular in calves. In humans, young children under 5 years of age represent a significant proportion of cases overall.

Cryptosporidiosis is an unpleasant though generally self-limiting illness characterised by profuse, watery diarrhoea lasting several days. In some individuals such as the immuno-suppressed, the illness can be severe and potentially life threatening particularly as currently available drug treatments are not very effective and a vaccine has yet to be developed.

Cryptosporidium is transmitted by the faecal oral route with person to person contact or contact with infected animals identified as the main cause of disease cases. However, transmission through routes such as the consumption of contaminated water or food is also significant and has been a major cause of outbreaks in the UK. The organism is perfectly adapted for an indirect route of transmission: n It is shed in the faeces of an infected host in a dormant, infective state called an oocyst. The oocysts are shed in extremely large numbers with up to 1010 oocysts excreted on a daily basis. n The oocysts are highly environmentally resistant and are able to survive for many months outside the host e.g. in moist soil and water. n Very few oocysts, possibly single numbers, are needed to cause an infection Given these attributes it is unsurprising that cryptosporidium has presented major difficulties for water companies. However, it is their resistance to chlorine at levels traditionally used for the disinfection of drinking water that has presented by far the greatest challenge. Water companies have responded by adopting the

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multiple barrier approach to water treatment as the best means of securing a safe drinking water supply. Drinking water safety plans (DWSP), recommended by the World Health Organisation in 2004 as a process for managing the risks associated with drinking water production and supply, are key to identifying where a barrier or risk management process is needed to prevent cryptosporidium compromising the safety of drinking water.

Cryptosporidium risk is almost entirely associated with the nature of the catchment surrounding the source water. Given the widespread occurrence of animal infections, the diversity of animal hosts and the robustness of oocysts it can be predicted that cryptosporidium will be almost ubiquitous in an environment affected by faeces. Catchment interventions such as removing livestock from grazing near water sources has been shown to have some positive benefit in controlling the input of oocysts. However, where there are significant numbers of wildlife there is evidence that they can also contribute large numbers of oocysts but the species are less likely than those found in livestock to be pathogenic for humans. Out of approximately 24 currently recognised species, just 2 species, C.hominis and C. parvum, account for the majority of human cases C.hominis only infects humans while C.parvum has a wider range of animal hosts including man. C parvum is very prevalent in young livestock so is frequently associated with zoonotic (animal to man) infections and detected in water sources close to livestock grazing.

The majority of Dwr Cymru Welsh Water (DCWW) source waters are from lowland or upland reservoirs where the latter, in particular, tend to be geographically isolated reservoirs in unpopulated areas so unaffected by human sewage inputs. An extensive source water monitoring programme has been undertaken for many years and it is in the water of these upland reservoirs that some unexpected trends in oocyst concentrations have been observed. At a large source water reservoir in a mountainous region in North Wales (Figure 1), where oocyst levels are usually low and attributed to the correspondingly low density of sheep in the catchment, a large spike in oocyst numbers in the source water occurred. This spike continued for a few days then rapidly declined and has not recurred in subsequent years (Figure 2). Despite extensive investigations no obvious cause for the sudden increase was found; the rainfall in the days preceding the sampling was not particularly unusual, there were no dead wildlife or livestock evident in the area and there was no change

in livestock activity. In addition, no obvious change was observed in source water quality e.g. turbidity that might have indicated conditions were unusual. It is this particular incident which occurred in 2008, that led to a more conservative approach being taken to assessing and controlling the risk from cryptosporidium.

So, in 2009 UV light treatment was installed at a number of water treatment works (WTW) predominantly groundwater sites. UV light renders oocysts non-infective through disrupting the structure of the DNA. The benefit of this investment was realised in 2012 when at a spring source in North Wales, after years of monitoring indicated oocyst levels were generally low and intermittent, there was a sudden, elevated but short duration spike of oocysts (approximately 11 oocysts per 10 litres) that again had no obvious link to any change in the catchment. In this instance it was demonstrated that the UV dose applied was sufficient to inactivate the oocysts and subsequently it was shown that the species was C ubiquitum that usually derives from sheep which were present in the catchment. Incidents such as this indicate the unpredictability of oocyst presence in water and that unless a catchment and the potential pathways for cryptosporidium intrusion into the water are fully understood then there is the risk that oocyst numbers may surprise you and it is best to take a precautious approach to treating the water.

In DCWW, as well as source water monitoring, an extensive final water monitoring programme for cryptosporidium is undertaken. WTWs are subject to monitoring based on an assessment of the perceived risk associated with the catchment and the potential risk associated with the treatment process. This monitoring serves to verify the risk assessment and demonstrates that water in supply is safe to drink. In common with other UK water companies, surface water sources are treated by chemical coagulation followed by filtration which removes particles, inorganic and organic chemical contaminants to produce water that is suitable for chemical disinfection.

When cryptosporidium oocysts, which are an oval shape ranging from 4 to 6 Âľm in diameter, are suspended in water they essentially behave as particles and so are effectively removed by coagulation and filtration (Figure 3). A well-designed, well-operated process should remove over 99% of oocysts. Therefore, it is to be expected that should the process be challenged with extremely high numbers of oocysts there may be occasions when an oocyst breaks through into the final water. It is worth pointing out at this stage that the current standard method for the detection of oocysts in water does not distinguish

FEATURE: PUBLIC HEALTH 1 oocysts per 10 l

Upland reservoir in North Wales

2

The number of oocysts in the source water (per 10 litres)

A cryptosporidium oocyst

3

between different species it merely provides an overall count of oocysts. Therefore, it is probable that an oocyst isolate in water will not necessarily be a human pathogen. In common with other water companies, DCWW do see the occasional single oocyst in a final water sample at some WTWs supplied by surface water. On investigation there is invariably no obvious reason for this detection with process performance and indicative water quality parameters such as turbidity being satisfactory. Turbidity is generally accepted to be currently the best surrogate for the potential presence of oocysts. Approximately 3 years ago the company water treatment strategy was reviewed and improved to address both the regulatory requirement(1) that the turbidity of water presented for disinfection should not exceed 1 NTU and to ensure that process performance was optimised. The strategy imposes rigorous standards for turbidity at each stage of the treatment process:

Turbidity at post clarification stage: n 99th percentile <2.5 NTU n 95th percentile: <1.5 NTU

4

A vole captured at the study site

Turbidity at post filtration stage: n 99th percentile < 0.25 NTU; n 95th percentile < 0.1 NTU; n No sample to exceed a turbidity of 1.0 NTU; The turbidity data are taken from the on-line instrumentation situated at each process stage and for every WTW there is a weekly review of turbidity trends and a monthly review of performance against strategy requirements by the regional team. Where a WTW does not meet the strategy requirements, the root cause is identified and where feasible, operational interventions are carried out improve performance and the effect

is then monitored over the following month.

Where infrastructure investment is needed to make an improvement this is also identified and prioritised. It is hoped that this refinement of the assessment and optimisation of treatment performance and the specifically targeted investment will result in there being very few if any unexplained oocysts in final waters.

Finally, it may be of interest to note that DCWW are funding a study with University of Liverpool Veterinary School and the Cryptosporidium Reference Unit (CRU) to look at the relative contribution of sheep and small mammals to the

cryptosporidium oocysts detected in an upland reservoir water (Figure 4). It is hoped that using the latest genetic techniques, CRU will be able to match unusual species and genotypes to specific host species. This study will provide a better understanding of sources of cryptosporidium in this and similar catchments and to determine which management interventions are likely to be the most effective at reducing oocyst numbers in water.

The Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 2010 Wales

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BRIEF HISTORY OF DRINKING WATER AND PUBLIC HEALTH PROTECTION OR “EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE, THERE’S WATER ON MARS!” Water is essential for life, ask NASA, the press and those interested in the search for extra-terrestrial life. While they look for water on Mars and Pluto, those of us in the business of providing safe drinking water on Earth, concentrate on producing copious amounts of it on a daily basis.

Water on Mars?

For our bodies to function properly water is essential. It is the medium that allows all chemical and respiratory reactions to take place that keep us alive. Water constitutes approximately 50 to 60% of body weight. For normal daily requirements an adult ingests and excretes about 4% of total body weight. It is recommended an average adult should drink about 2.5 litres per day, dependent upon environmental conditions and how active the person is; if you exercise you should drink more.

Dehydration is defined as “1% or greater loss of body weight as a result of fluid loss”. This is considered mild dehydration having detrimental effects on physiology and performance. If it reaches greater than 3 to 5% loss of body weight decreased endurance, strength and heat exhaustion occur. A loss of greater than 10% of body weight is life threatening.

There is a clear public health risk from lack of water for drinking but water quality is equally important by preventing disease.

Waterborne diseases affect large populations very quickly, having a greater impact than other pathogen delivery routes, such as airborne or direct physical contact. It is widely accepted that one of the most significant advances in public health in the 20th century was improvements in drinking water and wastewater treatment science & engineering.

Drinking water has been considered important in maintaining life and good health for many centuries.

The Past Historically water has had a vital role in economic and social development, as transport routes, a source of food and a place to gather for as long as communities have formed. Military campaigns have been more successful by locating troop’s toilet facilities away from drinking water supplies. Untreated water carries disease causing agents (pathogens) and has devastating impact on communities across the world. Even after treatment the water still poses a risk to public health from contamination of distribution systems. The need to continually monitor drinking water quality and interpret analytical results is an essential part of providing a wholesome water supply.

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The earliest record of water being “treated” was in what is now modern day Pakistan. Records from as far back as 4000 B.C (Egyptian and Mayan civilisations) show early water treatment considered the aesthetic qualities of water such as taste, odour and clarity. These qualities are as important today as they were then. Ancient Sanskrit and Greek records recommended water be treated by filtration through charcoal, exposing to sunlight (UV), boiling it, and straining it (all techniques still used today to make it safe to drink).

Cloudiness or turbidity was considered an important factor in early water treatment. Water containing particles had objectionable taste and / or appearance. Egyptians used alum to clarify water as early as 1500 B.C. in the same way it is used it today.

Early physicians (Hippocrates of the Hippocratic Oath fame and Crysippus) recognised the benefits of drinking water, considering it essential to digestion. The word “water” itself is linked to sustaining life; the Latin word ‘aqua’ is thought to derive from “a qua vinimus’ which translates “from where we originate”.

In 1586 a physician (Baldassarre Pisanelli) believed in the benefits of drinking cold water, in that it was “thirst quenching and invigorating” (rather obvious observations). He also observed cold water becomes clouded ‘as if it were coated by expelled noxious humours’; he deduced drinking water facilitates excretion of toxic substances from the body.” Correct conclusion, wrong reason.

In the 1700’s, filtration was identified as being effective at removing particles from water. In 1751 a pharmacologist (Nicholas Lemery) wrote about the nature and properties of water, suggesting waters were different depending upon the land through which they flowed.

Scotland claims an arguably more important “first” in the fields of science and engineering. Often overshadowed by the more famous inventions of Stevenson and Logie-Baird who gave us railways and TV, the first ever municipal water filtration plant was in Paisley, designed by Scottish scientist & engineer Robert Thom (late 1800’s). Reduction in numbers of recorded disease cases suggested a link between untreated drinking water and disease. His findings contributed to the Metropolis Water Act (1852) being passed by Parliament. This was

FEATURE: PUBLIC HEALTH

the first law of its kind making it a statutory requirement for all public water supplied in London to be treated by slow sand filtration. Slow sand filtration is still used today to clarify drinking water. Scientists started to research water sources and the effects of drinking contaminated water on public health. An epidemiologist working in London in 1855 (Dr John Snow) proved that cholera was a waterborne disease, linking outbreaks of disease to the Broad Street Pump which was contaminated by sewage. This was one of the first recorded uses of chlorine for disinfecting drinking water supplies.

In 1897 chlorine solution was used to disinfect drinking water pipes in Maidstone after a typhoid fever outbreak. Later in the 1880’s, Louis Pasteur demonstrated the “germ theory” of disease, explaining how microscopic organisms can transmit disease via drinking water.

A more important development followed; filtration in conjunction with disinfection of drinking water supplies. In 1909 USA water professionals discussed disinfection by chlorine. A report to the American Water Works Association (AWWA) declared one of the most important uses of chlorination would be “in conjunction with filtration”. Nearly a century later in 1997, Life magazine wrote “The filtration of drinking water plus the use of chlorine (for disinfection) is probably the most significant public health advance of the millennium.” Studies of disease rates found clean water to be the reason for rapid decline in urban death rates. They concluded that clean water was responsible (in cities) for “nearly 50% of total mortality reduction; 75% of infant mortality reduction; almost 66% of child mortality reduction.” They also stated chlorination alongside filtration reduced typhoid fever by 91% in 5 years. Future statistics reinforced this with almost total eradication of typhoid fever by the 1930’s. In 1938 Croydon (UK) experienced a typhoid fever outbreak. Legislation was then introduced requiring all public water utilities to disinfect drinking water, resulting in reduced public health risk and improvements in disease control. Improvements in drinking water treatment technology and public health protection have always gone hand in hand.

Increasing urban population numbers, history of cross-contamination of drinking water sources and distribution networks by domestic sewage and animal faeces, are major factors in preventing waterborne disease.

The Future Ever closer industry links with health professionals (NHS Health Boards and Local Authority Environmental Health Services), who are charged with legally protecting public health, is a key element to future success. Climate change has the potential to affect drinking water treatment performance and impact on public health. Changes in the environment may result in deterioration rates of assets, increasing capital maintenance costs or operational costs to maintain adequate treatment.

Disinfecting drinking water after filtration has resulted in the protection of public health through the control of waterborne diseases. Untreated or poorly treated drinking water is still one of the greatest threats to public health, particularly in developing countries, where large numbers of people still die from drinking contaminated water.

Water Utilities must continually ask themselves a question “Why do we exist?”

The answer is simple. Whilst we all have deadlines and targets to meet, it should never be forgotten that public health must always be our number one priority; by removing and treating sewage and providing safe drinking water systems we exist to protect public health.

If all else fails in our endeavours to provide safe drinking water to protect public health, let’s hope the search for good quality water on Mars and Pluto is successful, but until then we must continue to ask “Why do we exist?”

By Paul S Hampton – Team Manager (East), Public Health Team, Scottish Water

An epidemiologist working in London in 1855 (Dr John Snow) proved that cholera was a waterborne disease, linking outbreaks of disease to the Broad Street Pump which was contaminated by sewage. This was one of the first recorded uses of chlorine for disinfecting drinking water supplies.

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PROKARYA

Novel approach enables high resolution microbial source tracking

In 1854 John Snow tracked the spread of cholera and established that the source of the outbreak was a water pump in Broad Street, Soho. By doing so he invented the field of epidemiology and established the link between faecal contamination of drinking water and the spread of gastrointestinal disease.

This resulted in the instigation of potable water treatment processes designed to remove 99.99% of bacteria. As public health continued to improve, the proportion of disease burden arising from contact with bacteria began to shift from potable water to a broad range of environments.

In the 1970s the European Economic Community began to focus on the quality of the water in which we swim, after it was established that gastrointestinal disease was common after bathing (Brown 1964). In 1976 the Bathing Water Directive was introduced in order to further protect public health. During the subsequent decades many improvements were made to water company assets, introducing primary and secondary treatment of sewage as well as disinfection in some cases.

Bathing water quality is significantly improved today, with the proverbial â&#x20AC;&#x153;low hanging fruitâ&#x20AC;? having been picked. In order to further reduce exposure to faecal bacteria it has become necessary to gain a greater understanding of

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their source. When the Bathing Water Directive came in to force, the primary source of faecal contamination in bathing waters was the discharge of insufficiently treated sewage. By 1998, of the 9.5 million people whose sewage discharged directly to sea 11 percent was untreated, 68 percent primary or secondary treated and 21 percent tertiary treated (Water Services Association 1998). It is now becoming clear that a significant proportion of the faecal bacteria currently found in bathing waters arise from agricultural runoff. Microbial source tracking attempts to elucidate these sources and their relative contribution to faecal bacteria in the bathing water.

At present the assumption is that sewage is the primary source of faecal bacteria in bathing water, and thus the wastewater industry is expected to invest millions of pounds in asset improvement programmes which are generally targeted at reducing the frequency and impact of combined sewer overflows, or disinfecting

treated sewage before final discharge. Many of these programmes are based on hydraulic models which attempt to simulate the behaviour of the sewerage network and use assumptions for bacterial load and source. Whilst these models are invaluable in understanding the operation of the network, they cannot give an accurate reflection of the impact of diffuse and point source faecal contamination since they do not directly measure the faecal communities in the source or the bathing water.

Due to the need to better understand the impact of point and diffuse contamination on bathing waters, many novel approaches have been developed which attempt to differentiate between the faecal host animal (e.g. human vs cow). Some approaches are based on chemistry, such as sterol ratios. It is suggested that each host animal has a unique ratio of sterol compounds in their faeces, and this can be used to differentiate the contamination source.

However the analysis of these ratios swiftly

FEATURE: PUBLIC HEALTH becomes difficult when multiple faecal sources are present so it’s utility is limited.

Most the remaining approaches are biological, targeting either the regulated bacteria themselves or proxies for faecal contamination.

Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) experiments have moved the field forward immensely, with many new faecal source host markers having been identified. For example, the bacterium Catellicoccus marimammalium lives only in the guts of birds, and therefore its presence indicates faecal contamination from birds. These presence/absence markers can help narrow down the potential sources involved, but still don’t give an indication of relative contribution to contamination from each source since their abundance is not thought to be stable within the gut. qPCR is also somewhat sensitive to various chemicals that persist in the environment such as humic acids, and is limited to one marker per run.

Recent developments in DNA sequencing have reduced costs significantly, to the point where it can be used routinely in biological investigations. This can include profiling the bacteria in bioreactors such as activated sludge and anaerobic digestors or investigating the biology underlying the removal of micropollutants in potable water systems, and most recently in microbial source tracking. This approach can be used to identify the sources of contamination in a bathing water, enabling a

focussed approach to improving water quality.

The most significant impact of DNA sequencing on microbial source tracking is the ability to produce a “microbial fingerprint” by analysing the entire bacterial community. It has recently been shown that each point source has a unique “fingerprint” including individual CSOs, meaning for the first time the impact of point sources can be quantified. This is significant, since we can now pin point exactly which assets are having the most impact on water quality in terms of the percentage of bacteria in the bathing water originating from that asset.

This can also be set in the context of diffuse pollution which can now be quantified. This enables the targeting of asset investment where it will be most cost effective, but also gives an indication of how that investment will impact the bathing water. For example, if a CSO is contributing 5% of the bacteria in a bathing water during storm conditions, but agricultural runoff is contributing 40% the case can be made for disproportionate cost. Equally where CSOs are clearly the main source of faecal bacteria, investment can be directed to those outfalls which most impact water quality.

Another interesting use of this technology is identifying crossed connections, where a toilet is incorrectly plumbed in to the surface water system. These crossed connections may have a disproportionate impact on water quality due to direct discharge to the water course. A single

BacTrack: High resolution microbial source tracking

sample can show whether human faecal bacteria are present.

Microbial source tracking can also be of use in reducing coliform failures in potable water. The bacteria in raw water entering water treatment plants could be apportioned to source, enabling proactive work to reduce the microbial load on a treatment works and thus reduction of the risk of failure. In the face of climate change and more intense storms, the risk to potable water will increase, making this kind of investigation vital. Microbial source tracking is on the cusp of becoming a main stream tool, ready to assist in asset investment planning and reduction of the environmental impact of the wastewater industry.

Gregg Iceton, Managing Director of Prokarya Limited Prokarya provides high resolution microbial source tracking and community profiling to the wastewater industry

BacPro: Microbial community profiling

Quantify the impact of diffuse and point sources on bathing water quality

Troubleshoot and optimise activated sludge, trickling filters, anaerobic digestion

Differentiate between individual CSOs and WWTP outfalls

Link the performance of bioreactors to the underlying biology

Detect cross connections in surface water systems

Research reactor design, filter media and biological removal of micropollutants

Identify the source of coliforms in raw water

sales@prokarya.com www.prokarya.com 07492 089596 0191 662 2117

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IDEXX TECHNOLOGIES

Detection of Waterborne Bacterial Threats in Hospitals Microbes commonly found in water do not present a risk of infection to healthy individuals.

However, for patients in hospitals who are seriously ill or immunocompromised, the potential for danger is magnified.

The most common bacterial threats from hospital water systems are Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Legionella species. If an outlet is used relatively infrequently, the water at the end of the pipe can stagnate and form a biofilm, allowing bacteria to multiply and increasing the risk of infection. Both P. aeruginosa and Legionella are fairly resistant to the routine chlorine and chloramine treatments undertaken during facility management. If left unchecked and monitored, they will grow in the hospitable warm environments of water outlets.

Legionella is usually transmitted in aerosol form, with shower heads and air conditioning units being common sources of bacteria, whereas. P. aeruginosa is more likely to be spread by direct contact with a tap or sink.

P. aeruginosa is both difficult to prevent and to eradicate. Secondary disinfection systems that use either chlorine dioxide or chloramine can reduce the problem, but designing water systems to minimise biofilm growth at the ends of the pipes is the ideal solution, although not always practical to do in older facilities.

Outbreaks of legionellosis in the 1970s and 1980s raised the awareness of the problem within hospital waters, leading to the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) now having very strict guidelines on the management of Legionella, backed up by legislative powers of prosecution if outbreaks occur where guidelines have been overlooked.

That being said, the only routine water analysis required by law in UK hospitals is that normally required for drinking water, such as for the presence of coliforms.

Detection and identification of Legionella is complex. Incubation times of sample cultures are typically up to a week, but in some cases up to ten days. When trying to pinpoint the source of an outbreak in a potentially life-threatening situation, any time that can be saved is crucial.

Routine monitoring is, therefore, essential for those water sources most likely to produce aerosols that might cause infection, and is an important part of those HSE guidelines.

Tap water samples are not routinely analysed, although some hospitals do carry out this level of testing. The testing of showers that are used by susceptible patients is much more important.

The UK Department of Health guidance states that systems supplying water to wards with at-risk

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patients should be tested for P. aeruginosa, but the required frequency – every six months for P. aeruginosa-negative taps – may be insufficient, and most hospitals will have their own risk assessments in place, and water safety plans drawn up to match. For at-risk wards, testing may be as frequent as every week. Traditional cell culture based methods of identifying P. aeruginosa take 40-48 hours of incubation, and any confirmation tests for false positive colonies add additional days onto the testing time, while they are fully identified.

In addition to P. aeruginosa and Legionella species, there are three other bacteria that are linked to hospital acquired infections. Infection with Stenotrophomonas maltophilia can be dangerous because it is difficult to treat. These bacteria are found in water and, while not at the same frequency as P. aeruginosa contamination, there have been cases where the water supply has been implicated as the source of infection within hospitals. Other potentially problematic bacteria include Ralstonia pickettii, which is being found more frequently and species of Serratia, which are commonly found in drinking water and have been associated with hospital-acquired infections. For these three bacteria, widespread testing of the water system is normally only undertaken if there is a specific infection incident.

Quantification of bacterial contamination is undertaken using the IDEXX Quanti-Tray®, which is a specifically designed, multi-well plate to enumerate bacteria in water samples. Once the water sample is collected, the pre-dosed powder is added to the sample container, then agitated and poured in to the Quanti-Tray which is then sealed, to create a number of discrete cells where the reaction takes place and then incubated. After 24 hours of incubation, the number of wells which fluoresce under UV light is counted, and this is used to determine the amount of contamination via the most probable number, or MPN, method in conjunction with a comparison table.

A study was undertaken by leading independent water microbiological experts, and was conducted on both routine hospital water samples and artificially contaminated samples, and compared in parallel the performance of the traditional membrane filtration technique. The conclusion was that the Pseudalert/Quanti-Tray test gives results in a shorter time than the standard reference ISO 16266 and MoDW Part 8 PACN agar membrane filtration methods, with no further confirmation steps.

Pseudalert®: Rapid Identification of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Unlike traditional culture methods, Pseudalert® uses a bacterial enzyme detection technology to identify the presence of P. aeruginosa. The test, developed by IDEXX, was launched to the UK healthcare sector in 2014, after a pan-European study demonstrated that Pseudalert was compliant with the requirements of the Health Technical Memorandum 04-01 (HTM 04-01) Addendum water testing guidelines for P. aeruginosa.

The test itself consists of a powder, which is added to a standard 100ml water sample, and then incubated at 38°C for 24 hours to determine presence or absence. Unlike traditional techniques, no media preparation is necessary and the non-toxic reagents come in ready-touse, unit-dosed packaging. Pseudalert detects P. aeruginosa at levels as low as 1 Colony Forming Unit, in either 100-ml or 250-ml samples, within 24 hours.

Figure 1 All comparison studies were conducted in accordance with ISO 17994:2014, and statistical analysis of both the routine samples and artificially contaminated samples, reveals no significant difference between the two populations. A scatter plot of the paired counts (Figure 1) shows a greater number of data points on the Pseudalert®/QuantiTray® side of the line of equivalence.

FEATURE: PUBLIC HEALTH

Advantages of Pseudalert over Culture Methods

rapid re-commissioning of facilities which may have been quarantined or been decommissioned.

amongst some of the most seriously ill and vulnerable populations in hospitals.

Rapid, accurate detection of bacterial buildup is essential to identify potential issues and expedite remedial actions. The use of Pseudalert, which gives a confirmed result within 24 hours, and reduces ambiguity caused by false positives, is therefore a great advantage within healthcare environments. Atypical strains shown up by traditional methods which need positive identification can add up to six days of additional analysis, which leads to facilities being temporarily unusable for extended periods of time and a delay of any essential remedial work. By having access to information sooner, Pseudalert is a powerful tool to have at the facilities managerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s disposal within a healthcare environment, allowing not just swift identification, isolation and resolution of any incidents quickly, but also

The ease of use of Pseudalert has been identified by experts in field tests, and makes it ideal not only for compliance testing, but also for routine monitoring. Carrying out the test and sample preparation requires minimal training and equipment, and hands-on operation time is less than one minute. Not only can the method be easily adopted by UKAS approved microbiological laboratories, the test has the potential to be conducted in a convenient location within a facility by trained operatives. This has the advantage of reducing time spent transporting samples and allows for more frequent routine detection and trend analysis. By empowering facility managers to take control of sampling, analysis and detection, and having the assurance and confidence in the results, Pseudalert can potentially save lives

For a laboratory environment, routinely used to carrying out traditional analysis using agar culture methods, trials of Pseudalert have been reported positively. Pseudalert comes as a pre-dosed powder to add to samples, whereas to perform traditional testing, culture media must be prepared in a series of steps, some involving toxic reagents. Sample throughput using Pseudalert is higher, there are less hands-on manipulations steps of samples, and a reduced number of analytical steps, meaning the efficiency of a laboratory could be increased, leading to potential cost reductions.

All ÂŽ/TM marks are owned by IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries.

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Water Management by Wilo – that’s more than innovative technology and long-term expertise.

The Wilo Way rather means making your working life easier by providing you with excellent product quality that is tested for outstanding reliability and long service life. Our qualified experts support you personally in selecting the best solution for your individual need. That is how we live our promise “Pioneering for You”.

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MULTISTAGE PUMP WITH LONG SERVICE LIFE In September 2015 KSB have extended its tried-and-tested Multitec type series: the new high-pressure pump Multitec DN 200 will be available with four different hydraulic systems and two to six stages.

set. Energy efficiency, a long service life and low noise emissions are very important to customers in the water sector. The maximum temperature of the fluid handled should not exceed 60 °C. The pumps sets have a maximum weight of 1.6 tonnes, with casings made of nodular cast iron and impellers made of bronze.

To cover as broad a spectrum of applications as possible, the pump sets can be equipped with a variety of standardised single mechanical seals or gland packings. The diffusers can be supplied in

grey cast iron or bronze, and their transition areas are protected against wear by casing wear rings.

The pump shaft is supported by ball bearings at both ends. Being generously dimensioned and equipped with flow-optimised hydraulic systems as well as easily replaceable wear parts, Multitec DN 200 offers a high degree of operating reliability at low energy and maintenance costs.

The Multitec pump can be supplied for horizontal or vertical installation.

It is designed for casing pressures of up to 40 bar and suitable for use in water supply, irrigation, pressure boosting or fire-fighting systems. Its maximum head is nearly 400 m and its maximum flow rate is 850 m³/h.

The pumps are driven exclusively by four-pole three-phase motors with a maximum power rating of 1000 kW. The advantage of the new pumps compared with higher-speed pump sets with smaller nominal diameters is that, running at 1450 (50 Hz) or 1750 (60 Hz) rotations per minute, they will reach the same maximum flow rate, yet run much more quietly. Their low rotational speeds help reduce wear and have a positive impact on both the service life and the efficiency of the pump

Photo: Low rotational speeds enable the new Multitec DN 200 to run very quietly and achieve long service lives. ©KSB Aktiengesellschaft Frankenthal

You choose. We supply.

Our wide range of standard pumps and valves provides plenty of scope for individual demands. You can select the materials, hydraulic systems and drives. When you’re facing complex tasks, we’re with you from Day One – whether you want planning guidance, specially designed components or help with commissioning. But see for yourself. Test our products for quality and versatility and discover why KSB is so often first choice. www.ourtechnology.yoursuccess.ksb.com KSB Limited • 2 Cotton Way • Loughborough • Leicestershire • LE11 5TF • 01509 231872 • www.ksb.co.uk

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Water Quality Engineering

FLAGSHIP APPOINTMENT SIGNALS BEGINNING OF A NEW ERA FOR PANTON MCLEOD Panton McLeod are delighted to announce the appointment of Ceris Van De Vyver to the position of Chief Water Quality Scientist.

breadth of our consultancy services, and we look forward to sharing more information about this in the new year."

Ceris is looking forward to starting during the first week in December and explains why she chose to join.

"I have known the guys for nearly 20 years, initially through studies I was conducting relating to combatting biofouling in distribution systems.

It is the standard of their engineering and their drive for innovation that sets them apart from other suppliers in the industry."

Ceris who is both a Chartered Scientist and Chartered Environmentalist is also Area Chair of the Institute of Water in Wales.

With a career that includes roles at Severn Trent and the DWI, Ceris joins Panton McLeod from a senior role at Welsh Water.

Jim Panton CEO of Panton McLeod is excited about the possibilities the appointment brings to the business, and looks forward to exploring new service provisions over the coming 12 months both in the UK and globally.

"As a business we have known Ceris for many years, her experience and knowledge in the fields of Operations and Water Quality is extensive and very consistent with our brand of Water Quality

12 YEAR SCOTTISH WATER RESERVOIR CONTRACT AWARD The sole supplier contract which is based on an initial 6 years plus extensions up to 12 includes the inspection, cleaning & maintenance of over 2000 treated water storage assets across of whole of Scotland including the highland and Islands.

Business Development Director Paul Henderson is delighted with the contract win, “To be able to plan for the next 6-12 years is brilliant for the business and it will secure and create local employment.”

“I would like to thank the whole Panton McLeod team for their support on this tender, from the site teams, supervisors, support staff and management, everyone has played their part.”

Ceris Van De Vyver Engineering. When the opportunity to bring Ceris on board arose it wasn't a hard decision. I believe it is testament to the our growth over recent years that we are attracting employees of this quality."

"In addition to supporting our current range of services we also see an opportunity to expand the

"I think this is a really interesting time to be joining the supply chain, the industry is constantly changing, with the new AMP period now in place and retail competition on the horizon in 2017 many of the major companies are in a transitional period. Balancing budgetary and quality compliance in the future is going to require water companies to be adopting industry leading best practice and I believe through key partnerships with companies like Panton McLeod our clients can be at the front of the field."

LAUNCH OF WATER QUALITY UPDATE Since the last edition of the journal Panton McLeod have launched a monthly Water Quality Update.

Sent out to over 1500 industry contacts, the email update includes industry news, product and service updates, best practice advice and technical information.

With content provided from a number of sources including water companies, innovative suppliers and academic organisations it is hoped the update will appeal to a wide section of the industry.

External submissions for inclusion in future editions are very welcome, please contact Paul Henderson at paul.henderson@ pantonmcleod.co.uk , or to sign up to receive the update visit go.pantonmcleod.co.uk/join

Tel : 01896 663 330 • info@pantonmcleod.co.uk

PAX WATER - THM REMOVAL / CHLORINE RESIDUAL CONTROL TRIALS GAIN MOMENTUM The partnership between Panton McLeod and Californian based PAX Water Technologies is showing great potential to improve water quality through both the removal of disinfection byproducts such as THMs and improving chlorine residual control.

Interest in the innovative water quality solution has been increasing steadily with trial sites identified for a number of the most innovative UK water companies.

Additionally, a recent PAX trial project included what it is believed to be a UK first (possibly world first) when an active mixer was installed into a live service reservoir. The live installation used one of Panton McLeod’s fleet of dedicated potable water ROVs to collect the mixer from beneath the access hatch before positioning it at the far side of the reservoir, all completed

without any impact on water quality. The video can be found on the Panton McLeod website www.pantonmcleod.co.uk Business Development Director Paul Henderson is looking forward to further projects being identified in 2016, “At present a number of our key clients have identified assets for trial works, we know from discussions with PAX in California that every one of their projects to date has met or exceeded it’s project goal in terms of THM. Because of this I believe as our UK projects go live and deliver results more and more clients will consider the PAX solution.

If you think your potable water assets would benefit from improved disinfection efficiency, increased chlorine residual control, extending cleaning frequency and a reduction in THM levels please get in touch through the usual channels.

Water Quality Engineering • Robotic Inspection & Cleaning

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MWH

Small steps towards big data Advanced control and automation is the first step towards Big Data and Predictive Analytics (BDPA) and is a cornerstone for TOTEX efficiency. If we get it right, it will save power and chemical costs and allow greater flow/load through treatment plants as well as improving compliance resilience says Ajay Nair, MWH Technical Director and wastewater expert

There is much talk of the potential of Big Data and Predictive Analytics and I truly believe it will create some ground-breaking changes, but it will be some time before we get tangible benefits.

However, we can use existing techniques and technologies as part of our roadmap to get benefits quickly and cost effectively. One such technique is process control which is increasingly vital for process compliance, operating cost efficiency and capital cost efficiency.

Understanding Process Control Unlike many chemical manufacturing processes, where feedstock variations are minimised, water production and wastewater treatment vary hugely. Their nature and number of contributors leads to a process with many non-linear control parameters. This is not an argument against effective control, rather it makes compliance, efficiency and effectiveness essential.

Process control deals with architectures, mechanisms and algorithms for maintaining the output of a specific process within a desired range. The activities ensure a process is predictable, stable, and consistently operating at the target level of performance with only normal variation. However, the definition of the desired outcome is critical. It defines how wide we can take process control and therefore its benefits in delivering performance across a system not just an individual asset.

Efficiency and Effectiveness We need to consider both efficiency of a control system i.e. its component output and its effectiveness i.e. the system objective.

Efficiency is generally achieved through selection of the controller type and tuning of the control system. Effectiveness is a combination of the type of control, changing the objective function and using a greater number of control variables, typically described as Multi Parameter Based Process Control.

Using aeration control on activated sludge from the wastewater industry as an example. The simplest form of control is fixed DO (Dissolved Oxygen) control, where blower output is adjusted

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to achieve a fixed DO set-point (the objective function). As DO deviates from the set-point, the blower output is changed accordingly.

Changing the controller type further improves efficiency used such as Proportional Integral (PI), Proportional Integral Derivative (PID). Pressure set-point control, use of airflow as the variable control function, and using the most open valve to operate at the lowest pressure point all improve efficiency by as much as 40% from simple DO control.

The ability to ‘Do More Using Less’ can be realised using control and automation to reduce capital and operating costs. New, efficient microbial pathways are only possible with instrumentation and control, and these new processes allow tighter standards, at lower costs and with smaller footprints. They are essential to our industry’s future.

However, to improve system effectiveness, we need to understand what efficiency levers we can use. In this case, the objective for the aeration system is to reduce ammonia concentration to below consent levels. As influent ammonia concentration is variable, we can exploit unused system efficiencies as a result. Feed Forward Ammonia, model based control is a reality and has demonstrated 20% savings over the most efficient control system in place.

You might well ask. Reasons I’ve encountered on site visits include:

The ability to use more effective control systems exists today. Applications are wide reaching and move beyond simple output control including: n Biological reactor control to create more effective biological pathways and reactions. n Metal coagulant dose for phosphorus removal, enhanced primary treatment or odour suppression. n Sludge age control to control reactions, minimise energy consumption and increase biogas production. n UV Dose control for disinfection of wastewater and inactivation of cryptosporidium. n Carbon dosing for nitrate removal on secondary, tertiary wastewater and clean water applications. n Automated Filter backwash control across both water and wastewater treatment. n Automated polymer dosing for consistent thickening and dewatering n River water pollution monitoring to control activated carbon dosing for pesticide removal.

So why is control and automation not central to asset operation?

1. Variable instrument reliability. Wastewater, is a physically demanding environment and can interfere with sensor performance.

Frequent calibration and long downtimes, historically have been troublesome.

2. Operators generally focus on repairing or maintaining large pieces of equipment leaving instruments to a small group of overworked specialists.

3. Operators often lack knowledge of control system functionality so undervalue instruments and the need to maintain, calibrate and clean them.

4. Compliance is key for operators, so when control systems go down, compliance can be maintained by turning equipment up, increasing blower power or overdosing with a chemical. There is usually sufficient capacity in built assets to cope even when operating outside their performance envelope.

5. Automatic operation of the system is compromised by the poor condition of physical assets i.e. automatic control cannot function effectively so there is little point using it.

So, on the face of it, there are good reasons why control and automation, especially in wastewater, is not widely implemented or retained. However, I would argue that a mentality of ‘compliance at any cost’ must be replaced with ‘compliance at lowest costs’ so the true benefits of control can be realised. Indeed, some traditional processes

FEATURE: WASTE WATER

need to move to where control failure can lead to process failure. This would provide the necessary tension to ensure control systems are maintained.

Recently we upgraded an existing treatment plant to meet new Total Nitrogen standards. Traditional design approaches size reactors to cope with the maximum influent condition, under the poorest occurring conditions. Our approach relies on a dynamic control system which understands reactor behaviour and exploits it by changing different set points. By integrating control into the design we were able to build less capacity than previously and realise both capital and operating cost savings, improved compliance reliability and provide the need to ensure the control system is maintained.

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not fool-proof but you can take this concept much further, gaining greater efficiencies the wider you throw the control net. There are significant advantages in exploiting control at both component and system level, but the wider the control system, the more complex and fragile the control models become. This is where the power of big data and statistical pattern recognition would be helpful in developing more complex models for use in control.

Where can control take us next?

My thoughts include n Integration of network, treatment plant and

water courses to balance the overall ecosystem to treat to lowest possible cost. n Enhanced Activated Sludge Control to drive new, more cost effective metabolic pathways. n Dynamic primary tank control including combination of chemical and biochemical pretreatment to improve performance, coupled with energy demand. n Site generation and demand side power management with the generation system linked with system wide demand. n Automated network flushing control to manage solids and active management of stormwater flows to reduce first flush pollution. n Anaerobic digester control including predictive feeding, mixing and corrective actions to maximise biogas production, n Control systems supporting new technologies for recovering high value chemical products and provide a revenue for the water companies.

than a fundamental part of plant design and operation. Designers and operators have important roles. Designers; to integrate control into the fundamental architecture of the treatment plant and to use the dynamic capacity created rather than designing for the worst case.

Operators; to embrace it fully and maintain the instruments and systems to make it function effectively.

Ultimately Big Data will deliver us some groundbreaking efficiencies, but to exploit it successfully we must have automation and control that functions effectively. Undertaking diagnostics on control systems regularly is essential to ensure they reflect the conditions of the moment and be refined. If we implement the basics and move towards a more comprehensive control system, then I strongly believe we can exploit some of the legacy headroom available and deliver improved quality for ultimately a lower operating cost. We have the sensors, letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s have the sense to exploit this cornerstone technology for the future.

Control not an optional extra To fully exploit the undoubted benefits that advanced control brings, we need a cultural shift in the way we operate our assets. Currently control is considered an optional extra rather

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ThamesGrow takes the cake THAMES The end product of Thames Water’s sewage treatment works is getting a brand makeover, as Martin Wells reports There was a time when it was easy to get rid of sludge.

One such disposal route for water companies, especially those serving large urban areas, would be to load countless tons of the stuff onto barges and send it out to the middle of the North Sea where it would be dumped.

The challenge then was to find cleaner and more innovative ways to solve the sludge problem.

For Thames Water, that meant treating sludge less as a problem and more as a resource and for years the company has refined processes that go back almost a century to extract biogas from sludge, generating electricity and reducing its final volume in the process.

THP plants at treatment works such as Chertsey and Oxford (which produces particularly good quality cake), process not just their own sludge but also import a proportion of the 100m cubic litres of sludge exported from our smaller STWs every year.

But after processes like anaerobic digestion and thermal hydrolysis, the resulting dry cake still has to be disposed of. Which is where Alex Harrison and his team come in.

“For the cake, we have a useable land bank of around 150,000 hectares right across the Thames Water region and beyond, and a customer base of around 5,000 farmers, who hold our product in great esteem,” said Alex.

Alex, Thames Water’s biorecycling operations manager, is ultimately responsible for the safe, sustainable, ecological, cost-effective recycling of sludge.

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Nutrient recovery fo a sustainable futu r re

Hence the rebranding of the company’s sludge cake as ThamesGrow.

“We’ve been distributing cake to land for more than 20 years,” said Alex, “but now we have a brand identity, supporting the product that all our sludge treatment centres produce, including the newly commissioned THP plants. The key is to regard the cake as a marketable product rather than a waste that needs to be disposed of.”

We live in more enlightened times, of course, and the sea disposal route was closed off for water companies in 1998 by European legislation.

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One of the best ways is to sell it to farmers to use as agricultural fertiliser but in an overcrowded market it can be difficult to get your product noticed.

“We actually need more than 33,000 hectares annually to be able to spread the 770,000m3 of cake that TW produces each year. Due to

Get in touch 020 3577 9592 biorecycling@thame

swater.co.uk

thameswater.co.u

k/ThamesGrow

FEATURE: THAMESGROW

agricultural regulations we cannot go back to the same fields year after year, hence why we need such a large landbank available to us.”

Regulations also restrict what crops the cake can be used for. Cereals and grain-type crops are most suitable (although the brewing industry generally steers clear of sludge-grown hops and barley) but using it on fields of fruit and vegetables – foodstuffs directly consumed by humans – is prohibited. Nevertheless, the farmers who do use it acknowledge that it’s a vital part of their agronomy, providing essential organic nutrients that they would otherwise have to source.

“The cake that comes out of our THP plants tend to be around 30-35% dry solids, the rest being water,” said Alex, “compared with the 20-25%

generated by other methods. And there’s a real benefit to Thames Water in that we’re getting more gas generated from our sludge and consequently more electricity generation. The other key benefit of the dryer THP cake is a smaller volume to haul to land, hence a smaller haulage cost.”

Driven by the need to dispose of between 700,000 and 800,000 tons of cake every year – and a limited number of farmers able to use it on their land – the sale of ThamesGrow is never going to be a profitable business. Despite sales generating £500k-£600k a year, the haulage and spreading costs are borne by Thames Water.

“The income we get is a side benefit really,” said Alex. “The cake we deliver to farmers could be sat

on their land for months before they utilise it so we use their land as a storage asset. Maintaining our landbank is essential and we can only achieve that by providing excellent customer service.

“If we didn’t have the farming outlets we’d have to go to landfill and pay something like £100m a year, plus all the environmental downsides that go with it, as this is the least sustainable means of disposal.”

Whilst further technology advances are on the horizon that will mean even more gas and energy extracted and less cake produced, the recycling to agriculture remains a vital step in the wastewater treatment process, which will continue to keep the bio-recyling team busy.

We’ve been distributing cake to land for more than 20 years, but now we have a brand identity, supporting the product that all our sludge treatment centres produce, including the newly commissioned THP plants. The key is to regard the cake as a marketable product rather than a waste that needs to be disposed of.

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VEOLIA

DEALING WITH EMERGING POLLUTANTS Kieran Healey of Veolia Water Technologies considers a new challenge to water treatment technologies

Fig 1 – Actiflo® Carb

Fig 2 – Actiflo® Carb treatment of final effluent at Milwaukee WwTW

Over the last decade or so, analytical chemists have developed new techniques to identify a range of previously undetectable pollutants in water, many at only picogramme per litre concentrations. These “emerging pollutants" include pesticides, pharmaceuticals, surfactants, flame retardants, plasticisers and active ingredients in personal care products. They raise health concerns such as toxicity, carcinogenicity and endocrine disruption. Some find their way into rivers via domestic and industrial wastewater and some leach into groundwater from agriculture or landfill but, because of the low concentration and nature of these pollutants, conventional water treatment technology does not always remove them effectively, which raises concerns that they may, therefore, be accumulating in the water cycle.

to maintain compliance of the clarified water quality. The process is also very effective at removing natural organic matter and removals of around 80% are achievable.

One technology which has shown encouraging results is Veolia’s Actiflo® Carb.

The process, shown in Fig 1, is based on the well-proven Actiflo® ballasted floc high rate clarification process together with Powdered Activated Carbon (PAC). The water to be treated is dosed with fresh PAC (1), typically 5 to 20 mg/l depending on the type of PAC, concentration of organic substances to be treated and removal to be achieved. It then enters a pre-contact tank (2) with hydraulic retention time of about 10 minutes where it is mixed with recirculated PAC at about 2g/l. This is where adsorption takes place and is normally followed by coagulant dosing into a mixing tank (3). The coagulated water then passes to a flocculation tank (4) where polyelectrolyte and microsand ballast are added prior to lamella clarification (5). Sludge is returned to a hydrocyclone (6) which separates and recycles the micro-sand. The vast majority of the PAC sludge is recycled to maintain the high concentration in the pre-contact tank while surplus PAC and produced sludge solids are sent for further treatment or disposal. Currently there are six pilot plants running in Europe and the USA on both drinking water and wastewater facilities.

Metaldehyde, widely used in slug pellets since the 1970’s, is a typical emerging pollutant. Reliable trace analysis methods have only been available for about five years and subsequent monitoring programmes identified concentrations in some treated water higher than the 0.1µg/l limit set by the EU Drinking Water Directive. Metaldehyde is an organic, non-polar molecule, soluble in water at up to 200mg/l and, with a molar mass of 176, it is not removed by reverse osmosis. The best strategy for dealing with this type of pollutant is to reduce use at source and introduce effective catchment management. However, once in the soil, it can take decades for it to migrate via ground water into rivers, so there is a need for advanced treatment technologies to address the current situation. Actiflo® Carb pilot tests have reduced metaldehyde concentrations from 1µg/l to below the detection level (currently 0.009µg/l). Removal rates can be greater than 99% while an operating target of 90% is usually sufficient

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Given the environmental problems that these pollutants can cause, it would clearly be a better solution to prevent them from entering drinking water sources by removing them from wastewater. Pilot plant trials of Actiflo® Carb on sewage works final effluent in Milwaukee produced some impressive results, as Fig 2 shows.

At a pilot trial in Lucerne, Switzerland, an ozone dose of 0.8-1.0mg/l per mg/l TOC was applied along with the PAC upstream of the pre-contact tank.

The ozone breaks down some of the more recalcitrant molecules into smaller molecules which are more readily adsorbed by PAC. The results are shown in Fig 3.

Fig 3 - Actiflo® Carb treatment of final effluent Cham WwTW, Lucerne, Switzerland with (Purple) and without (green) ozone dosing

The combination of PAC with coagulation, flocculation and clarification in a high rate ballasted sludge system has proved to be a very versatile process with applications in drinking water and wastewater treatment. Although not molecule-specific, it does target many of the emerging pollutants and, if ozonation is included, it can also tackle some of the more recalcitrant contaminants.

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FEATURE: WASTEWATER

WGM Collaborative Working for Successful Delivery

WGM Engineering are completing the final stages of a WwTW refurbishment project for Scottish Water at Meadowhead Inlet Works as part of the Scottish Water SR10 programme of works.

The existing Meadowhead Inlet Works is located to the south of the town of Irvine in North Ayrshire. The Meadowhead Inlet Works is the Scottish Water owned preliminary works that is responsible for passing screened and de-gritted flows to Meadowhead PFI WwTW, which provides secondary treatment. The PFI site (Aesops Ltd) is adjacent to the Scottish Water Inlet Works. The Meadowhead Inlet Works provides preliminary treatment for flows from Irvine, Troon, Prestwick, Ayr and the Kilmarnock Valley. The incoming flow is by gravity and also pumped to the Inlet Works and contains a significant industrial component including flow from a nearby paper mill and an abattoir in Kilmarnock.

The Meadowhead project has offered a number of challenges including managing very tight timescales to secure the serviceability of the plant through the extension of the asset life of deteriorated and poorly performing assets by targeted replacement and refurbishment. The scope of works identified for the project included supply and installation of 4No. Mechanically raked coarse screens. Supply and installation of 3No. Grit Detritors, including civil works to

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accommodate the modern equipment. Supply and installation of 8No. Grit pumps to Detritor Nos. 1, 2, 3 & 4 (to match the existing units). Mechanical refurbishment of 3No. 6mm fine drum screens to ‘as new’ condition. Supply and installation of 2No. upgraded fine screen, screenings handling units.

Supply and installation of new pipework and valve arrangements to serve the screenings handling units. And finally to provide an extension to the new MCC to allow for all the new equipment to be powered and controlled from a single location.

The key for the successful delivery of this project has been working collaboratively between Scottish Water, the supply chain and main

contractor, WGM Engineering Ltd. Due to the tight timescales, some of the larger equipment (the inlet screens and screenings handling units) were procured by the client. This required close coordination and cooperation between supplier and main contractor with no contractual links.

The key to this was to continually consider the brief given at the outset of the project: “The project shall be delivered in a collaborative partnership approach of mutual trust and respect and with SW’s visions and customers at the forefront of the Contractors delivery strategy.”

WGM accepted this challenge and utilised this approach to develop a level of trust with the end user allowing us to collaborate effectively and efficiently to deliver the works while addressing any minor difficulties timeously and handing assets back to operations. WGM Engineering have the benefit of in-house multi-disciplinary teams of Mechanical, Electrical and Civil Engineers, this allows for efficient delivery of multiple works fronts being delivered simultaneously.

WGM Engineering are very proud of the way that the Meadowhead Inlet Works project has been delivered and intend to use this model for future delivery. The project executed a high level of health and safety standards without any lost time injuries and was delivered to time, on budget and to the required standards.

The SW Managed Delivery project manager provided the following comments on the project: “The success of delivering this on time was an effective and efficient working relationship between SW Managed Delivery, SW Operations, WGM Engineering and Huber, with all parties meeting their respective project commitments on or ahead of schedule.”

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Outside access to site and large door access to Inlet Works

Milford Haven STW Case Study A Wastewater Case Study Huber Technology recently completed the installation of new escalator inlet screens and screenings handling plant for Welsh Water (DCWW) at Milford Haven STW.

Project Profile Having completed the installation of escalator screens and screenings handling at Garnswlt STW working direct with DCWW and their South West Capital Delivery team, Huber were asked to look at a similar type of project at Milford Haven STW. The main difference between the two sites was that the site at Milford Haven was a raised inlet works

and located inside a building. This was from the outset of the project a challenge for all involved with the space available being very limited and all the equipment supplied would have to be Ex rated.

The existing INKA step screens and Parkwood compactor were close to the end of their asset life.

Huber had previously carried out repairs on the inlet screens just 3 months prior to our visit and had warned that spares for both existing screens were getting more difficult to procure. Also, it was noted that the existing screens were struggling to cope with the first flush, which required the local operator to remove large volumes of screenings by hand into a receptacle and dispose into a skip on regular basis and thus becoming a major health and safety issue.

New WAP/L BG4 Screenings Handling Unit

n Local Control Panels n Local Push Button Stations

Objective The challenge of getting 2 new escalator screens and a WAP/L compactor into a confined space while keeping the site running was a major feat

An initial site survey undertaken by Adrian Heneghan, Huberâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Area Sales Manager, highlighted that this could not be done without some help from a local DCWW contractor.

Whitland Engineering were the closest and came recommended by DCWW. Another site visit was made and between Huber and Whitland, scopes of work were agreed and an order was placed on both companies by DCWW to proceed with the project.

Huber Technology Supplied n 2 off EscaMax 4000/652/6 Duty/Standby for 400l/s each Existing INKA & Parkwood Screens

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n 1 WAP/L BG4

Outside access to site and large door access to Inlet Works

FEATURE: WASTEWATER in itself. Phase 1 of the project was getting the Huber control panels and push button stations delivered 2 weeks prior to the screens. This allowed Whitland Engineering time to get them into position and pre-cabled ready for the new equipment. Phase 2, was for the mechanical installation. The site had upstream storage for 4-5 hours which allowed a reasonable time to remove the old Parkwood compactor and install the new WAP/L BG4 screenings handling unit into a temporary position so as not to hinder the installation of the screens.

Phase 3, with the WAP/L running, one of the INKA step screens was isolated and removed allowing the other to run and keep the plant operational.

The new EscaMax was then installed and cabled ready for commissioning.

Phase 4 involved removing the 2nd INKA step screen and installing the other EscaMax unit.

Again, once cabled the screen was then ready for commissioning immediately.

Solution Throughout all the phases of the project execution, detailed planning and effective communication between Huber Technology, Whitland Engineering and the DCWW capital delivery team was essential. A collaborative

New EscaMax Screens

New EscaMax Screens

approach and good working relationship between the 3 companies ensured that this challenging project was delivered on time and within budget.

Mark James – Milford Haven Site Operator

David Alford – Contracts Engineer – Huber Technology “As always with projects having a large amount of site work we encountered a few challenging moments throughout the installation phase but by good communication and working closely with Whitland Engineering we were able to overcome these with a successful outcome and a satisfied customer.”

“Thanks to all involved in getting these screens in and running while keeping the site running. I can now spend more time looking after the rest of the site without having to watch the inlet screens and manually remove screenings. From a health and safety point of view, this is a bonus. The screens and screenings handling are all working really well.”

For more information please contact Rachael Harvey 01249 765000, email rh@huber.co.uk or visit our website www.huber.co.uk

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HYDROK

HYDROK 'OFF-SITE' CSO MANUFACTURING SOLUTIONS FOR SCOTTISH WATER In order to reduce 'on-site' health and safety risk, speed up installation time and in many cases to reduce disruption to the general public, whilst also helping to reduce 'on-site' costs, Hydrok's solution for recent Scottish Water new CSO projects led to the design and bespoke manufacturing of 'off-site' stainless steel CSO chambers in the Glasgow area.

Working in association with George Lesley, Hydrok who use stainles steel for all their CSO screen solutions, fabricated a number of stainless steel tanks with CSO screens pre-installed in readiness for speedy installation with minimal disruption to the general public. At Corpus Christi, outside a primary school, a package chamber with a 4.5m2 Peak Screen was rapidly installed during the school holidays, minimising disruption to the dual carriage way at the location. Similarly, a chamber containing a 6m2 Peak Screen was installed at the junction of Alderman Road with Hermitage Avenue. Hydrok MecMex CSO screens in a stainless steel chamber has also been installed at the junction of Love Street and New Sneddon Street in Paisley where a 3m, 90º MecMex was fitted. A 2m 180º MecMex is planned for installation at the junction of Dumbarton Road and Dyke Street in Glasgow at the end of October time.

The advantages of the 'off-site' manufactured package chamber approach is that Hydrok can completely pre-fabricate the solution at their factory ready for faster installation this helps reduce the size of the digs so creating less waste for disposal, smaller crane hire and general disruption to the public.

The stainless steel chamber approach also permits larger chambers to built in sections and bolted together on site negating the need for 'over size' lorry transportation with the inherent costs that creates.

Peak Screen CSO chambers outside the Primary School at Corpus Christi

For more information visit the website, www.hydrok.co.uk or to discuss how Hydrok can help with your CSO solutions contact Martin Tolman on 01726 861900, or email martin.tolman@hydrok.co.uk

Hydrok Offsite IoW Vol 188:IoW half pg 07/10/2015 13:00 Page 1

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J605 Thames Water Mogden Boundary J605 Thames Water Mogden Boundary

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MogdenSewage SewageTreatment Treatment Works the second largest in the It was built between Mogden Works is is the second largest in the UK.UK. It was built between 19311931 and and 19351935 at at a cost of £1.7m and covers an area of 55 hectares.

Over half of the power used by the plant is renewable a cost of £1.7m and covers an area of 55 hectares. Over half of the power used by the plant is renewable energythat thathas hasbeen beengenerated generated site part sewage treatment process. works serves around energy onon site asas part of of thethe sewage treatment process.

The The works serves around 2.1 million people, and some of the wastewater has travelled over 20 miles by the time it reaches Mogden.

2.1 million people, and some of the wastewater has travelled over 20 miles by the time it reaches Mogden.

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AllAll 1515 analyser thecurrent currentgeneration generationModel Model J605. analyser systems controlled systemsare arehoused housedininthermostatically thermostatically controlled IP67 IP67environmental environmentalenclosures. enclosures.

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20,000 data points capacity and USBdata connectivity for 20,000download. data points capacity and USB connectivity for simple Thames Water simple download. haveThames recentlyWater Since its launch, the J605 has become a recognised ordered haveanother recently industry used by has many water treatment and six Jerome J605s Since itsstandard, launch, the J605 become a recognised ordered another waste management companies as well as treatment regulatory and for the industry standard, used by many water sixsame Jerome J605s bodies such as the EA,companies SEPA & Natural Resources Wales. application waste management as well as regulatory for the on same The improvements have significantly reduced the their Acton site. on bodies such as the EA, SEPA & Natural Resources Wales. application amount of storm sewage overflowsreduced into the the tidal The improvements havethat significantly their Acton site.

For more information, please contact ABLE Instruments stretches of the River Thames when the site becomes amount of storm sewage that overflows into the tidal on +44 (0)118 9311188 orplease by email: info@able.co.uk overloaded heavy rainfallwhen and helped For more information, contact ABLE Instruments stretches ofduring the River Thames the siteThames becomes Water to meetduring tighterheavy quality standards for the effluent on +44 (0)118 9311188 or by email: info@able.co.uk overloaded rainfall and helped Thames they discharge.

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Low capital cost combine with low power requirement give good TOTEX benefits to customers.

Organics removed from flow reduces BOD load to down stream process.

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75% volume reduction.

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30%+ dry matter can be achieved.

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Separation system can be combined with flow balancing tank as a complete package.

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Proven solids water separation systems combined into a simple assembly.

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Proven Low maintenance requirement.

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Options suitable for any small S.T.W. up to P.E. 2000.

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Built in grit protection and solids handling capability.

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Operating capacity from 0.2 tonnes to 3.5 tonnes per hour.

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Simple maintenance procedures with extended service intervals.

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HYCOVER Static & Rotary distributor systems (from 5 l/s up to 980 l/s flow range) with optional auto cleanse and electro pneumatic belt drive mechanism.

• Tertiary Nitrification applications, downstream of existing secondary treatment processes. l

HYRATE Polytowers that can easily incorporate natural ventilation or air extraction systems for odour control purposes.

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Factory built timber support matrix for secondary modular plastic media support.

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Steel structures including access stairways, platforms and bridges.

HYRATE Polytower biofilter systems using modular plastic media for: • High Rate (BOD/COD reduction), upstream of existing treatment plant • Secondary (BOD removal only or combined BOD removal/Nitrification)

Contact: T: 01778 342202 E: info@sewaco.co.uk W: www.sewaco.co.uk

Sewaco Limited Eastgate House, 87 Eastgate, Deeping St James Peterborough PE6 8HH

DOOSAN ACQUIRES ROS ROCA IPR AND KNOW-HOW As part of Doosan’s global sludge market strategy, Doosan Enpure is pleased to announce that it has acquired the ownership of the intellectual property rights and know-how for the Ros Roca waste treatment processes relating to food waste anaerobic digestion.

Doosan Enpure acquired this intellectual property from the administrators of Imtech Water, Waste & Energy, which further strengthens Doosan’s sludge capability to offer EPC contracting and consultancy services for food waste anaerobic digestion developments both in the UK and overseas. The acquisition includes some major references for projects across Europe and Asia including Spain, Austria, Sweden, Portugal, the UK and the first food waste anaerobic digestion and in-vessel composting facility in Hong Kong.

In addition to the actual process and technology rights Doosan Enpure have also employed Kevin Clarke, as Head of Business Development – Waste & Energy, who previously represented Ros Roca developing food waste anaerobic digestion projects in the UK and overseas. Kevin brings with him a wealth of experience in this sector and

Vienna, Austria – 17ktpa source segregated food waste anaerobic digestion plant, co-located with municipal waste to energy combustion plant

will be responsible for ensuring Doosan Enpure’s business penetration in this market sector.

Avtar Jirh, Managing Director at Doosan Enpure Ltd said: “We have been looking to expand our services and competitiveness for our clients to include food waste digestion generating renewable energy and therefore we are delighted

to have secured the Ros Roca capability, which enhances our technology portfolio and offering to the market globally.”

For further information on Doosan Enpure Ltd, please contact Kevin Clarke, Business Development Manager – Waste and Energy on 07920 537284 or kevin.clarke@doosan.com

SPECIALIST PUMP RENTAL & SPECIAL PROJECTS • Specialist sewage pump experts • Total pumping solution including installation • Significant fuel savings up to 80% lower • Unrivalled rag-handling capability • Pumps up to 32” (800mm) discharge • Diesel and immersible electric pumps

Exsel Pumps Limited Unit G5 For t Wallington Industrial Estate Militar y Road, Fareham PO16 8TT Tel: Fax:

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SELWOOD

SELWOOD PLAYS KEY ROLE IN MAJOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROJECT IN THE LAKES Pump specialists at Selwood played a key role in a major project to protect England’s largest population of freshwater pearl mussels.

Ennerdale Water, in the Lake District National Park, is owned by United Utilities which draws from it to supply around 67,000 people in the region.

The lake - designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 2005 – supplies the River Ehen, home to freshwater pearl mussels.

After a period of dry weather in 2012 hit water levels in the Ehen, urgent works were needed to increase the flow of water into the river.

Representatives from the Environment Agency, Natural England and specialist firm PontoonWorks worked together on an emergency solution.

Selwood was called upon to devise a way of delivering 60 million litres of water a day into the river.

The solution employed a pontoon in the middle of the lake. Three electric submersible pumps were suspended from overhead gantries fitted to the head of the pontoon and connected to two 350mm discharge lines via a manifold and nonreturn valves.

Selwood designed and manufactured bespoke fish guards around each pump to ensure there was no chance of aquatic wildlife – including fish fry – being sucked in.

The project was a success, restoring water levels in the Ehen and maintaining favourable conditions for the wildlife.

However a number of factors meant that the pontoon could not remain as a long term solution.

Among the most pressing was that the Environment Agency had announced its intention to revoke the abstraction licence for Ennerdale Water by 2025.

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United Utilities is currently working with the agency, Natural England and the West Cumbria Rivers Trust on plans for a new pipeline from Thirlmere to West Cumbria, a new water treatment works, pumping stations and underground service reservoirs.

In the shorter term, while abstraction continues at Ennerdale, there was a need to continue to maintain water levels in the Ehen with a more cost-effective, less visually obtrusive long-term solution.

The solution developed by United Utilities and Selwood involved the temporary use of pumps which can be called upon only when the water level in the lake is low.

Water is sourced from an existing pipeline which runs to the nearby Ennerdale Water Treatment Works.

United Utilities had a manifold installed at the top of the pipe, which runs eight metres below ground on the side of a hill. This supplies three 12-inch pipelines which run to a field adjacent to Ennerdale Water.

Three eight-inch D200 super silent pumps manufactured by Selwood are stored in the field,

maintained and ready to be brought into use.

The pumps are diesel-powered and stored with fuel tanks on specially-made drip trays designed to eliminate environmental contamination.

All the teams involved have kept their focus on minimising environmental impact, working to balance the needs of people and nature and to secure Cumbria’s wild spaces for generations to come.

www.selwood.co.uk

MAX MAX RECOVERY RECOVERY MAX MAX SAFETY SAFETY MAX MAX EFFICIENCY EFFICIENCY MAX MAX UPTIME UPTIME S:MAX S:MAXSLUDGE SLUDGESCREENING SCREENING Minimum Minimumoperator operatorintervention intervention Minimum Minimumcivils civilsrequirement requirement Industry-leading Industry-leadingscreenings screeningsremoval removaltechnology technology No Norequirement requirementforforholding holdingtanks tanksororbuffering buffering

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cdenviro.com cdenviro.com instituteofwater.org.uk

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Z-TECH

THAMES WATER WATER WELLBEING WEEK We love getting involved in good Health, Safety and Wellbeing initiatives, and the Thames Water Water Wellbeing week was a great idea, taking place from 19th October.

Apples-Monday

Water-Wednesday

The week encouraged employees to think more healthily and we made some changes to our offices for the long-term.

requirements than bottled. We are encouraging all staff to drink more water and maintain hydration.

We started with Apples-Monday, where we changed sweets in the reception and offices to apples, encouraging employees to take one – this is a permanent change to the office.

Tuesday saw employees taking advantage of our Blood Pressure test, this gave some actions for people to follow-up.

Water-Wednesday saw the installation of our first office tap water cooler, this was to highlight that tap water has to pass much greater drinking water

Take-a-break Thursday interrupted one of our monthly Z-Tech Board meetings to show Directors leading the walk around a local field, encouraging exercise at lunchtime and a move from the desk or work environment.

Jeremy Bull, Z-Tech’s HSEQ Director said: “We’re keen to get involved in our customers’ initiatives, particularly those that can make a difference to the health of our workforce. What’s slightly different with this initiative is that we have made some permanent changes for the better.”

Z-Techers pictured ‘playing’ with a toy boat at a water customer’s site?

Actually, no, they are doing something much more interesting, verifying an Open Channel Flowmeter with a state-of-the-art River Surveyor, a SonTek S5.

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Purified Water Control System Saves 18hrs production time!

The work included both a control system improvement and HMI (Touch Screen) upgrade. This resulted in much improved alarm monitoring of the system and a reduction in the monthly sanitisation time from 24hrs to just 6hrs.

The optimisation of the system controls keeps 25,000 litres of Purified Water within close User Specifications with more effective heating and cooling modulation during the monthly sanitisation cycle.

This particular open channel feeds 400mega litres a day into a reservoir, so it’s important to know exactly what the flow rate is for both regulatory and supply reasons.

Julian Peacock, Network Optimisation Business Unit Manager, said: “We install, test and verify

KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER

We love to be able to see brilliant results from the work we do, and this month is no exception as we upgraded a Purified Water Control System for Estée Lauder at their Whitman Labs in Hampshire.

TOY BOAT?

The verification ‘boat’ is operated by two technicians, moving systematically from one side of the channel to the other, while a third technician observes the results. It takes readings of velocity and depth, along with GPS location for in-depth analysis of the flow rate. This can then be compared to the results of the open channel flowmeter and a verification of the accuracy of the flowmeter determined.

Take-a-break Thursday

more water industrial flowmeters than anyone else in the UK, this particular service is one of the more specialist offered, but it can be used in a number of different applications – verifying a meter is one of these, it could also be used to survey a river or any water expanse.

The analysis is quite complicated but you get a lot of information from the results.”

Martyn Tanner, Engineering Operations Manager for Whitman Labs said: “Purified Water is a raw material used in vast quantities during the manufacture of all Estee Lauder products. Z-Tech have been an excellent service partner to identify our gaps and provide cost effective, robust, innovative solutions. To finally have a water system in control, automatically monitored and supporting the business growth is testament to the expertise and customer service of Z-Tech.”

Complete solutions for large and small water network projects.

Our teams and equipment are tailored to your individual needs.

Problem Solvers www.z-tech.co.uk

Tel: 01223 653500 Fax: 01223 653501 engineers@z-tech.co.uk

SAFE TRUSTED RESPONSIVE & PROFESSIONAL

STEVE VICK INTERNATIONAL LAUNCHES A NEW WEBSITE AND CORPORATE IDENTITY Trenchless solutions specialist and company of the year winner*, Steve Vick International Video

(SVI), has launched a new fully optimised website. The redesigned site equals the company’s continued growth and expansion within all four sectors of the business; Gas, Water, Nuclear and Contract Services.

The website combines easy-to-navigate functionality with a fresh modern design; all part of the company’s efforts to enhance the customer’s experience. The new improved translation feature allows International users to access information in; French, Dutch, Spanish, German and Italian.

Other key features of the site include; n Improved search navigation, n Enhanced content n A ‘Downloads’ section - where users can quickly access technical information.

SVI understands how helpful it can be for customers to be able to view our products in action.

Useful functions incorporate direct links to; n The company Twitter and LinkedIn pages n An option to subscribe to the company newsletter Chairman Steve Vick commented, "We are a long established family business and as such we recognise the importance of constantly innovating and having a fresh modern presence online and within social media."

With this in mind, dedicated product and procedural videos have been produced. All of which are available to watch and download from the ‘Videos and Animation’ section of the website www.stevevick.com/videos-andanimation.

If customers are after an insight into Steve Vick International, this can be gained from watching the company video - easily accessible from the homepage www.stevevick.com. *Steve Vick International was awarded ‘Company of the Year’ at the 2015 Gas Industry Awards – Organised by The Institute of Gas Engineers and Managers (IGEM) and The Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA).

DISINFECTING THE WORLD'S WATER FOR OVER A CENTURY. In 1913, Wallace & Tiernan, Inc. pioneered water and wastewater disinfection with the first commercial chlorinator. Since then, we’ve led the market with our safe, reliable products and high-quality total disinfection and chemical dosing solutions. Today, as part of Evoqua Water Technologies, we’re the way the world disinfects water, and plan to continue that committment for centuries to come.

Evoqua Water Technologies Ltd info.uk@evoqua.com +44 (0) 1732 771777

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www.evoquawater.co.uk

AUMA COMPLETES MAJOR ACTUATOR REFURB IN RECORD TIME AUMA UK has completed a major actuator refurbishment programme at Thames Water’s Ashford Common advanced water treatment works. The upgrade project involved switching out 160 existing electric actuators, refurbishing 130 devices and installing 30 new units over a nine week period, whilst keeping the site fully operational.

Windmill Insight Solutions Tailored Training, Real Results Tailored Training for the Water Industry

AUMA automated actuator test and calibration rig

• Personalised for your people

• On site delivery

• Relaxed but thorough training

• Discounts for ongoing contracts

National Water Hygiene • For water staff and contractors • Tailored for each group • No “one-size fits all”

The 22 year old SA07.5 actuators removed from site were still suitable for refurbishment, despite over two decades of operational service. Once removed, the actuators were taken to AUMA UK’s factory in Clevedon, where the control heads were upgraded to the latest electronic units which include indicator lights. In addition, the actuators were fully tested, recalibrated, re-sprayed and issued with a new 12 month warranty.

Utility SHEA (Water and Waste) • CSCS aligned – allows construction site entry • Builds wide ranging HSE competence • Engaging delivery of a potentially dry subject Professional Development Training • Managing for compliance • Real-world project management • Other bespoke, ILM and CMI courses available

Commenting on the achievement, AUMA UK Managing Director Paul Hopkins said: “The ability to renovate a 22 year old actuator is testament to the modular design and high quality construction of the AUMA product. This offered significant customer cost savings compared to the installation of all new actuators."

Email: bob@windmillinsights.co.uk

Trained AUMA engineers liaised closely with Thames Water engineering and operational staff to complete all on-site works on time and to budget.

Mobile: 07554 994855 www.utility.windmillinsights.co.uk

www.auma.com

MASSIVE STOCKHOLDING

of

We’re Your Leading UK Viking Johnson Stockist fwb is a leading stockist and distributor of Viking Johnson couplings, flange adaptors, repair and tapping products.

Viking Johnson is the market leader for such product in water, waste water, and building services applications, and we work closely with them to maintain one of the largest stockholdings in the UK.

Unrivalled service, unrivalled product offering fwb stocks an extensive product range covering eight core product groups: Pipeline & Fittings Tools l Site Safety & Janitorial l Pneumatics, Fluid Power & Instrumentation

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Truro - 01872 243500

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THE MASSIVE IMPACT ON THE WATER INDUSTRY OF THE NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE PLAN Introduced by the Government in 2010, the National Infrastructure Plan was established to address the need for high‑quality infrastructure across the country, to provide an engine for economic growth.

By Noela Fitton Utilities Manager The Plan brings together a huge range of infrastructure projects within the energy, transport, waste, flood defence, communications, water, science and research sectors. The recently refreshed infrastructure pipeline is currently valued at £411 billion, with average annual spending at around £48 billion over the next 5 years.

The impact on the water industry of the National Infrastructure Plan is significant. It includes specific projects such as Thames Tideway Tunnel, HS2 (which will link eight of Britain’s largest cities) and Crossrail. All projects contain a substantial level of enabling works, including significant utility diversions. In addition to specific projects, the Plan also covers national programmes of ongoing repair and maintenance of utilities networks (as per the regulatory settlements for each utility company) and regional flood defence programmes.

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The work carried out under the National Infrastructure Plan is privately and publicly funded and therefore highly visible to the public and investors in terms of planning and delivery performance.

Morrison Utility Services’ experience on a range of projects which support the National Infrastructure Plan illustrates how complex the work can be. As a multi-utility service provider, Morrison Utility Services has brought together skills in water, wastewater, gas, telecoms and electricity to enable large projects to be delivered on time and within budget.

Working for Thames Water, Morrison Utility Services carries out the renewal, rehabilitation and upgrading of water and sewer networks across London. Work undertaken has included infrastructure and diversionary works to support Crossrail. As part of this, the company has replaced water mains and lined sewers up to 1400mm diameter, the latter being the largest diameter lined using a cured in-pipe lining system

in the UK. Infrastructure projects such as Crossrail typically include: n Design n Modelling n Programme management n Stakeholder liaison n Trunk mains / water mains / sewer replacement n Traffic management n Diversions n Installing monitoring equipment n Sewers crossing railway lines Infrastructure projects and mains replacement programmes present opportunities to create efficiencies through multi-utility work sites. An example of this is Thames Water’s Victorian Mains Replacement (VMR) programme and specifically

FEATURE: NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE PLAN the work on Borough High Street, a busy arterial road in South London, where Morrison Utility Services used its all-round utility expertise to undertake work involving extensive collaboration between several organisations: n Thames Water: 1,250m Victorian water mains renewal n Southern Gas Networks: 1,670m gas mains replacement n UK Power Networks: 200m of eight way cable power ducts n Network Rail: utility diversions n Transport for London: road resurfacing The VMR programme involved Morrison Utility Services replacing circa 700km of water mains.

Mains replacement was determined by leakage and asset condition assessments, using latest technologies and ‘in pipe’ NDT surveys.

Infrastructure projects such as Crossrail and VMR programme are wide ranging, challenging and encompass complex, high profile, works running through urban cities. Both involved installation of water mains around major London railway hubs including London Bridge, Waterloo, Kings Cross. At project commencement, specialist utility organisations such as Morrison Utility Services, establish the approvals, process and timescales for design submissions. The designs are to the specifications of our clients and the adopting utility companies. Morrison Utility Services have extensive experience in condition assessment and protection / monitoring work such as installing Sahara chambers, Hydroguard and Syrinix.

Effective stakeholder engagement plays a significant role in projects carried out as part of the National Infrastructure Plan. Major infrastructure work often requires planning permissions and consents from landowners, local authorities, the Environment Agency, utility companies, Natural England, etc.. Early engagement with these agencies is key to success. Communication with the public is also needed. This is evident in the work already undertaken for HS2, which aims to transform the UK’s rail infrastructure, increasing capacity and connectivity.

In summary, the National Infrastructure Plan will continue to have a major impact on the water industry. The future lies in developing alternative technical solutions which minimize heavy civil engineering, reduce stakeholder disruption and address health and safety risks. Close collaboration with other utilities and the pursuit of a multi-utility approach to share resources and achieve synergies is also fundamental to the successful delivery of cost effective solutions.

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INNOVATIVE ONLINE COMMUNICATION & DATA SHARING TOOLS Its Stonbury is a bespoke software specialist, born from the creation of an inhouse software solution within a nationwide contracting company, producing innovative online communication and data sharing tools for the UKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Water Industry. Our software allows the sharing of up-to-date reports with photos, videos & text updates, to your selected or public user group.

Other functions allow asset management

tool users to schedule maintenance and programme works. This software allows an easy to use, functional and user friendly cross platform solution to share all varieties of media at ease, with endless benefits! Our software has been nominated for various awards within the Water Industry, bringing recognition to these solutions, which are an absolute must have for any business within this industry.

www.itsstonbury.co.uk To schedule a live demo or discuss any software needs please contact us on: info@itsstonbury.co.uk or visit www.itsstonbury.co.uk for more information.

clean water

waste water

steel

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civil engineering

MARKET LEADERS IN THE REFURBISHMENT OF WATER RETAINING STRUCTURES AND ASSOCIATED ASSETS REFURBISHING: RESERVOIRS - WATER TOWERS - CONCRETE, STEEL TANKS & VESSELS - PIPE BRIDGES - DAMS - PIPEWORK AQUEDUCTS - SPILLWAYS - CLEAN WATER & SEWAGE TREATMENT WORKS WORKS: INSPECTION SURVEY - RELINING SPECIALIST COATINGS - CORROSION PROTECTION - WATERPROOFING - CONCRETE REPAIR - CLEANING & CHLORINATION DESIGN/INSTALL: SECURITY WORKS INC LPC4 ACCESS COVERS - ACCESS LADDERS, HANDRAILS & WALKWAYS - SURGE VESSELS SUPPLY/INSTALLATION M&E WORKS CIVIL ENGINEERING: DEEP EXCAVATION - STREETWORKS - DEMOLITION INTERNAL, EXTERNAL & UNDERGROUND PIPEWORK - VALVES - DRAINAGE - RETAINING WALLS - ACCESS ROADS, HARD STANDING & PARKING AREAS - CABINETS - SMALL BUILDING INSTALLATION - DEMOLITION - FLOOR SLABS & SCREEDS Head Office: 187c High Street, Cranfield, Bedfordshire, MK43 0JB t 01234 750924 e enquiries@stonbury.co.uk www.stonbury.com

Welsh Water’s free innovative weed wiper trial Dwr Cymru Welsh Water is asking farmers and land managers in Mid and West Wales for their help to protect the local environment at the Royal Welsh Show.

The utility company is working with Natural Resources Wales (NRW) and the farming industry as part of an innovative campaign to help reduce levels of the grassland herbicide, MCPA, in the River Teifi and Upper River Wye catchment areas.

The not-for-profit company was joined by the Welsh Government’s Minister for Natural Resources at an event hosted by Natural Resources Wales (NRW) at the showground in Builth Wells.

Until October 2015, Welsh Water will be offering farmers and land managers from the Teifi and Upper Wye river catchments were able to sign up for free hire of weed wipers. Using weed wipers to manage grassland weeds like rushes is more beneficial as it is applied directly to the plant, uses less chemicals and dramatically reduces spray drift. Attendees also had the chance to get help and advice from Welsh Water and partners on how to improve rush management and protect the local environment from grassland herbicides.

MCPA is a selective herbicide specifically designed to kill weeds without harming crops and is a common ingredient in both agricultural and domestic herbicide products. Routine monitoring by Welsh Water has detected

increased levels of MCPA, particularly in early summer, in watercourses across Wales. By working together, the organisations hope to gain a better understanding of MCPA sources and how to tackle this problem.

Following investigations in 2013 and 2014, it has been identified that MCPA is widely used for controlling the growth of weeds like the Common Soft Rush, which has flourished following wet weather periods in recent years. Wetter weather puts pressure on land, increasing risk of compaction and poaching, overwhelm drainage and creating favourable conditions for rushes to grow. The campaign will work with farmers and land managers to promote best practice advice on handling, applying and disposing of grassland sprays and guidance on mechanical control of rushes. Other advice will include guidance on tackling the underlying causes and conditions to improve land condition and to achieve a long term reduction of rushes.

Weed wipers have the added benefit of only being licensed for use with Glyphosate, a chemical which has potentially less impact on water quality as it can break down quicker at around three days compared to MCPA, which breaks down in 15 to 25 days.

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Chris Jones, Chief Executive of Welsh Water said: “Protecting the local environment is a priority for us. By working with NRW and the farming industry on this innovative project, we not only hope to see a reduction in the levels of MCPA in these catchments but also want to increase awareness of how what happens on the land can impact the water quality of watercourses across the wider catchment. Reducing these levels means we can use fewer chemicals and energy to treat drinking water. This is good news for our customers and our beautiful environment. It vitally important that we all help to play our part.”

Minister for Natural Resources, Carl Sargeant said: “Water is one of our most fundamental natural resources, providing us with a range of services and benefits which support our health and well-being. The weed wiper trial will show how landowners, regulators and water companies can get together to deliver solutions which not only benefit the environment but also make good financial sense. It shows the value of identifying new and innovative solutions to problems and that when we work together effectively we can deliver real benefits for everyone involved.”

For more information about the campaign and how you can sign up, please visit dwrcymru.com

FEATURE: RIVERS

FRESHWATER EUTROPHICATION – PIECEMEAL APPROACH OR CIRCULAR MANAGEMENT? Karen Murrell and Andy Davey from WRc’s Catchment Management Team make the case for an integrated approach to tackle freshwater eutrophication.

Phosphorus is a vital resource, used in agricultural fertilisers, detergents, and food additives, and for plumbosolvency control. Much of this phosphorus, however, ultimately gets washed or discharged into our rivers, lakes and reservoirs, where elevated concentrations can cause algal blooms, ecological damage, and degraded raw water sources. Eutrophication is widespread in England, where almost half of river water bodies and three quarters of lakes fail to achieve Good Ecological Status under the Water Framework Directive (WFD) due to high levels of phosphorus.

Controlling phosphorus pollution at source Efforts to date to control eutrophication have focused on removing phosphorus from municipal wastewater. Two technologies are in mainstream use. Chemical removal relies on dosing iron or aluminium salts to precipitate out the phosphorus. By contrast, biological removal uses activated sludge aeration tanks to promote the uptake of phosphorus by bacteria. Driven by the requirements of EU Directives, the UK water industry has spent over £3 billion on phosphorus removal schemes since privatisation. In addition, regulations have recently been introduced to severely restrict phosphate detergents in domestic laundry cleaning products.

In recent years diffuse pollution from agriculture has also come under greater scrutiny. Fertiliser use and livestock numbers have reduced steadily over the past 30 years, mainly due to economic factors, leading to a downward trend in phosphorus emissions. Although there are no direct regulatory controls to limit the accumulation of surplus phosphorus in soils or to prevent phosphorus losses to water, farmers are obliged to follow good soil management practices to qualify for single farm payments. Furthermore, agri-environment schemes, which pay farmers to adopt more environmentally sensitive farming methods, and the advice-based Catchment Sensitive Farming Project, promote the uptake of specific mitigation measures such as buffer strips and nutrient management systems. Participation in these schemes is voluntary, however, and patchy.

current agricultural control measures is more difficult to assess. The best available evidence suggests that they typically reduce phosphorus losses by 5-10%. Modelling studies indicate that agriculture needs to reduce phosphorus losses by at least 45% and that effluent treatment needs to go beyond current ‘best available technology’ in many places. We have made progress, but still have a long way to go.

Reversing eutrophication will be difficult, if not impossible, if we view it as an isolated pollution issue and place too much reliance on reducing phosphorus emissions from wastewater discharges. We need to take a step back and appreciate that excessively high nutrient concentrations in our waters are a symptom of a much larger problem: a heavily modified phosphorus cycle, in which a vital resource is used wastefully rather than recycled and conserved for future generations.

Sound familiar? As with many other nonrenewable resources, the linear ‘takemake-dispose’ model of phosphorus use is unsustainable. The future lies in moving to an alternative ‘circular economy’ model, in which phosphorus is cycled through the economy more efficiently with fewer unwanted ‘leaks’ that impact the environment.

Moving towards a circular economy model of phosphorus use Managing phosphorus in a more sustainable and integrated way will not be easy; it will require concerted effort by all stakeholders to reduce demand, promote re-use and recover phosphorus for recycling.

What impact has this had on freshwater eutrophication?

The agricultural sector has the potential to make greater use of soil testing, nutrient management planning and precision farming techniques to optimise fertiliser applications. We also need to look at ways to reduce the use of phosphaterich food additives, and make more widespread use of anaerobic digestion and composting to recover phosphorus from food waste. Existing wastewater treatment processes can be made more efficient through better monitoring, dose control and mixing. Furthermore, the water industry is trialling a range of advanced and novel treatment solutions that have the potential to reduce phosphorus in wastewater discharges to very low levels.

Chemical and biological removal methods are very effective and have achieved dramatic improvements in water quality in some catchments such as the River Thames. The effectiveness of

Knowing what needs to be done is one thing; making it happen is another. We can hope that rising prices for phosphate rock will help make resource recovery more viable and drive all

sectors to use phosphorus more efficiently. But it is too optimistic to expect that market forces and voluntary action alone will be sufficient, and so it will be necessary to also make use of a broader range of financial and regulatory tools.

For example, some advocate taxing virgin sources of phosphorus to create an immediate economic incentive to make greater use of secondary sources. In the farming sector, existing rules governing soil management practices should be strengthened and enforced more rigorously, and changes to EU Common Agricultural Policy present a significant opportunity to incentivise the uptake of pollution control measures. Similarly, more can be done to promote and support the use of anaerobic digestion and nutrient recovery technologies. Markets for recovered phosphorus products would also be boosted by developing quality protocols or certification schemes to ensure uniform quality and give buyers confidence.

Tackling these issues individually with a piecemeal approach will not be sufficient. A multi-sector response needs to be underpinned by a national phosphorus strategy to provide the necessary policy co-ordination. We also need to target carefully the limited financial resources at our disposal, which will require better modelling tools to accurately apportion sources of phosphorus and evaluate cost-effectiveness of alternative policy options.

In conclusion The question of how to reverse freshwater eutrophication is part of a much bigger story about how we provide a growing population with high quality, affordable food, drinking water and wastewater services whilst conserving resources and limiting emissions of greenhouse gases. Meeting these challenges will require us all to think again about how we use and manage phosphorus.

Dr Karen Murrell and Dr Andy Davey, Senior Consultants - Catchment Management, WRc plc Twitter: @WRcplc

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DESIGNING A FLOOD ALLEVIATION SCHEME WITH WATER FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE BENEFITS Lodge Burn (Coleraine)

The Lodge Burn is a small watercourse which runs into the River Bann, at Coleraine. The burn has a small catchment (16.4km2), with the upper catchment dominated by pasture and grass production, and a heavily urbanised lower catchment. The typical flow rate of the burn is around 0.152m3/sec (Q50), and the substrate is mainly cobble/gravel, with significant sediment deposits. With a connection to the Atlantic Ocean only 8.5km away, the burn has been important, historically, for spawning and rearing migratory fish.

1 Catchment

Over the past decades, the burn has suffered a number of significant changes and modifications, including mill ponds, drainage works and culverting. Within the urban location, the burn is culverted under a car park, road and commercial premises, before discharging via a 1.5m drop into an open channel. The burn then runs through a pinch point between residential buildings, before widening into an on-line pond, created by the local council as part of a public park (Anderson Park), and controlled by weirs. The pond has been a maintenance and safety problem for the council due to the build up of sediment.

2 Location map

Flooding has been an ongoing problem in the urban area around the burn, and flood maps show a significant risk from flooding to both commercial and domestic premises above the Q50 flood event. Certainly, the necessary Q100 flood protection level was not close to being achieved. In 2008/9, a study was carried out

by Rivers Agency, to assess the feasibility of a flood alleviation scheme on the Lodge Burn.

As standard practice when such studies are undertaken, an assessment was made of the environmental value, and potential, of the burn. An overall environmental assessment was carried out, along with electro fishing, and a river habitat assessment (RHAT) under Water Framework Directive (WFD), which assessed both the proposed work sites, and an untouched control reach. The electro fishing showed that although salmon and trout were present in the lower reaches, they were missing from the upper reaches, indicating a significant barrier. This was backed up the RHAT, which identified the following issues: n In channel weirs – causing a barrier to fish passage and sediment continuity

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n Over-wide channel in Anderson Park (online pond) – promoting sedimentation and reducing habitat diversity

1. Facilitating fish passage through the culvert through mimicking open channel conditions within the culvert

n Excessive sedimentation – reducing sediment continuity and impacting habitats

2. Providing fish passage at the culvert outlet (1.5m drop) and

n Culverted watercourse – reducing habitat and acting as a barrier to fish movement

3. Dealing with the sediment continuity issues resulting from the on-line pond in Anderson Park

n Culvert apron – causing a significant barrier to fish passage 3 Original pond

It was agreed early in the design stage, that measures to reverse or mitigate the WFD issues would be built into the flood alleviation scheme.

The decision was also made to develop the scheme under the CEEQUAL banner, and to undertake a comprehensive package of community engagement.

The proposed scheme was put out to tender

by Rivers Agency, and Atkins Consulting were appointed as designers. A close working relationship was established between the Rivers Agency Environment Section, and the environmental wing of Atkins, to feed into the scheme design process at an early stage, and to produce cost effective and long term mitigation and enhancement measures. The restricted, urban location of the burn meant that desired solutions such as daylighting of the culvert could not be achieved, but the possibility of flood storage within Anderson Park was identified and developed. Additionally, a range of mitigation measures based on the WFD issues were planned.

McLaughlin and Harvey were appointed as contractors in 2010, and work commenced on site in January 2011. The overall scheme was costed at £2.6 million, with a 44 week timeframe.

Three main areas of environmental mitigation were designed into the project –

The culvert at the upstream end of the scheme required replacement and was resized to allow for embedding, and the inclusion of gravels and retaining baffles. It was important to match the finished culvert conditions to those of the natural channel, and this dictated the substrate type, and the culvert dimensions. Rounded river cobbles/ gravel ranging from 100 – 300mm were added to the culvert bed, and was retained by 100mm high stainless steel baffles placed every 2m along the culvert. In addition, natural large stones were incorporated into the culvert base, to increase rugosity and hold substrate.

4 Culvert baffle and gravels 5 Gravel retainer

The perched culvert outlet was a major area of construction. Flood walls on either side of the channel below the culvert outlet restricted options, and so a step pool sequence was selected. This provided aesthetic value for the public looking over from the road bridge, as well as facilitating fish passage. The edges of the pools also acted as a rock ramp, to allow passage for eel and lamprey. Dimensions and step heights were designed in consultation with Inland Fisheries, and constructed to maintain a suitable flow even in drier periods. During both the culvert and fish passage works, flow by-passed the site through a combination of gravity fed pipes and overpumping. This reduced the likelihood of pollution and sediment release during the works. Vegetated

FEATURE: RIVERS 2

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berms were also designed into the lower section of the flood walled channel, to provide invertebrate habitat.

6 Pre works 7 During works 8 Completed

The on-line pond in Anderson Park was a problem area, both environmentally, and through safety and maintenance costs. It was agreed with the council that the pond would be removed, and a new channel created through the park. This work would include the removal of small weirs, the creation of a faster flowing, self-cleansing channel, provision of public access through a designed fording point, and the inclusion of riparian vegetation and gravel substrate. An initial channel was created, with rock armouring in places to retain the desired channel dimensions. The riparian zone was created through the addition of pre-planted coir rolls, using species native to Northern Ireland.

Substrate material was the same as that used in the culvert, suitable for trout and salmon.

9 10 New channel during and post construction

Community engagement was central to the scheme. Project open days were held, a dedicated web site was created and advertised, and a â&#x20AC;&#x153;salmon in the classroomâ&#x20AC;? project was run with the local primary school. This project led to the children hatching salmon eggs and releasing the

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10 fry into the finished burn. This project was so successful that it made local press and national news.

11 BBC filming the release of young salmon by local school children

The Lodge Burn project was completed in June 2012. The environmental work has been monitored since this date through resurvey, and through observation â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a fish kill the following year showed dead salmon and trout above the step pool sequence. Maybe not a scientific method, but clear proof that fish passage has been achieved! The resurvey of the sites showed that whilst the upstream control site had not changed in class (still moderate), the lower site at Anderson Park had moved from bad to moderate.

It is planned to continue the monitoring of both habitat and fish over the coming years.

The Lodge Burn is not the largest, or most environmentally important river in Northern

Ireland, but the requirement for a flood alleviation scheme provided an opportunity for a project which could benefit fisheries and Water Framework Directive as well as managing flood risk. Early identification of the key environmental issues allowed cost effective design, and the close working between the Rivers Agency Conservation Officer, and the designers and contractors meant that any changes or additional measures could be included quickly and efficiently. The environmental benefits have been evidenced on the ground, and the project overall provides an excellent template for multi-benefit design and construction. This is reflected in the scheme receiving an Excellent rating in its CEEQUAL whole project award.

Judith Bankhead Environmental Manager Rivers Agency (DARD)

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SCOTTISHAREANEWS

Autumn Seminar 2015 The Scottish Area Autumn Seminar took place in the Howden Park Centre, Livingston on Friday the 18th of September.

The seminar built on the success of last year’s event by following a similar format and taking place at the same location. The theme of the day was “We choose the Future" which was a test to explore if the Water Industry is focussing on longer term goals and aspirations and how this will affect future generations.

The day was split into 4 sessions with insights into our industry being shared by Senior Leaders and future leaders across the following areas: n Innovation across the water and industrial sectors n Transformation and how we adapt n Young speakers and how they shape the future n Competition and how decisions made now will affect future generations and the Industry Each of the sessions brought an insight to the current thinking within the water industry and a view from others across the industrial sector.

In the first session Group CEO, Iain MacGregor (The Global Energy Group) talked about the company’s growth story and its experiences of innovating within a number of highly regulated markets. Iain discussed the dilemma we face in balancing innovation with perceived risk, and the importance of creating a culture of entrepreneurship to fuel future innovation in our markets.

In the second session Jim Panton CEO (Panton McLeod) discussed challenges faced by both the SME supplier and the buyer and how there are significant advantages to be realised from further engagement with SMEs. Jim canvassed for much more thought and change to the culture of supply chain management and just how more the wider range of benefits could be fully realised by this approach. In the same session, Adam Hulme

(EDF) provided an oversight on fraudulent and counterfeit goods across the Nuclear Generation Industry and the strategic direction of risk mitigation being applied by EDF to achieve counterfeit component obsolescence. Whilst counterfeiting does not appear to be a problem in the water sector presently, it may well be that we have still to encounter an issue?

The third session focussed on our people with younger and future leaders giving their

PRESIDENT’S DINNER & INNOVATION AWARDS 2016 Don't miss our Scottish Area President's Dinner & Innovation Awards . Enjoy a night of great food accompanied by music a la Callanish and dance the night away! You will be in great company at our fantastic venue which is the Radisson Blu, Glasgow. This event is one of the highlights of the Scottish Area calendar and is considered a fantastic evening! The 61st AGM of the Scottish Area of the Institute of Water will take place prior to the dinner.

Bookings will open on the Institute of Water website soon.

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perspective. The passion and enthusiasm in these sessions gives a feeling that our future industry will be in safe hands. Nick Benton our current Rising Star gave a summary of his experiences over the last year and the opportunities that the programme had created.

The day was rounded off with a view from Alan Sutherland CEO (Water Industry Commission for Scotland) who tested if we are being focused enough in our approach to the interests of the customer by making sure that they receive a highquality service and value for money.

The session was finished with a view from Douglas Millican, Chief Executive at Scottish Water.

Douglas provided a thought provoking and informative presentation on how our Industry responds to the ever changing economic, customer and environmental landscape and what the future holds and how the decisions made now will affect future generations and the Industry.

Thank you to all the speakers, delegates, exhibitors and our main event sponsors The Global Energy Group, who all helped to make the 2015 conference a highly successful and informative day.

SOUTHWESTAREANEWS

Bristol Water: Pumping through the 20th Century

By Sophie Edwards, Environment Strategy Manager, Bristol Water

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Operating the beam engine

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Our modern day Pump Controller discussing the new pumping station

21st Century Pumping Station. Three variable speed pumps

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1950s pumping station

The author annoys the pump controller with a selfie

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The impressive Blagdon Pumping Station

On Thursday 8th October, IoW South West and CIWEM hosted a joint event at Bristol Water’s Blagdon Pumping Station; to discover how pumping has changed through the ages. Over 30 delegates toured the three pumping stations, with each room showing the radical changes in technology over the course of 100 years.

Dressed in high vis, and with hot drink and biscuit in hand, the delegates were met by 19th Century Pump Controller, Colin Hunt, who explained the huge civil engineering project that was Blagdon dam. Excavated 53 metres into solid rock, a 24-inch diameter pipe was fed through to the pumping station. The reservoir started to fill in 1899 and first reached its top level in 1903. When full the reservoir contains 8,500 Ml. Inside the pump house the impressive Woolf Compound Beam Engine was already up and running. Originally there were four massive steam driven beam engines with six horizontal boilers

providing the power. Three of the engines and four boilers would have been in use at any one time, giving a total pumping capacity of 35 Ml/d and consuming 8.5 tons of coal every day. These were built and installed between 1900 and 1905. It was not an easy set of pumps to keep running, with nine operators at any one time.

These comprised three engine drivers and a day operative in the engine room, and three stokers and two coal trimmers in the boiler room!

The tour then took a fast forward to the 1950s.

Installed in 1949, when two of the beam engines were removed, smaller, fixed speed, centrifugal electric pumps took over. Amazingly these pumps were in operation for 65 years, longer than the original beam engines.

Paul Moorhead, our modern day Pump Controller then took us back to the future as we arrived in the sparkly, new, 21st Century pumping station.

All three pumps are run by variable speed drives,

6 with modern day technology allowing precise control of the flows delivered into the system. This is monitored 24/7 by the Bristol Water Operations Room. The intake has also been updated with 2mm passive wedge wire screening to prevent the entrainment of eels and other fish under the Eel (England & Wales) Regulations 2009. The intake is cleaned with an impressive hydroburst, which flushes any debris from the screen by releasing a large volume of compressed air, causing a sudden burst of water to rise on the reservoir. A surprise for any nearby anglers, but the area is safely cordoned off to prevent anyone from getting wet!

A fantastic evening was had by all as we completed our 100 years of time travel, arriving back in the present day for the delegates to depart. The evening was a real insight into not only how pumping has changed but also the technology and people who operate it!

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MIDLANDSAREANEWS

MIDLANDS AREA CHARITY GOLF DAY 2015 The Midlands Area charity golf day was held at Buxton in North Derbyshire on Thursday 18th June 2015. Eighty eight contestants from around the country converged on Buxton & High Peaks Golf Club to participate in the annual golfing event.

By Gill Wood, Midlands Area Treasurer and Golf Day Organising Team Member

within the West Midlands Region regardless of race, colour, creed or age to individuals and organisations who do not have the ability to raise funds themselves.

The golfers began the mornings Texas Scramble event. The weather was exceptionally good and competitors feeling the sun on their backs achieved great results.

IWS have nominated St Giles Hospice which is a registered charity providing high-quality medical and nursing care for local people living with cancer and other serious illnesses, as well as offering support for their families and helpers, to be the recipient of their £1,500.

The winner of the morning Texas Scramble off the 1st tee was Amey 1 with a score of 22.8 points and off the 10th tee was Ground Control & Amey 3 with a tied score of 26.8 points.

Thanks to the generosity of those contestants that remained with us through the presentations during the evening, we were able to raise a further £410 from the raffle.

The afternoon Stableford event kicked off and the main competition got under way.

Competition for the individual title was very competitive and scoring was scrutinised to ensure fairplay.

Winner’s 18 – 28 handicaps:

1st place – Mark Cluddas, IWS Water Hygiene

Winners Of Geoff Baggaley Trophy

points. The organisers apologised for this error and we have since presented Instarmac with the Geoff Baggaley Trophy. We have also agreed with both teams that it was right to split the winnings between the teams nominated charities.

We announced on the day that IWS had once again won the trophy however after rechecking the cards we found that the winners were in fact Instarmac with 78 points and the runners up IWS scored 73

It will give me great pleasure later this summer to hand over cheques for £1,500.00 to the charity nominated by Instarmac which is The Gentlemen’s Night Out which is a Birmingham based charity which ‘distributes’ funds predominantly

Winner’s 0 – 18 handicaps:

1st place Dave Kerrdelworth, Ground Control Instarmac Cup Winner (The Stableford Team Event)

Our sponsors are always generous with their support, no more so this year by Z-Tech Control Systems Ltd provided an Audi R8 Day and F T Ductile Ltd provided us with 2 Wembley Tickets; these events were auctioned and raised an additional £250 for our winning charities.

My thanks go as always to my fellow organisers, John Williams and Dave Wood and to the management and staff at Buxton & High Peaks Golf Club for their excellent course management, hospitality and food.

My thanks to the players, sponsors and friends who continue to make this day one of the Midland Areas greatest long running success stories.

MIDLANDS AREA – PRESIDENTS DAY Visit to the National Space Centre, Leicester A group of 15 representatives and their families from the Midlands Area visited the National Space Centre in Leicester at the end of September.

The group took an interactive tour around the space centre, understanding the stars, galaxies and planets as well as looking up close at rockets, satellites and artefacts from space missions. The highlight of the visit was a fantastic 3d planetarium display. A high impact film projected over the planetarium ceiling explained in simple, visual terms how the universe was created.

The photos, right, show Noela Fitton, from Morrison Utility Services and President of the Midlands Area outside the Space Centre, and one of her daughters who joined the visit, inside a space suit. Other attendees included Institute of Water Area Forum Representative, Natalie Akroyd from Severn Trent Services.

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EASTERNAREANEWS

Eastern Area Charity Golf Day 10th September 2015

MEETING THE TED TERRY CHALLENGE

The sun came out, and a great afternoon – for the latest outing of the Eastern Area Charity Golf day, playing for the prestigious claret jug which is the Ted Terry Challenge.

This year’s winner of the claret jug was Jim Smith, playing for the Claret Civils Team with a very creditable 41 points – scoring on almost every hole played.

The challenge this year was again played on the wide open spaces of the Nene Valley Golf Club at Thorpe Wood, Peterborough – reputedly one of the longest public courses in the UK at 3.6 miles!

The Claret Team also picked up the prize for the best average team score, this prize being presented by Claret Civils themselves, so each player went away with a couple of bottles of a good red wine.

Catering and first prize this year were kindly sponsored by GPS PE systems.

The Groundbreaker prizes for Longest Drive and

nearest pin shots were won by Nigel Pearce of Anglian Water and Jason Robinson of Xylem respectively.

Prizes were presented by our Area President Paul Vallely who patiently waited for us all to stagger off the course, nearly an hour later than anticipated.

Not only was it good day out on the fairway, the event also raised over £300 for the MacMillan Cancer Charity.

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We’ve had a number of events over the last few months, here’s a quick look back at what we’ve been up to.

Back to Basics – Sewage treatment at Yorkshire Water

AUTUMN SEMINAR - SERVICE EXCELLENCE 16-18 September

18 August

Steve Mogford In the heart of Harrogate, a keynote presentation from Steve Mogford CEO of United Utilities kicked off our autumn seminar.

A group of our Northern Area members braved the rain to learn about the sewage treatment process. Yorkshire Water hosted a ‘back to basics’ session at the Lemonroyd Sewage Treatment Works which serves over 30,000 customers. The site is quite unusual in that it has both activated sludge treatment and biofilters, giving those on the tour an insight into two separate treatment methods.

The site also differs to other works as it has experimented with low carbon materials with an

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aim of reducing embedded carbon in construction.

The tour gave the group a refresher on the sewage treatment process, allowing them to see all stages, from the waste coming in to the head of works to the final effluent being discharged into the neighbouring river Aire.

The members left with a good overview of the sewage treatment process and had an enjoyable afternoon despite the weather!

The event brought together 60 attendees from a wide range of disciplines and backgrounds with many new to the Institute. The event focused on Service Excellence and included a diverse range of presentations and speakers.

Memorable topics included; n The role customer communication plays in protecting the sewerage network from fats, oils and greases from Yorkshire Water n The journey to providing industry leading water quality from Northumbrian Water

IT’S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN!

n The view of customer service and innovation from other industries from Northern Gas Networks and Reece Innovation.

Northern Area members will be donning their Santa hats and getting into the festive spirit by joining the Northern Area Committee for a delicious Thai meal at the Chaophraya restaurant in Manchester on Saturday 5 December 2015 at 1pm. For more information about the event, please contact Victoria Ross on victoria.ross@nwl.co.uk.

The event also provided a great, light hearted opportunity to network with industry colleagues through the syndicate working groups as you can see in our photos! If you are interested in learning more about the topics discussed please contact Victoria Ross on victoria.ross@nwl.co.uk

instituteofwater.org.uk

NORTHERNAREANEWS

PRESIDENT’S RODEO DINNER 3 October Simon Cyhanko, Northern Area Chair

On Saturday 3 October, Kendal welcomed Northern Area members for our annual president’s dinner with a bit of a Wild West twist. Guests from all three Northern Area water companies joined Simon Chadwick to network, socialise and pit their brains (and brawn) against the mechanical bull. After a Cumbrian barbecue and the chance for a “couple” of beers the crowd were then entertained throughout the evening with a live band and hoedown on the dance floor.

The event was a great success and with the help of a number of generous guests, we raised over £480 for the North West Air Ambulance.

FRACKING – WHAT’S THE FUSS ALL ABOUT? 7 October

The latest evening seminar provided an insightful and impartial view of fracking and the impact it may have on the surrounding environment. Held at Yorkshire Water’s Western House in Bradford, the evening included presentations from Yorkshire Water’s senior hydro-geologist, the Environment Agency and also Envireau Water who are actively

working as consultants in the market. The event provided a great CPD opportunity for the attendees with one key take away being the large difference in the hydrostatigraphical level between the fracking operation and water table. For more information about the event please contact Victoria Ross on victoria.ross@nwl.co.uk

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY - 2016 EVENTS We’ve had a brilliant range of events this year and we’re busy planning our calendar for 2016.

Here’s the first look at what’s coming up in 2016. We’ll be adding more information shortly, so watch this space.

Event date

Event name

Event topic

Venue

14 Jan 2016

Technical visit and Innovation Awards Final

Careers, innovation and sharing best practice

Sheffield Water Centre, Sheffield University

27 January 2016

Lunch and learn

Innovation, collaboration and transformation

Will be held in all three areas at the same time, exact locations to be confirmed

March 2016

Evening seminar

Customer service excellence

United Utilities area, exact location to be confirmed

April 2016

Back to basics

Sewerage management

Bran Sands, Middlesbrough

June 2016

Northern Area friends and family day

June 2016

Technical visit

To be confirmed

To be confirmed

July 2016

Evening Seminar

Leadership and CPD

Yorkshire Water area, exact location to be confirmed

To be confirmed

August 2016

Northern Area social

To be confirmed

To be confirmed

September 2016

Autumn Seminar

To be confirmed

Harrogate, exact location to be confirmed

October 2016

Technical visit

To be confirmed

United Utilities area, exact location to be confirmed

November 2016

Evening Seminar

Retail Competition

Northumbrian Water area, exact location to be confirmed

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Institute of Water Northern Ireland Area Autumn Seminar “Growing in to the Water Industry – Progress & Growth” – 8th October 2015

Jim White, David Bell, Emer Murnaghan, Lisa McIlvenna & Bill Gowdy

The theme for our Autumn Seminar this year was “Growing in to the Water Industry – Progress & Growth.” Bill Gowdy, IW NI Area President, opened the seminar which was to provide an insight into what may lie ahead for the water sector and address the ways and means attendees could develop themselves to match the requirements of the industry. Bill handed over to the keynote speaker Hugh Russell who gave an uplifting and encouraging talk whilst emphasising the importance for clarity of communication.

The first session of the day was considering the future of the water industry and as such Professor Tony Conway, Conway Water Consulting, gave an overview of the challenges facing the water industry. Examples included high customer expectations, increased regulation along with climate change and resilience. He highlighted the requirement for delivering great customer service efficiently through production lines and he suggested the water sector should be looking at adjacent industries for ideas to drive the water companies forward.

Eoin Gilmore from Business Improvement in NI Water presented on the Instrumentation, Control, Automation and Telemetry (ICAT) Programme.

He highlighted that the implementation of

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Bill Gowdy & Hugh Russell

automation would reduce Capex and Opex costs, improve customer service, reduce corporate risk whilst complying with social and environmental guidance. An overview of the pilot study on the automation of service reservoir inlet control valves in Coleraine was detailed.

Session 2 covered communication and kicked off with Gordon Douglas from Core Leadership advising on how ‘’Difficult situations can lead to awkward conversations’’. Gordon emphasised the importance of team and relationship building and noted it was one of the seven key skills required for successful chief executives and senior managers. Gordon provided delegates with some practical tips on managing awkward conversations.

Jim White from Echo (who currently hold NI Water’s contract for Customer Services and Billing) gave a presentation entitled “Information is King”. Jim detailed how the flow of information is vital to any organisation, especially a customer facing organisation, informing staff and customers of important changes, implications and influencing their expectations on what the company can and should deliver. This in turn, if managed well, increases customer confidence, loyalty and satisfaction.

Jim recited a tale regarding his daughter’s experience on a train in the South of England, tweeting that the service of the train company was not to her expectations. Shortly afterwards she was approached by a member of the train company staff who had been alerted about her presence on the train and dissatisfaction at the service. The member of staff was then able to address the concerns and provide practically immediate action. Jim advised that the train company trawl Twitter for any references to their name and then respond immediately. This demonstrates the importance of information in the digital age and how a customer’s experience can be improved.

Jim also detailed the challenges facing businesses in getting the right information out to the right places at the right time with the necessity to have a consistent message across all communication channels.

Sarah Ryan concluded the session on communication. Sarah is from One Big Switch – a company based in Ireland which is consumer focused and dedicated to help their members pay less for their household bills. Sarah gave a very interesting presentation on how her company works, interacting with utilities, media and the

NORTHERNIRELANDAREANEWS

Gordon Douglas, Bill Gowdy & Carson Mulholland public to review and stabilise household billing.

She focused on the recent formation of Irish Water and on how their public relations have been managed, particularly in relation to the introduction of universal metering and water charges – something that had previously been perceived as free of charge to the Irish consumer.

Sarah showed how the public’s perception of Irish Water was less than favourable, mainly due to the way water charging had been introduced.

From this Irish Water had faced a number of public relation issues which culminated in mass protests and public rallies. Sarah demonstrated the effectiveness of One Big Switch and how they have managed to influence public bodies. She also talked about the importance of companies having a good PR strategy, good customer interfaces and portraying a specific image by having one clear message.

Session 3 took us in to the topic of Personal Development with the Institute of Water’s Vice President, Science and Regional Quality Manager, Dr Robin Price talking about the Institute’s potential for professional development and all that it offered members. Robin shared his own personal journey and the structure of the Institute and showed how the Institute of Water can help members progress through a variety of different programs.

Many people are not aware of the opportunities that the Institute of Water offers and Robin detailed many of these, showing that, whatever part of the water industry you are in there is a programme of professional development that is right for you. These ranged from Engineering Technician, Incorporated Engineer and Chartered Engineer through to similar development opportunities for Scientists and Environmentalists. The Institute also encourages CPD for all water workers and has a Rising Stars scheme to encourage those new to the water industry to progress further. Finally Robin

Bill Gowdy & Sue McAllister detailed Mentoring and Support and Guidance facilities available for members.

increase staff and other’s wellbeing and generate network possibilities.

After a very tasty lunch, Ricky Drain, executive coach, and Paul McKenzie, senior consultant of Toward Ltd, highlighted the importance of recognising and developing different personal behaviours. They advised that if behaviours are unlikely to build organisational resilience they can have a negative influence, which may ultimately lead to the onset of organisational crisis. Ricky and Paul then gave a quick demonstration and an interactive exercise which allowed delegates to consider a ‘first step’ action plan to improve their own work experience and personal development.

We were then provided with the concept and classification of the 6 ‘Canary’ behaviours with the offer to complete an online survey to check our own profile of leadership behaviour.

Finally Emer Murnaghan gave an insight into Graham Construction entitled “The Graham Way”.

Sue McAllister, Director General of Northern Ireland’s Prison Service covered the topic of “Growing into Leadership” providing examples of her own personal development and experiences as well as detailing what she has found to be her ten lessons in leadership.

Session 4 on Building Relationships began with Dr Lisa McIlvenna, Deputy Managing Director for Business in the Community – an organisation dedicated to encouraging companies to realise their corporate social responsibilities and facilitating the means to do so.

Lisa defined what a community is in relation to a business and outlined various methods where communities can work with a business (and vice-versa) to a mutually beneficial outcome.

She detailed volunteering and mentoring possibilities; working with schools, community groups and other businesses and developing personal skills by coaching & governance. By undertaking such opportunities businesses and individuals not only contribute ethically but enable companies to progress, gain public trust,

Emer described how Grahams has developed from an NI company into a company working throughout the UK and Ireland. She stressed the importance for any business of robust processes, good leadership and skilled staff whilst also understanding a company’s strengths and weaknesses.

Emer talked at length about the collaborative approach, working and engaging with all stakeholders and respecting their input to the current process that is being developed. She elaborated on collaboration – showing how each stakeholder is consulted and communicated with through inception through to final product delivery and beyond. Emer showed that Grahams were taking this approach to a formal level by certifying the company to BS11000. This evolution of the company has been named G-evolution internally and has various champions, forums and teams that meet on a regular basis. Finally Emer showed how the approach has worked on various successful projects, increasing Graham’s profile and reputation by delivering projects on time, within budget whilst complying with quality, safety and environmental legislation as well as local communities and other stakeholders.

Bill Gowdy, closed with a summary of the day and thanked Guest Speakers and Session Chairs, Stephen Smyth and David Bell, on behalf of the delegates for a very informative day.

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AREANEWSROUND-UP SOUTHEASTAREA

SOUTH EAST AREA PRESIDENT'S DAY

On an expertly picked sunny Saturday in August, South East Area President Neville Smith invited members to Portsmouth Historic Dockyard for this years President's Day. Following a brief welcome from Neville the first attractions on the ‘to do’ list were the Mary Rose

Museum and Nelson’s Flag Ship, HMS Victory.

We also were able to explore HMS Warrior, Britain’s first iron hulled armoured warship, and the Royal Navy Museum. Finally, after lunch there was the chance to take a tour of the harbour, although care had to be taken to ensure you got

on the correct boat and not board the Gosport ferry (mentioning no names!).

A big thank you to Neville and to Portsmouth Water for organising an excellent day out.

WELSHAREA

SEARCHING FOR 'LOST RIVERS' In September, Arup partnered with the Institute of Water to deliver a lunchtime talk on 'Lost Rivers.'

The speaker, Dr Adam Broadhead, explained how some streams and springs have been historically and intentionally captured into combined sewer systems. In a UK case study, approximately half the total stream length and over 100 natural springs have been apparently lost. For instance, in London, only during storms can the some historical rivers – like the River Fleet – reach the Thames as a CSO. The bed of the river is now not just a culverted watercourse, but a combined sewer, and all the clean spring and stream water flows to the WwTW. Unlike groundwater and infiltrationinflow through pipe cracks and defective

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joints, this has not been widely considered by the UK water industry. However, the financial impact to UK water industry is estimated at £1M/day. The talk presented the first formal methodology, using multiple lines of evidence, to locate lost streams and springs and identify where they have been captured into the combined sewers. Among other tools, this approach uses historical maps, surface water flow paths generated with LiDAR, and chemical water typing during nighttime minimum flows.

But what can be done with lost, captured streams? In another case study, Zurich is

one of the only places to have tackled this problem. Over 25 years they have restored 20 km of watercourses that were once buried as combined sewers. As well as the wider environmental, social and regeneration benefits, the approach has been economically justified too: savings of £3,300 for every 1 l/s of clean captured flow kept out of the WWTW. Moreover, the costs of restoring urban streams was often found to be substantially less in capital and operational costs compared to separate sewer pipes. More information and case studies can be found online at daylighting.org.uk.

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