Current and Future Challenges

by Amine Salameh

Water (or freshwater in particular) has been a principal factor and driver of human life, and has governed the locations of human settlements across centuries. London, Paris, New Orleans and Montreal are only a few examples of major cities that were located on a riverside for the use of freshwater resources, in addition to the transportation facilities that a river can provide. Such resources have been the subject of constraints and stresses from the quantity and quality viewpoints since the founding of cities or settlements; in addition, these resources are getting more prone to uncertainties with the passing of time. This article attempts to shed some light on the main challenges affecting the water resources and what might be expected in the near future in that respect, while acknowledging that this is a wide and massive subject of study that can sustain a lot of debate.

Water on Earth is available in abundance (1.39 billion km3 as total reserves, including oceans water). However, only 2.5% of this amount is freshwater and about two third of it is locked in the form of ice cap and glaciers at the poles (Shiklomanov, 1993). The FAO has estimated the global water resources in the order of 43,750 km3/year (FAO, 2000).

The total freshwater withdrawals worldwide are 3,853 km3/year (FAO, 2010), i.e. about 9% of the global internal renewable water resources. A high percentage of these withdrawals is focussed on the agricultural sector (69%), while the municipal and industrial parts amount to 12% and 19% on a global scale.

The above are global numbers and different distributions for the agricultural and industrial sector percentages apply for specific regions and continents, depending on the historical background of each region in these two sectors.

These region-specific numbers and percentages are shown in Table 1 opposite.

It can be seen from the above table that the IRWR ratios are decreasing between years 2000 and 2020, because of the general increase in populations worldwide (except in limited areas such as Eastern Europe which experience population decline).

However, the absolute values of the IRWR per inhabitant are not uniform across all regions. As such, it can be seen that the

Table 1: Estimated Regional Populations and Corresponding Internal Water Resources (Overall and Per Inhabitant) for Years 2000 and 2020 35,808 28,740

1 Northern America

2

3 Central America and Caribbean Southern America

4

5 6 7 8 9

10 Western & Central Europe Eastern Europe Africa Near East Central Asia Southern and Oceania and Pacific

21,899,600 409,895,363 497,803,000 13,384 6,662

749,120 72,430,000 94,269,000 1,506 781

16,253

10,783

13,383

8,285

-18%

-23%

17,853,960 345,737,000 430,760,000 28,635 12,380 -20% Eastern Asia

4,898,416 510,784,000 747,636,000 4,096 2,170 4,248 8,853 -28%

18,095,450 217,051,000 8,452 4,449 20,497 30,044,850 793,288,000 1,340,598,000 20,415 3,950 4,979 2,946 -41% 6,347,970 257,114,000 4,641,055,000 1,378 488 1,898 -8% 4,655,490 78,563,000 1,270 261 3,322 2,685 21,191,290 3,331,938,000 24,017 11,712 3,515

8,058,920 25,388,537 42,678,000 4,772 911 35,882 21,346 -41%

Sources: * Food and Agriculture Organisation, including data from FAOSTAT and IPCC. IRWR is the Internal Renewable Water Resources ** United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2019). World Population Prospects 2019, Online Edition. Rev. 1.

water resources problem is not really a global one, but is rather caused by an imbalance in the distribution of freshwater resources across the world. In fact, on the continental level, the Americas account for 45% of the entire water resources, Asia comes next with 28.3%, Europe holds 15.5%, while Africa and Oceania come last at 9% and 2.1% respectively.

These percentages, however, do not reflect the real picture, as what actually counts is the water resources per capita. In that respect, while Oceania have a minimal percentage of the global water resources (2.1%), their IRWR/ inhabitant ratio is the largest in the world (35,882 m3/ inhabitant), at least at the time when the FAO assessment was done (year 2000). This is simply because their lower population enables them an easier access to their available water resources.

On the other side, the Middle East is considered to be one of the most water stressed areas in the world, where their relatively large and growing populations, compared to generally low rainfall rates, result in a particularly difficult situation. While desalination is being used by a number of countries in that region (mainly for drinking water purposes), groundwater reserves are also extensively used for irrigation. The IRWR/ inhabitant values for that region are among the lowest worldwide. In the following paragraphs, a review of aggravating factors related to the current and future expected water situation is provided. These factors mainly include booming populations, water quality issues in water bodies, level of service and governance, and global climate change.

According to McEvedy and Jones (1978), the world populations have historically been increasing at a relatively rapid pace from around 4000 BC to AD 1 (the primary cycle) before decelerating then moving to the medieval cycle, where populations kept on growing to a peak in the 13th and 14th centuries, before dipping due to the advent of the bubonic plague, which decimated millions.

Afterwards, and with the start of the Industrial Revolution and the modernisation cycle, populations boomed more than exponentially. According to McEvedy and Jones, this trend is expected to go well into the 22nd century, with expected global populations rising to a maximum in year 2100 before starting to level off. This approach roughly corresponds to a study done by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division at the United Nations in 2004 (World Population to 2300, issued by 2004), which states that future global populations are projected to grow to 9.22 billion at year 2075, after which they slightly decrease and then continue their slow rise to 8.97 billion by year 2300.

Figures 1a and 1b (next page) show that Africa and the Middle East are currently the fastest growing areas until year 2050, with populations growth rates of 1.64% and 1.47% respectively. Such a growth will put pressure and stress on the water resources and will require proper strategies to counter its impacts, especially in areas where water stress is the most marked.

As is commonly known, most water withdrawals are ultimately returned to the environment in one form or another, be it in the shape of treated or untreated wastewater, irrigation water that percolates to the underground and a portion that is recycled and returned to the infrastructure system, mostly in the form of treated wastewater for irrigation or other nonpotable water uses.

The portion that is returned to the environment is most of the time of a lesser quality than the initial waters (in case these were unpolluted at the start). In fact, wastewater treatment and handling of polluted waters through activated sludge and other techniques, were practically unknown until the start of the 20th

century, and it was not until 1914 when the activated sludge process was invented in the United Kingdom (IWA, 2014), which paved the way for a drastic improvement of the prevailing sanitary conditions.

Until then, water resources and waterways had been prone to widespread pollution from untreated wastewater. This had resulted in the eruption of waterborne diseases such as cholera and typhoid over centuries, as was the case during the 19th and 20th centuries when several waves of cholera pandemics hit different parts of the world and resulted in scores of deaths (Hays, 2005).

Since those times, cholera cases have substantially receded worldwide due to global efforts in that direction. The construction of wastewater treatment plants has become a more general practice in the water infrastructure. Still, water quality in waterways is still an issue in some parts of the world and improvement action in that regard is urgently required.

According to the UN World Water Development Report 2017 – Wastewater, The Untapped Resource, Low-income countries have a 92% of their wastewater untreated as of 2015, as compared with a 30% ratio for high-income countries. Target 6.3 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) requires all countries to decrease these ratios by 50% by year 2030. This is a particularly major challenge for low-income countries who need to achieve an additional treatment of 46% of their wastewater as compared to only 15% for high-income countries.

In addition to the above factors, and assuming a given country falls within the lower stress zone and that water resources are plentiful, this does not necessarily imply that the ultimate level of service to the water consumer will be satisfactory. In fact, a water infrastructure system is an intricate arrangement starting from the water treatment facility which draws from the freshwater (or less often sometimes saline water) environment, the storage and pumping facilities, and transmission and distribution systems to finally reach the end consumers.

Inadequate management of these facilities, including unresolved disputes over water rights, ageing facilities that Fig. 1a: United Nations Populations Forecast (in millions) for Different Parts of the World Until Year 2300 - Excluding Asia, Africa and World Total*

Fig. 1b: United Nations Populations Forecast (in millions) for Different Parts of the World Until Year 2300*

* Source: UN Department of Economic & Social Affairs, Population Division, New York 2004,

“World Population to 2300”

cause leakage, water loss and infiltration of polluted water to infrastructure, as well as water theft, are among the issues and problems that may cause a decrease in the level of service at the end user side, and may result in intermittent service or inadequate water quality.

Challenges in this regard are significant and complicated, especially that in many cases, responsibilities are blurred and it may not be clear whether the problem stems from inadequate pressure at the point of start, leakage on the way or lack of water quantities.

It has become common knowledge that global climate change has certain and marked effects in disrupting the global climate system and causing changes to the following patterns of water resources (UNESCO, 2011): ■ Sea level rises which would affect cities and lands close to the seashores, including related water resources and the related facilities. ■ Climate disruptions such as unusual floods in some areas of the world and droughts in other parts, which would affect food security and quantity as well as quality of water supplies. This would include changes in river flows, with a subsequent impact on the hydroelectric sector and groundwater recharge.

Increase in the salinity of agricultural areas could also occur due to the increase in evaporation rates. ■ Changes in the historical configurations of glaciers and ice caps due to their

melting and decline, including the formation of new water bodies and lakes, such as in the Himalaya and other similar elevated areas. Such changes could trigger outburst floods in downstream areas. Erosion and sedimentation are likely to increase due to increased river flows during floods in some areas, even though it is also known that such phenomena are also exacerbated by human practices such as overlogging, clearance of lands for urbanisation and similar. In addition, sedimentation is expected to cause the depletion of a major part of the world’s reservoirs capacity during the next thirty years (UNESCO, 2011). The water infrastructure (especially stormwater and sanitary sewers) which has not been designed to cater for sufficient additional flows may get overloaded and sewer overflows might become a common and frequent occurrence. Biodiversity will be affected by climate change, especially in terms of increased water temperatures and impacted water quality. Groundwater freshwater supplies will be affected by seawater rise, even though such supplies will also be impacted by increased demand from human interventions due to increased populations in cities and possible aquifer pollution due to untreated wastewater.

The above impacts are definitely challenges that need to be addressed in order to prevent additional degradation in the overall water resources situation.

Water resources challenges (both current and expected in the future) include several dimensions and are not evenly distributed worldwide. Rather, some areas are under more water stress than others. Problems and challenges with water resources extend to the water quality and level of service sectors as well, and low-income countries are under heavy pressure to meet international sustainability requirements. In that regard, the following solutions could apply: ■ Continue and enhance cooperation between governments throughout the world and international lenders such as the World Bank to build wastewater treatment plants and close the gap between currently untreated wastewater and the SDG goal by year 2030. Uphold water conservation practices across all water use sectors and enforce a system of rewards and penalties to ensure lesser water consumption, especially in problematic regions. Such a system could be applicable to domestic users as well as to industrial and agricultural consumers which constitute the majority of the water withdrawals. Explore innovative ideas for cooperation between water-rich and water-scarce nations aimed at importing freshwater with the least possible environmental impact. Promote tertiary treatment and reuse of treated wastewater for irrigation and other non-drinking water uses where possible. As possible, develop other nonconventional water resources such as greywater reuse or reuse of air conditioning condensate in areas where such devices are heavily used. Develop proper asset management strategies and abide by them to ensure that water facilities stay in proper working order. Adopt water conveyance materials with watertight joints to minimise water loss and maximise the use of available water resources. Take firm decisions on water theft and other irregularities that result in lower levels of service. Build and promote the use of sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) also called stormwater Best Management Practices (BMPs), Green Technologies, or Low Impact Development (LID) which could reduce stormwater peak flows and subsequent erosion, even with global climate change effects. Such practices are commonly applied in many countries including the UK, US and the UAE. Develop strategic groundwater storage reserves where possible, and supply them with excess treated water during off-peak times. Such reserves would secure emergency water supplies in case of an unplanned major event (Hurricane, tsunami or other) that could impact main water supply/treatment facilities. Such events may become more frequent in some areas of the world due to global climate change disruptions. Alter engineering design practices to include allowances for global climate change effects, such as additional pipe capacities and similar. On the governance side, ensure that organisations and committees do not overlap and have clearly defined responsibilities. Resolve disputes on water rights by focussing on the common good.

It should be noted that the above points and proposals are provided for guidance only, and the above list is not exhaustive. In addition, some of the above solutions may or may not be applicable to all areas. Separate and individual studies will need to be undertaken to address the water resource requirements of each region, in order to generate specific recommendations.

1 Shiklomanov, Igor A. 1993. World fresh water resources. In: Gleick, Peter H. ed. Water in Crisis: A

Guide to the World’s Fresh Water Resources. New York:

Oxford University Press. P. 13. 2 Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). 2000.

TABLE 2: World water resources, by region. [Online]. [Accessed 16 May 2020]. Available from http://www. fao.org/3/Y4473E/y4473e0f.gif 3 Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). 2010.

Water withdrawal by sector, around 2010. [Online]. [Accessed 16 May 2020]. Available from https:// firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/fao-aquastat. appspot.com/o/PDF%2FTABLES%2FWorldData-

Withdrawal_eng.pdf?alt=media&token=02dec3dd-50fc4d85-8ab7-521f376dedb0 4 United Nations, Department of Economic and

Social Affairs, Population Division. 2019. World

Population Prospects 2019, Online Edition. Rev. 1. [Online]. [Accessed 16 May 2020]. Available from https://population.un.org/wpp/Download/Files/1_

Indicators%20(Standard)/EXCEL_FILES/1_Population/

WPP2019_POP_F01_1_TOTAL_POPULATION_BOTH_

SEXES.xlsx 5 WWAP (UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme). 2019. The United Nations World Water Development

Report 2019: Leaving No One Behind. Paris, UNESCO. 6 McEvedy, C. & Jones, R. 1978. Atlas of World

Population History. Harmondsworth UK, New York NY:

Penguin. 7 United Nations, Department of Economic and Social

Affairs, Population Division. 2004. World Population to 2300. [Online]. [Accessed 16 May 2020].

Available from https://www.un.org/en/development/ desa/population/publications/pdf/trends/

WorldPop2300final.pdf 8 The International Water Association (IWA). 2014.

IWA Conference, Activated Sludge – 100 Years and

Counting, June 12-14, 2014 in Essen, Germany –

History of Activated Sludge. [Online]. [Accessed 16

May 2020]. Available from http://www.iwa100as.org/ history.php 9 Hays, J.N. 2005. Epidemics and Pandemics: Their

Impacts on Human History. Santa Barbara, California –

Denver, Colorado – Oxford, England: ABC-CLIO. 10 WWAP (United Nations World Water Assessment

Programme). 2017. The United Nations World Water

Development Report 2017. Wastewater: The Untapped

Resource. Paris, UNESCO. 11 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural

Organisation (UNESCO). 2011. The Impact of Global

Change on Water Resources: The Response of UNESCO’s

International Hydrological Programme. [Online] [Accessed 16 May 2020]. Available from https:// unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000192216/

PDF/192216eng.pdf.multi

During these extremely challenging times, it has never been so important that all of us in the Water Industry collaborate to ensure vital services’ resilience. At L&DA we are committed, as part of the wider Water Industry community, to doing whatever we can to help our colleagues manage through these uncertain times successfully. The current coronavirus’s emergence finds the UK’s Water and Wastewater organisations well prepared to face the challenges, based on their existing pandemic contingency plans. However, the impacts of precautionary self-isolation, illness and individuals’ potentially extended recovery times may test organisations’ ability to continue to field sufficient qualified and experienced staff. Uncertainties also exists over the eventual mortality rate, the virus’s persistence in the community, the possibility and rate of any viral genetic mutation and the likelihoods of acquired immunity and/or a future successful vaccine’s development. In such circumstances it is vital to further reinforce existing capabilities by building strength in depth in both operational and support functions and embed wider strategic awareness that encourages business improvement and innovation. Much of this reinforcement can be achieved through the improved skills and knowledge of our most precious resource, our people. Our Risk & Resilience qualification is designed specifically for the Water and Environmental Industries and is therefore aligned to address resilience challenges of both COVID-19 and other unrelated exposures. The Level 5 Risk & Resilience qualification will develop individuals’ technical skills and provide a comprehensive understanding of the Management of Risk & Resilience and lead to improvements in knowledge and therefore performance. Our Award learners will develop skills on taking responsibility for planning and deploying courses of action, including, where relevant, responsibility for the work of others and exercising independent judgement. The qualifications addresses the practical competencies required for the effective management of Risk & Resilience in the Water and Environmental Industries and will importantly provide evidence of demonstrable organisational competence for our Regulators and other Stakeholders.

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Portsmouth Water’s Havant Thicket Reservoir project has innovation at its core. After all, it will see the company building and operating a £120 million asset to help meet the water resource needs of another company, neighbouring Southern Water. Something that’s unique in the UK water sector.

This spirit of embracing new thinking came to fore when the coronavirus lockdown led to a major rethink on how to effectively run a time critical public consultation on the scheme, scheduled for May and June, in the face of unprecedented restrictions on daily life.

The discussion began with debating whether it was right to go ahead at all. The answer was ‘Yes’, as Jim Barker, Head of Water Resources at Portsmouth Water, explains: “The reservoir is scheduled to be supplying water by 2029 and although many people would regard this as a long way off, in reality, there’s very little room for manoeuvre in the timeline to start providing the resilient water supplies the water-stressed South East desperately needs. “The reservoir is absolutely pivotal in us being able to make additional bulk supply transfers to Southern Water, so they can meet legally binding reductions in their abstraction to protect the Rivers Test and Itchen, two internationally-renowned chalk streams in our region.”

Jim continued: “In that context, we felt it was right to press ahead and not risk delaying this vital project, given its importance in terms of ensuring resilient water supplies and the huge benefits it will bring for our local communities and wildlife. Many people have told us they want the reservoir to be completed as soon as possible – remember, it’s something that’s been talked about since the mid-1960s!” The local planning authorities also confirmed they supported the decision to press ahead. Jim added: “However, we knew we’d need to take an innovative approach to make the consultation accessible to all and truly effective. In fact, we’ve tried to seize the opportunity to reach a broader range of demographic groups, compared to the more conventional approach of face-to-face discussions in village halls.

“It’s early days but the feedback we’ve had so far tells us what we created, in the face of a major challenge, has proved to be more interactive and engaging overall.”

The first digital outreach came in the form of a reservoir supplier event, with a day of faceto-face presentations in late March swiftly replaced with a one-hour recorded briefing

with the project team, something that was warmly received by the supply chain. Buoyed by this success, work to develop the new approach for the public consultation began in earnest, spearheaded by water industry communication consultants Create 51.

At the centre of the consultation is a ‘virtual exhibition’ hosted on an online engagement platform, accessed through the reservoir website. It’s designed to make it easy for people to drop in at a time to suit them to find out more from the project team and share their ideas in a range of ways. Visitors can watch a film on a particular topic, ‘post’ notes on maps and diagrams to share their thoughts, ask questions, share ideas in an online ‘white-board’ forum, write comments in a guest book or complete a more detailed but straightforward online survey.

At the heart of the consultation is a series of a dozen ‘mini films’ about different aspects of Havant Thicket Reservoir, which have proved very popular and a versatile package to share in the exhibition, during live webinars, on social media and to accompany media stories. Half way through the consultation, the videos had amassed thousands of views and many ‘likes’.

They provide ‘bite-size’ insights into key topics, with an informal, chatty feel. They were all created remotely, with the project team individually interviewed via Zoom or MS Teams. The interview audio was edited and overlaid with a range of visual material, including CGI visualisations, photos, diagrams, maps, photos, existing film footage and slides.

These same films have also provided the key content for a series of live webinars, with dedicated sessions for staff, stakeholders and the public, with the project team on hand to answer questions. The webinars have been well attended and attracted a lot of praise.

However, it was vital to let everyone know about the consultation in the first place and reach people who are not online. This was only made possible by the fact printers and Royal Mail designated water companies as essential services, enabling them to print and distribute a promotional postcard to 50,000 properties around the reservoir site.

While the reservoir has always had strong support from the local authorities, environmental and community groups and residents, it was important that as a community-focused company, Portsmouth Water reached as many people as possible and offered a variety of ways to engage – including a printed brochure, feedback form and Freepost return envelope which could be mailed out and a dedicated phone line.

With young people set to be key users of the reservoir in the next decade, it was also important to reach out to them. This was achieved through education sheets and surveys for primary and secondary schools – not only to engage them in the project and have their say, but as a supportive educational tool for teachers and parents rising to the challenge of home-schooling. In conclusion, Jim Barker said: “We’re hoping for a strong response to our consultation, given how we’ve strived to innovate to reach people and engage with them. The learning curve has been steep, especially in terms of the technology, but we know we’ve learned valuable lessons, both for this consultation and others in the future.”

At the time of writing, the consultation was two weeks into its four week run and going well – more than 2,000 visits to the virtual exhibition, more than 700 views alone of Chief Executive Officer Bob Taylor’s introductory film to the consultation on Facebook and 150 responses with questions and detailed feedback. The next step after the consultation is the publication of a ‘You said, We did’ feedback report and a review of the new approach to share lessons learnt.

All the feedback gathered during the consultation will shape the planning application due to be submitted later this year to Havant Borough Council nd East Hampshire District Council.

Havant Thicket Reservoir is being developed in partnership with Southern Water to secure reliable water resources for the South East, after being identified in both water companies’ Water Resources Managements Plans and Water Resources South East’s regional strategy.

The £120 million water resource will be the first new reservoir to be built since the 1980s and is earmarked for land the company owns in Havant, Hampshire.

Professor Adrian Johnson and Dr Bruce Horton of Stantec explore how the water sector can learn from the Covid-19 crisis to effectively tackle the climate emergency and create a low carbon, community-focused, resilient future.

The Covid-19 crisis presents unprecedented challenges for our nation. The water sector response has been swift and effective, mobilising resources and assets to ensure that water supply and drainage services have been uninterrupted. This is a testament to the resilience of the sector and reflects sustained investment in enhanced service provision. But, as we emerge from the immediate impacts of the pandemic, what will we learn for addressing the climate emergency?

Do we simply restart business-as-usual? Or do we grasp the opportunity to lead the way in creating a new low carbon, community-focused and more resilient future?

There are clear links between Covid-19 and the climate emergency. Both are global crises which threaten millions of lives with clear science on how to manage them. We’ve seen short-term reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and in our use of material resources from the economic slowdown and the need for fundamental changes in the ways we live and work.

There will be opportunities to use the recovery to ‘lock in’ key measures to tackle the climate emergency. The Climate Change Committee, representatives of COP26 and many others are calling for the government’s economic stimulus to be geared to achieving the net zero emissions target. We need a clean, green recovery that creates jobs, provides affordable energy, protects nature and cuts GHG emissions.

So how can the impacts of Covid-19, and the way in which water organisations respond to these impacts, help us tackle the climate emergency? Here are three areas for focus.

A recurring feature of the Covid-19 crisis has been the need for reliable information about how many people are infected and where, and how quickly the virus is reproducing. Accurate information is vital since this informs our forecasting and policy choices. The better the numbers, the better the policies.

There is a clear parallel with the climate emergency. Understanding carbon impacts, in relation to decisions to invest in water infrastructure, relies on good information on how much carbon is emitted from each work unit. While some information is good, for example

the carbon emitted from consuming a kilowatt-hour of electricity, there is much less confidence in other areas, for example the carbon emitted in laying a kilometre of pipeline. This depends not only on the material used and its size but also on how it is installed. For example, is the pipeline laid in an open trench or installed by a ‘no-dig’ technique? The same applies to other things such as tanks, pumps and chemical dosing rigs, to name but a few. At present there is no accepted dataset we can use to keep track of the carbon from each million pounds spent on reducing leaks or removing phosphorus, for example. Whilst some companies have made great progress on their own, why don’t we work together on a collaborative open-source approach with transparent peer review to increase confidence in the data? It’s an urgent need.

As we can see in the Covid-19 crisis, getting more confidence in the numbers will in turn allow us to make the right choices, especially those to reduce carbon in the most efficient manner.

Government guidance has already transformed behaviours – staying at home, washing hands after every trip out, a massive increase in virtual meetings to get things done. For many – including people working in the water sector – home working could become the norm.

Since we now know that big behavioural changes are possible, we must take this learning and apply it to the climate emergency. We must find ways to do more with less, to switch from carbon-intensive resources to low carbon alternatives, to build only when essential, avoid concrete and generate renewables wherever we can. We must embrace digital approaches to design better solutions, to minimise on-site construction, and to operate water services more smartly.

But how do we make this happen? The urgency surrounding Covid-19 has driven innovation and collaboration at an unprecedented rate and scale, from 3D printing of PPE to new partnerships between industry and academia, to trialling vaccines within 3 months of the onset of the outbreak. People from all walks of life are contributing and there is a newfound willingness to try new approaches, accepting that not all will succeed. “Adaptive management”, so often discussed in the water sector, is happening as we apply the learning from one week to the next.

The water industry is already on this journey; the progress made on its Public Interest Commitment to achieve net zero carbon by 2030, as well its widespread work to adapt to climate change impacts, demonstrates this. To accelerate this, we must work closely with others such as the Green Construction Board’s Infrastructure Working Group, which developed PAS2080 - an integrated approach that engages the whole value chain - and institutions such as the ICE which are calling professionals to act.

Tackling the climate emergency needs a “both … and …” approach to deliver the resilience we need for the most benefit and least carbon. This can work because the issues we face are often interrelated. For example, behavioural changes, such as we have seen in recent weeks, not only bring carbon savings but also could slow urban growth and change patterns of water demand. During lockdown people have been rediscovering their local ‘green’ and ‘blue’ places and the value they bring. The reduction in movement of people and goods has reduced levels of air pollution and impacts on wildlife. The value of local community spaces and nature to health and well-being is firmly back in the public consciousness. Why not harness this to bring more flexibility, more community engagement and, thereby, more social value to the provision of water and drainage services?

A multi-capitals framework is useful here. It helps us to maximise human, intellectual, manufactured, financial, social and natural capital benefits by harnessing the interdependencies that underpin a resilient water service. It will help to ensure every pound we invest counts.

In its recent report on using nature-based solutions to reach net zero, the Natural Capital Commission advocates a holistic approach for all infrastructure decision-making combining top-down coordination with local delivery to maximise ‘environmental net gain’, reduce emissions and adapt to the changing climate. Given their multiple interfaces with natural capital assets, including rivers, catchments and bathing waters, water and drainage companies should be at the forefront of this effort. Employing more sustainable drainage and catchment approaches, restoring wetlands and peatlands will help us to minimise the need for new ‘grey’ carbonintensive infrastructure.

We know we can maintain the resilience of water services in the face of unprecedented change. To ensure future resilience and drive down carbon emissions we must work together to properly understand the numbers, to transform behaviours, and focus on delivering multiple benefits for local communities. We have the talent, so let’s grasp the narrow window of opportunity now to lead the way in creating a low carbon, community-focused and more resilient future.

Wastewater in sewage systems could provide a quicker and earlier indication of the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the Covid-19 virus, claim scientists working with Northumbrian Water and global partners.

Experts at Newcastle University, UK, and the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, are working with water industry partners Northumbrian Water and Labaqua, part of the SUEZ corporation, to monitor sewage from across networks in Spain and Northeast England to develop a way to estimate the prevalence of the COVID-19 virus across the regions.

The new project, which has been funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Council (EPSRC), is being co-led by Professor David Graham, Professor of Ecosystems Engineering, and Dr Marcos Quintela-Baluja at Newcastle University, alongside Professor Jesus Romalde in Santiago. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has stated that SARS-CoV-2 does not readily spread through sewage and wastewater systems. However, non-infectious genetic residues of the virus, not unlike other microbes, can remain in wastewater systems in the locations where infected people go to the toilet.

The work will not identify whether individual people are infected, but by monitoring sewage from different places across a region, the research team will be able to estimate local concentrations of the virus and potentially link levels back to human population numbers. This could help public health officials identify possible infection ‘hot spots’ and could be especially helpful in places where infected people do not show any symptoms.

Professor Graham said: “Without the capacity to test each person individually, particularly people without symptoms, we have limited information about how widespread the virus is or whether it is affecting some communities more than others.

“Sewage epidemiology is now being used around the world in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. Our work here is to develop local solutions, but also to assist global efforts, by developing tools for predicting spread at a much earlier stage.”

Northumbrian Water’s Wastewater director Richard Warneford said: “We’re proud to be working with our partners at Newcastle University on this globally significant project.

“Our wastewater teams are working with their engineers and scientists to safely gather and analyse data and we’re hoping that together we can help make a difference in the battle against COVID-19.”

by Michael Butler Technical Manager, RPS

Company business plans have outlined investments to deliver over 800 megalitres per day (Ml/d) of new capacity and demand reductions by 2025 through short-term supply options, leakage reductions, and water efficiency programmes1 .

The new regulatory targets were always going to be a challenge, and no more so than with the flooding across the UK during February, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the drought we are expecting to experience this summer. Yet despite these conditions, early indications are that the regulatory targets will remain fixed with no exemptions proposed. Data collected during these extreme events provide valuable insight into water management and serve to underline the importance of high-quality data, interpretation, planning, and an ability to rapidly respond to change.

2020 has been quite a year already. It started with the significant flooding which stressed our catchments and networks. Then came the COVID-19 pandemic affecting all our lives. However, it’s also provided companies with greater insight into what happens when certain network operations significantly reduce or stop altogether.

In the absence of some routine maintenance activities, water network performance has improved in some localities, for example with reductions to leak outbreak. For other areas the opposite is true, with significant leakage issues arising from reduced consumption and associated pressure build-up in distribution pipes.

Ongoing variability in customer consumption patterns has led to increased investment in real-time monitoring in recent years on the network, such as fast-logging coupled with enhanced data analytics. The impacts of factors such as weather and school holidays are increasingly understood. During the peak of the COVID-19 crisis, those water companies that logged just a small proportion of their non-household customers now have a significantly better understanding of the impacts caused by a change in demand. When the UK went into ‘lockdown’ people no longer showered at the gym, and office water use shifted to the home, the 100s of cups of tea made every hour in an office were spread over 100s of homes. Without a commute to deal with people were also getting up at different times, which spread the morning peak demand to be more like a weekend profile. Accurate measurement of consumption with more real-time monitoring is essential to ensure resilient supplies and accurate leakage estimation and prevent false alarms and ineffective targeting.

From a wastewater point of view, the closure of restaurants will have resulted in a decreased amount of fats, oils and grease (FOGs) being added to the network - reducing the potential for blockages. However, the lack of rain over much of the country is likely to increase the pressure on sewerage systems which needs the rainfall to help clear blockages - and this could result in increased flooding and pollution.

The take-away message is that with the new insights gained from these new data sets, it is possible to plan new ways of operating and maintaining our networks which can be tailored to specific locations based on how they respond to changing operational activity.

How can companies ensure that their many targets and outcomes are delivered concurrently and in harmony, rather than acting as competing factors? Reductions in leakage have historically resulted in an increase in Per Capita Consumption (PCC) and interruptions to supply, yet all these need to reduce to meet targets. Issues for delivering inter-related targets such as these can arise from a combination of the analytical and operational approaches, and especially where a fully integrated strategy is lacking. Meeting leakage targets while also reducing interruptions to supply is a good example of where recent data from reduced network activity can be applied to inform the optimum balance of activity by locality.

Leakage, consumption and supply interruptions are clearly inter-related. In addition to impacting on each other, they can also influence water quality and wastewater asset performance by affecting the volumes of water entering our drainage and sewer systems. If working practices are to change in the long term due to COVID-19, then network and distribution designs will also have to be modified to reflect this change in water use. This will be amplified by the proposed reductions in PCC and leakage, meaning that peak and overall flows could be very different in 5 years’ time to what we see today. Other opposing considerations relate to meeting future demands while ensuring enough water remains in the environment. Meeting the future challenges for cleanwater will have a knock-on effect on environmental and wastewater services. It’s important that all potentially opposing factors are considered and we must employ a joined-up approach to harmonise delivery efficiently meeting customer and regulatory expectations on all fronts.

Over the last two years there has been a strong regulatory focus on updating reporting guidance and improving the consistency of calculations between UK water companies. With respect to England and Wales, this results in some significant reporting changes heading into AMP7, with calculations such as leakage being rebased. This has also provided an impetus to incorporate new data systems, processes and analytical approaches leading into the new regulatory period. RPS is currently engaged with a number of clients to improve the accounting for Trunk Mains and Service Reservoir (TMSR) leakage and ‘Passive Area’ leakage upstream of District Metered Areas, ahead of wider long-term reforms associated with Flow Monitoring Zone set-up guidelines currently in development with the United Kingdom Water Industry Research Council.

With each improvement to the way key performance metrics are calculated and reported, the ability to visualise and target network monitoring and interventions improves. Ambitious regulatory targets and expectations have coincided with significant improvements to reporting and accountability with the UK water industry on a more level footing than in previous regulatory periods. This also encourages greater competition and has led to a variety of ‘frontier’ performance commitments and aspirations.

In addition to the ongoing rollout of proven new technologies and associated improvements in data quality, companies are embracing new and innovative ways of combining this with ‘old data’. With respect to leakage, strategies are being developed to incorporate dynamic feedback loops in a manner that increases the efficiency of leakage detection resources. Frontier Leakage Optimisation (FLO) is a good example of this in action, as discussed in our December article.

2020 has so far been a challenging yet insightful year highlighting the potential for new ways of working to achieve regulatory targets. This will ultimately be supported by the application of more sophisticated technologies and systems to allow faster decision making.

Operating in the same vein as FLO, other examples of tools recently developed by RPS include those that improve water efficiency and consumption, for example, Frontier Consumption Optimisation (FCO) which demonstrates how consumption can be effectively managed using similar strategies to those we have employed for leakage. We have applied lessons from cleanwater applications and adapted these to wastewater applications, including for sewer maintenance, blockage reduction, and drainage water management plan investment. The same optimisation processes are applied to determine the right mix of options for the right location at the right time, whilst achieving a company’s frontier performance commitments. When considered as part of an integrated delivery and targeting system, such as within WaterNet Pro™, the holistic benefits can be fully realised with competing targets efficiently.

For information on optimisation to achieve regulatory targets, contact Michael Butler, michael.butler@rpsgroup.com

1 Ofwat, 2019

Extreme weather events and rising populations are straining existing (and often inadequate) drainage infrastructure in cities around the world, leading to flooding that damages property and infrastructure, impacts human safety, and weakens economies.

In 2015, the United Nations reported that over the previous decade, floods accounted for 43 percent of all documented natural disasters around the world, affecting 2.3 billion people and causing US$662 billion in damages. And this number is getting worse. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reports that the number of flooding disasters worldwide almost doubled from 2000-2009 relative to the previous decade. Climate change—due to its role in extreme weather events and rising seas—is exacerbating flood risks, especially in coastal and low-lying areas. At the same time, populations in flood zones and the coastal regions continue to increase— worsening an already deadly and costly situation. There are projections that by 2030, around half the people in the world will be living within 100 kilometers of a coastline. In response to these threats, cities are striving to improve their flood resilience with data-driven planning, development, and operations. Some cities are accomplishing this through the use Users can visualize and communicate potential risk from flood resilience modeling and simulation in OpenCities Planner as shown in this example using the Helsinki 3D+ city

by Robert Mankowski

model and the results of flood resilience modeling. of digital twins to improve the resilience of current infrastructure and to support ongoing development and future planning.

A digital twin is a virtual representation of a physical asset, process, or system. Digital twins of cities provide accurate and reliable data to city agencies involved in flood risk assessment, preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation. They contain information that enables users to perform analysis and make informed decisions for a range of activities, from long-term urban planning to time-critical emergency response.

Digital twins are created from (and continuously updated with) data from multiple sources, which is what differentiates them from static, 3D models. Also, cities are now taking advantage of cloud services, the IoT, sensors, RFIDs, and smartphones to update digital twins to almost real-time status of city conditions. These updates enable cities to use digital twins to better manage and optimize infrastructure assets.

Creating a digital twin to enable flood resilience entails the integration of city-scale reality modeling, 3D mapping, and flood modeling. The resulting flood resilience model can be used for analysis, simulation, visualization, and communication.

To start, reality modeling and 3D mapping software are used to generate a highresolution, city-scale 3D reality mesh by using overlapping photos from drones and ground-level imagery, supplemented by laser scans where needed. The reality model/mesh is spatially classified, meaning that the individual buildings, parcels, and other elements of the meshed cityscape are tied to underlying, applicable GIS data. The reality model is also natively engineering-ready, with sufficient

resolution and scalability to zoom into an area and perform engineering work directly off the mesh. And crucially, the reality model includes digital terrain data, which is fundamental for any hydrological simulation.

Next, a flood resilience model is created by setting up a computational mesh for the area of interest, be it the whole city or just a fraction of it. This computational mesh is then populated with data used for flood simulations. Digital terrain data can be taken directly from the reality model to provide accurate surface data for the flood modeling software as well as a visually realistic context for viewing flood simulations. The reality model can also be used to identify streets, pavements, green spaces, trees, and other information required by the flood resilience model. The flooding software uses numerical models to simulate a range of hydraulic and hydrological processes, including rainfall, infiltration, surface runoff, channel flow, and groundwater flow. This flood resilience model can be integrated with sewer and stormwater network models to dynamically simulate urban stormwater flow and drainage, as well as flooding in coastal areas due to storm surges.

It can also incorporate real-time feeds relating to new meteorological data, current hydrological conditions, and operational statuses from existing infrastructure assets, for example. These feeds might include recent rainfall amounts, current river flow rates, working status of pumps, and so on. And, given the ubiquitous nature of mobile phones and social media, there could even be live feeds documenting localized street and tidal flooding to support floodrelated crisis management. The model is continuously refreshed from multiple sources—such as sensors, continuous surveying, or GIS updates—to represent current conditions.

Flood resilience models support a wide variety of activities related to the evaluation, prevention, and response to floods. The models can be used to assess the extent of river or coastal flooding, calculate river conveyance capacity, test infrastructure resilience, or assess current land-use strategies in flood zones.

One of the primary uses of flood models is the simulation of what-if scenarios that Flood modeling scenarios include many different data types such as hydrometeorological data, GIS, BIM and more. And the flood models can help to calculate where the water is going, how deep and at what velocity. These tools help to predict behavior based on changes made in the modeling scenarios so that risk mitigation planning can occur.

show the impact of flooding on homes, properties, streets, and infrastructure. These simulations can be used to determine flooding risks for existing conditions and to evaluate proposed mitigation strategies.

For example, cities can simulate river flow during a flood event and analyze losses based on extent of flooding compared to building data such as property value. With this feedback, planners can use the software’s built-in modeling tools to develop mitigation measures (such as higher levees, increased capacity of a stormwater system, or greater use of green roofs and permeable paving) and rerun the simulation to test the effectiveness of their Digital twins represent a comprehensive

proposed mitigation measures.

For ongoing operations and emergency response, agencies can use operational flood models that run continuously to anticipate and mitigate the impact of floods. These operational models are updated with the latest information from observed and forecasted weather conditions, water levels in reservoirs, data from hydrological stations, and radar and satellite images. Bundling this information into a single system and using the flood resilience models allows cities to estimate with accuracy the conditions in the upcoming hours or days. Flood risk mitigation can then be achieved using the information produced by these operational systems to:

Take proactive actions such as increasing draining them before the flood wave arrives Take preventive measures such as installing temporary flood protection devices Transmit early warning messages

Flood resilience models that show simulations in the context of city surroundings also help better convey information. Communicating and visually presenting this information in an easily understandable way can help stakeholders make decisions regarding city planning and infrastructure proposals, and also engage citizens for public outreach efforts.

the storage capacity in reservoirs by environment that supports flood resilience planning, as well as ongoing management and operations of the city infrastructure. And, visually communicating actionable information helps stakeholders make more informed decisions prior to costly design or construction efforts. Digital twins represent a golden opportunity for cities to optimize the performance of municipal infrastructure assets and take proactive steps for flood resilience planning.

For more information regarding Bentley solutions for implementing digital twins and developing flood resilience, please visit www.bentley.com/en/campaigns/digitalcities/flood-resilience-digital-twin.

Sitting here writing this article from an empty office, as part of a Z-Tech central skeleton crew of four people, is a bit like being in some sort of disaster movie.

by Luke Stanbridge

Z-Tech’s Commercial Director

I’m guessing that most of you are feeling the same at home, in converted rooms or if you’re lucky enough to have your own home office - with books behind you for the obligatory video conferencing background, ‘makeup’ done, smart top, PJ bottoms?

Every business has a disaster recovery plan, it’s regularly audited for the ISOs and by customers in Tenders and contracts, but the likelihood of ever having to initiate it is..well, very slim.

This is now real, and we are really being tested, our people are also being tested. As Z-Tech’s work is for core national infrastructure, our workforce and support staff are all classified as Key Workers, we are currently following national guidance and our own initiatives to keep things moving and our workforce safe.

We are a mobile workforce of just under 250 people, 180+ working out of vans and customer sites, so our systems are all geared up for dynamic working. We operate on Citrix with virtual desktops, running through our own servers, mirrored across sites, back-up generators and back-up cloud based recovery – basically if our systems go down, the UK has far bigger issues to address and it is truly the apocalypse.

Z-Techers use a product called ‘Workplace’, which is run by Facebook and is essentially a Facebook for industry, it’s easy and intuitive to use, like Facebook it can be viewed on any device and is used by all our workforce. This system has been ideal to get COVID-19 messages out to everyone, giving them live access to contribute and keep on top of developments.

Electrical, Control and Instrumentation Technicians are in shortage at the best of times, but during the pandemic we have increased demand for the supply of our people to our customers, filling gaps in their teams and being as flexible as we possibly can. We prioritise our existing customers, but have currently been able to help all enquiries where needed.

Hopefully when this is all over we can start to give national kudos to these shortage trades, ensuring there are appropriate and nationally accredited apprenticeships and training opportunities – something we have been pushing as a company for some while, with official technical partnerships with providers such as GPUTC (Greater Peterborough Technical College) – utilising a credited provider to help train in this shortage area.

We are all in the same situation, so know how difficult it is to make judgment calls throughout this Pandemic, reacting quickly to change is crucial and our customers have been doing a great job in both informing us of changes in their policies and just to touching base to talk through our developing situations and how we are coping.

One of our Power customers has a full on lockdown facility where they can isolate the workforce in shifts, feed them and sleep on site – truly next level facilities to keep the lights on!

If I ever hear ‘Unprecedented times’ again, it will be too soon. Providing clear direction is key in a crisis. Our Board meet daily to discuss developments and changes that need to be put in place to be able to steer our operations and support our customers.

Leadership in a crisis needs to reassure the way forward and what everyone needs to do in order to follow that path. In a crisis, or any emergency situation, we are all driven by our ‘fight or flight’ primitive survival reactions – which is great when you are driving down the road and a car pulls out, but less so great in a Pandemic. Additional media fuel, with an overdose of exposure to ‘news’, theory and chatter adds to a feeling of panic, which can lead to hysteria and really serious mental health issues. Pausing and taking a step back to put your thinking cap on is the only way through this, supressing the fight or flight and putting the situation into perspective – the car has not pulled out in front of you, you have time to think.

Leading a workforce through this process to create calm and direction requires consistent communication, I won’t pretend we are all perfect at this, we are in ‘Unprecedented times’, it’s been a learning experience, like trying to rationalise someone’s fear of spiders: Australians take a series of precautions to not get killed by Black Widow spiders, they look under their toilet seat before sitting down, they shake their shoes before putting them on – the pandemic is no different to this and we all need to take precautions to make sure we work safely.

…and finally

It looks like we will be living with the aftermath of COVID-19 for some time, but will it also create positive changes to the way we operate?

Our offices are virtually empty and travel miles reduced by almost 1/3rd, the use of our internal media platform tripled on lockdown (50K messages in 28 days) – once this is all over, will we culturally change the way we operate, time will tell.

Recycled Plastic Flood Barrier

In accordance with Central Government expectation, Lincolnshire County Council’s (LCC) Flood Risk Management projects have been developed through partnerships, thereby increasing scheme delivery and efficiency, whilst providing communities greater input.

by Ken Pratt

This approach helps prepare for potential reductions in centralised funding while improving customer service, especially for rural counties like Lincolnshire. As the Lead Local Flood Authority, the Council has developed a local flood risk management strategy and a common works programme to reduce the level of surface water flood risk. The Council has retained a team of Technical Staff that integrates experts from WSP embedded with Council employees to promote projects across its highway and flood risk functions. An interesting challenge is the promotion of flood risk projects where multiple organisations are involved, each trying to protect its interests while publically supporting a general improvement for the community. On-going financial constraints are expected to multiply the need for collaboration across partners, who themselves are likely to have limited resources.

One methodology that has proved to be beneficial was that employed at Stamp End, Lincoln, an area of high deprivation that experienced regular surface water flooding. This scheme was the first major “nonhighway” project undertaken by the joint LCC and WSP team. It consisted of flood defences, watercourse improvements and a land-drainage pumping station.

The expectation is that a new project is initiated following a flood investigation under Section 19 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 (F&WMA) and/or scoring high in a WSP built, GIS based, investigation considering the relative ‘all sources’ risks on communities. The flood investigation reports are subject to partner review and all projects are accepted onto the Common Works programme, where all partners agree to actively support the initiative.

For this scheme: the County Council facilitated the project; the Water Company analysed the sewer and watercourse system and adopted the completed sewer works;

the City Council and Highway Authority adopted the flood defence structures, and; the Internal Drainage Board adopted the pumping station that is integral in reducing the backing up of sewers and in providing a flood storage area.

Additionally, several landowners allowed free access to land to construct the works with a separate private company donating the land for the pumping station.

The approach used was to utilise each organisation’s expertise, allowing each to contribute for the betterment of the community without changing its work processes. Effort was centred upon developing a cost effective strategy for overcoming issues whilst meeting each partner’s requirements. For example: ■ the pumping station was designed specifically to meet the requirements of the eel regulations, drainage board operational needs, and minimising

Health and Safety risks, ■ the flood barriers had to span the numerous underground services, have minimal and simple maintenance requirements, not be required to be deployed during an event but allow disabled access, and be in keeping with their surroundings. ■ the works on the public sewer were in accordance with current design standards, be simple, with minimal effect on the Water Company’s maintenance regime.

Project promotion, although driven by one Risk Management Authority, the County Council, referenced all partners appropriately. The success of this Lincoln project was such that a City Councillor specifically thanked the multi-agency team because “… these residents tend to get

of the pile...”.

The real success was the overcoming of silo working and the self-protection ethos of partners. This was achieved by both financially, with contributions being secured from three authorities, to supplement FCERM1 Grant-in-Aid, and technically, gaining the agreement of partners with respect to specification and future adoption.

The overall proposals were based on the principles of simplicity and innovation North Delph Pumping Station

which allowed all stakeholders to understand the project and the part they had to play at an early stage, encompassed by the introduction of ramps between recycled ‘plastic lumber’ barriers, installation of improvements to the sewer system caused minimal disruption, and the pumping station being designed to be inconspicuous and secure, easy to operate and maintain. The project had a positive safety culture based on industry norms. For example, elements such as the new eel screens, were innovatively designed and sized to allow a two person lifting operation to minimise the need for heavy or specialist equipment, and provide a solution that was effective, exceeded the Client expectations, minimised disruption and was supported by the local residents.

This scheme highlights the complexity of Flood Risk Management projects and the reliance on collaborative partnerships. This methodology has been given greater precedence with the recent update in FCERM Funding issued by the Environment Agency on behalf of Defra2. The object appears to force the sharing of costs between national and local funding. No doubt emphasis will be on the sharing. Projects will need to be holistic and encompass non-traditional aspects such as ‘mental wellbeing’ with the lead organisation being responsible for reviewing while making certain all funding partners meet their financial and resource liabilities and obligations. Of course, there are the investigations undertaken following Section 19 of the F&WMA where risk management authorities can be named and shamed if appropriate functions are not being exercised. Is partnership working considered an appropriate function?

A greater number of collaborative partnerships will need to be formed to reduce the level of community flood risk. These will require funding to be met by a variety of sources. There is no reason why multiple benefits cannot also be gained to meet the needs of partner organisations. This collaborative arrangement is expected to become the norm, albeit at the time unusual. It was recognised by Lincolnshire County Council Executive Councillor Colin Davie, who publically expressed that “...

kind...”. High praise for the Lincoln scheme.

1 FCERM – Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management 2 Defra - Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs

That’s the equivalent to around one and a half baths of water every day, for each of England’s approximately 56,000,000 residents, and this number is growing. In fact, demand has increased each year since 2015, according to a recent report by the National Audit Office (NAO).

The NAO Water Supply and Demand Management report also explained that, due to climate change, daily demand for water in England and Wales will rise almost 30%, from 14bn litres to 18bn litres.

The concern is, due to increasing temperatures, less water will be harvested through sustainable abstraction (the process of taking water from the ground or surface water bodies), and with demand growing, not meeting the deficit could cause the risk of drought in South East England, one of the country’s most populated areas. is fire supply monitoring.

To provide remote fire supply monitoring,

HWM-Invenio has developed Flow.

Watch, a unique, patented, solution that combines advanced temperature analysis with our NBIoT telemetry technology.

Flow.Watch identifies and categorises fire supply flow into leakage, test use and intermittent use.

This enables water companies to identify the fire supplies from which water is being used or lost. Benefitting from remote set up, Flow.Watch is a versatile, easily installed system that provides a non-intrusive alternative to metering. Water companies are playing their part, by undertaking large-scale network monitoring projects in an effort to hit ambitious leak reductions targets.

However, the NAO report is calling for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to do more to ensure that the threat of water scarcity in the UK is not realised.

One recommendation made in the report is for Defra to promote a more coherent and credible message about water efficiency. While water companies are using social media campaigns successfully to educate customers about what is safe to flush, more could be done to encourage efficient use of water.

It is suggested in the report that the government should take the lead on getting Flow.Watch is a proven fire supply monitoring solution. In a recent case study, Flow.Watch was installed to monitor the fire mains systems of 118 large industrial facilities belonging to one of the UK’s largest water companies. Over an 8-week period, over half of these sites (60) were found to have regular water usage events from the unmetered fire supply, with more than half of these having some form of leak. Flow testing in the fire supply of one property discovered usage of 375 litres/ across of the message that customers need to save water.

Commercial property water consumption is highlighted in the NAO report as an area in which more could be done to increase water efficiency. It is suggested that Defra should work with other government departments to reduce water consumption by large public sector users like schools and hospitals.

Private sector water consumers, such as factories, offices, retail outlets and building sites should also be encouraged to consider how efficiently they use water.

By reducing water consumption, not only will private companies be contributing to staving off potential water scarcity, they may also generate significant financial

rewards thorough cost savings. minute. With weekly tests lasting on average 38 minutes, we estimated up to 230,000 litres/week of usage from fire supply testing alone.

In another trial, in Italy, we discovered that 59% of industrial buildings surveyed (61) had regular water use events. In this trial, 60% of these properties were found to be illegally using the fire supply to supplement the meter.

These successful trials demonstrate that Flow.Watch can play an important role in delivering both water and cost savings.

by Dr Martin Currie FIChemE FIWater

Elon Musk undeniably has his quirks, but he has reimagined transport, with electric cars, hyper-loops and reusable spacecraft. Could we do the same with the water industry?

This article was to be on “COP26 preparations and decarbonisation of the water industry”. COVID-19 has postponed COP26 and disrupted our lives, so that article can wait. I imagine you may appreciate some more personal, COVID-19 inspired, future-gazing on decarbonisation.

At three o’clock on a sunny Friday afternoon my family and I were walking through the woods - getting our daily permitted exercise. Laura, my wife, had a dull ache in her chest and had to sit down. By nine o’clock that night, it had developed into a sharp pain. I started to worry that it might be a heart attack. We didn’t want to waste NHS time if it wasn’t serious, so I called 111. We got through after 15 minutes and, within an hour, a doctor called us back and put Laura into COVID-19 isolation.

I quickly moved my stuff out of our room & set up camp in my office. Being a process engineer, I made Laura a bottle of 70% isopropanol spray before leaving a flask of tea outside her prison door.

Government guidance is that people with COVID-19 symptoms should “…use a separate bathroom from the rest of the household”. If you can’t do that then they recommend that you “clean a shared bathroom each time you use it”.

For environmental reasons, we had been considering installing a composting toilet for some time. I was also concerned that the spray disinfectant Laura had to use each time she went to the bathroom wasn’t helping her lungs.

By the time you read this I’ll have posted details at aqueum.com/composting-toilet on how we decided on the unit that we chose, and hopefully a video of the installation highlights along with updates on our experience with the new device. The model we installed has a bucket to collect solids for composting. Sitting on the seat rotates the bucket and opens the blue hatch. Liquids are collected separately & piped into a garden collector with an eductor that mixes them 8:1 with irrigation water for nutrient recovery.

A constant extractor fan removes odour and aids solids drying.

I’m no wastewater or medical expert, but reading the WHO interim guidance, I get the impression that the main risk of COVID-19 contagion through wastewater is from aerosols when infected individuals flush the toilet. It is therefore recommended that, as well as washing our hands, we all close the lid when we flush. One advantage of composting toilets in these times is that you don’t need to flush, so the aerosol risk is mitigated.

Composting toilets also require no water. That’s tonnes less than even the most efficient low-flush models. And, while most models extract air from your house, ventilation is required anyway. Flush toilets also flush away heat in winter. The specific heat capacity of water is over four times that of air, and cold water in your pipes, cistern and toilet gradually warms to room temperature.

The Energy Saving Trust have said that “Flushing the toilet is an unavoidable fact of life”. However, if we could change the facts of life by enabling mass deployment of composting toilets, what sort of impact could that have on the water industry’s carbon footprint?

We’re already committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2030, which will require lots of renewable energy for us to pump water around the country. If we can reduce our total energy demands, that frees this renewable energy to be used elsewhere.

The carbon cost of potable water treatment is much higher than it need be, because we treat much more water to potable standards than we need to. The economic and embodied carbon costs of a national twin pipe (potable and nonpotable) network make it a non-starter. Decentralised grey water treatment and reuse on-site is much more feasible. But again, twinning up sewers into black and

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Dish washing Personal washing 2003 2015

Other internal use Clothes washing 2019 composting toilets WC flushing External use

With composting toilets WC flushing requirements drop to zero. The remaining wastewater is ‘grey’ rather than ‘black’ water. Grey water can be relatively easily recycled and used for Personal & Clothes washing, and all External use. Some ‘Other internal use’ could also be replaced with recycled grey water - not shown.

1976-2015 per-capita consumptions (PCCs) from A (1976-1991 interpolated), 2019 PCC from B. PCCs multiplied by proportions from A (2019 extrapolated). A https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/ wp-content/uploads/2018/05/The-long-term-potentialfor-deep-reductions-in-household-waterdemand-report-by-Artesia-Consulting.pdf. B https://discoverwater.co.uk/amount-we-use grey water treatment may require a larger

grey at a national level is unfeasible.

If an area could move entirely to composting toilets, as well as saving the 20-30% of potable water that is used for toilet flushing, there would be no black water. That would allow for local treatment and reuse of grey water. This could save at least a further 50% of potable water demand, reducing average potable water potable water demand and wastewater we talk about them more?

Our excellent system of flushing human waste doesn’t make for the most efficient means of nutrient recovery. The second law of thermodynamics advises against dissolving your salt in water if you subsequently want to put that salt on your chips.

We could save huge amounts of energy for both nutrient and water recovery, if we stopped using water as our means Composting toilets and decentralised water industry workforce and could have an impact on existing infrastructure. Conversely, potable water treatment and distribution energy & resource requirements could drop by over 70%, to say nothing of the wastewater collection and treatment savings.

This may be going too far, but each composting toilet in use reduces production, as well as the load on wastewater treatment works & the risk of pollution events caused by inappropriate flushing. The first few million installed shouldn’t require any changes to our existing national infrastructure. They even produce local fertiliser. Why don’t of human waste disposal.

Please email me at martin@aqueum.com to let me know what the catch is.

Population growth, lifestyle and weather pattern changes are putting UK water supplies under increasing pressure. A practical and cost-effective solution to manage the increasing demand on this precious resource is the Groundbreaker Systems’ LoFlo Check Valve.

by Steve Leigh

In the UK, attitudes to water means that consumers are resistant to conservation education. Just look at the weather - it’s always raining! Whilst ‘smart metering’ and public awareness campaigns can have some impact on domestic consumption, it is unlikely to come anywhere close to halving usage - the target set by some water companies.

Groundbreaker Systems have the solution. The LoFlo Check Valve can halve flow rates, allowing water providers to manage demand with surprisingly little impact on consumers.

In Nov 2018 the Met Office unveiled its predictions for the impact of climate change on Britain. A reduction of 47% in summer rainfall is anticipated in the next 50 years1 . Whilst house building is set to continue, with new home targets currently at 300,000 per annum. Conservation is becoming the buzz word of the water industry, as supply cannot be adjusted to meet demand.

Our water providers are required to provide a supply capable of delivering 10 litres/ LoFlo Check Valve

minute at 1bar pressure to a domestic dwelling (Water Industry Act). However, without care or effective water management, volumes greater than this can be taken by inconsiderate or uneducated consumers – despite current environmental concerns.

Groundbreaker’s LoFlo Check Valve provides a ‘cap’ to the volume of water supplied to any property. Set to provide above the legally required minimum supply, and not noticeably interfere with normal daily domestic use, the LoFlo Check Valve ‘attenuates’ the water supply to a property by the inclusion of a precision engineered, flow restriction device.

Simply install the Groundbreaker’s LoFlo Check Valve between the water meter and manifold in any underground or surface mounted water meter enclosure. Standard (full flow) Check valve An easy, low cost intervention that can be introduced without expensive excavation or retrospective work.

Groundbreaker products meet all the defined criteria and are used extensively across the whole of the UK water supply network – whether that be North of Scotland or the Channel Islands.

For further details or to find your local distributor visit www.groundbreaker.co.uk

1. https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/press-office/ news/weather-and-climate/2018/ukcp18-launch-pr Note: Section 63A of the WI Act states that there should be no impediment to a domestic water supply “for debt management”. Given that the LoFlo still provides above minimum supply levels and the impediment is not for the purposes of debt management, this condition does not apply.

Groundbreaker is designed to provide a water company with the perfect platform to: . Eliminate leakage . Quick and easy supply replacement . Reduce usage . Facilitate future water meter reading technologies . Remove street furniture

For more information, please visit www.groundbreaker.co.uk or call 01379 741993

In response to the challenges faced from COVID19 the water company is hosting their entire Innovation Festival completely online for the very first time.

Social distancing restrictions meant that it would no longer be possible to hold this year’s event at Newcastle Racecourse and so the festival, that had been planned for July and was due to see more than 3,000 people from all across the world gather, was forced to be postponed.

Not wanting to let festival attendees down, for what would have been the company’s fourth yearly event, the Northumbrian Water innovation team have instead drawn up plans to hold the four day event completely online and in a digital capacity.

Festival attendees will still be able to take part in design sprints, data hacks and daily dashes and work together to solve real world issues and come up with ideas and solutions to big societal problems.

They’ll also be able to experience lightning talks, networking events, Q+A sessions and tech demos through live streams and catch-ups.

The feel-good festival spirit will still be present and created virtually with wellbeing sessions, group exercise classes, pub quizzes, bingo, comedy, live music, celebrity appearances all taking place at the touch of a button.

Festival organiser and Northumbrian Water’s IS director Nigel Watson said: “COVID19 has completely changed peoples’ lives and caused businesses and organisations across the globe to rethink how they do things. And that’s what we’ve done here.

“This is us adapting, flexing and being innovative with our innovation festival. We’ve changed it, improved it and we’re making it work for people, right now. “Our partners, sponsors and our customers all told us that they wanted it to go ahead and so, taking inspiration from concerts and other large events, we’ve made the choice to switch the whole event to digital.

“It means that people from all across the globe can get involved in the festival in a safe and accessible way. It opens up lots of brand new opportunities for us both in terms of the way we work and what we can look to achieve.

“The whole world is facing huge challenges right now and it’s more important than ever that we come together to find new ways of working, new solutions, to solve these problems and build back better. Hopefully Innovation Festival 2020 can help with this and I’m really excited to see what happens”.

The new digital Northumbrian Water Innovation Festival 2020 will take place between the 14-17 September.

Attendees can find out more about the festival and register their interest at the Innovation Festival website.

The water industry was told to prepare for the likelihood of Covid-19 “being with us for two to three years”, until a vaccine has been developed and three billion plus people vaccinated.

The recommendation came from founder and chairman of technology and innovation consultancy Isle Utilities, Dr Piers Clark, who is leading an international Covid-19 sector-wide collaboration initiative via WhatsApp.

Dr Piers Clark

Speaking at British Water’s weekly Better Together video conference on 1 May, Clark said global resurgence of the virus was very likely and could come in waves “typically lasting 10-20 weeks, depending on the severity and extent of the lockdown adopted.”

He said: “We’ve had a dedicated team working on this, pulling out the best information that’s available from all around the world. At a macro level, the evidence is becoming increasingly strong that this virus is going to be with us for years.

“The new normal we’re likely to experience for the next three or four years is society and industry is going to go in and out of lockdown periods at a national, or a state, or even a community level, and the water industry has a very important part to play. This is what the evidence is telling us today, this is the likely outcome of Covid-19.” Clark also updated participants on discussion points and learnings of the 265 global organisations that had joined Isle’s social media collaboration, including water utilities and municipalities, such as how monitoring in sewerage systems could provide a rapid early detection method for spotting the presence of the virus in communities and lead to targeted lockdowns.

Other speakers on the video conference, which had 80 participants from across the water industry, were Ofwat chief executive Rachel Fletcher, Pennon Group chief executive Chris Loughlin, Scottish Water chief executive Douglas Millican and Water UK programme lead Sam Larsen.

Updates from the utilities focused on delivery of the AMP7 capital programme. Loughlin, who as head of Pennon Group is overseeing the investment programmes of South West Water and Bournemouth Water, said while capital projects had been paused when lockdown measures were announced, the majority had now restarted or were due to restart, with new working practices in place based on government guidelines.

Millican, who is overseeing Scottish Water’s 2015-2021 £3.9 billion improvement programme, said the organisation had also adopted new working procedures and was looking to fully restart its capital programme. The public utility is basing decisions on key criteria including having a safe working environment, the criticality of the project and what worked best for the supply chain in terms of availability of people.

Ofwat’s Rachel Fletcher added: “It is good to hear that some companies are accelerating their plans and planning to catch up on the slow start in March and April. My impression is that this is the norm.” Thanking speakers after the call, British Water chief executive Lila Thompson said: “The insights we receive from our Better Together speakers are highly valued by British Water members, which is why more and more are joining us each week. Conversations have moved to how companies are now planning ahead to ensure they can emerge from this crisis in a strong position, while preparing themselves for potential resurgences.

“Organisations are telling us they have adapted well to new ways of working and, in terms of the water companies, it is encouraging that some capital projects are able to restart with support from the supply chain. We must not forget the UK is facing a water scarcity crisis, with the National Audit Office last month warning that unless more action is taken now, parts of the south of England could run out of water within the next 20 years.

“Projects that will protect our water resources are now more important than ever so I am delighted that we will have Jean Spencer, independent chair of National Water Resources Framework Senior Steering Group, and Paul Hickey, managing director of the Regulators’ Alliance for Progressing Infrastructure Development, RAPID, joining the call on 15 May.”

British Water’s Better Together virtual calls were established in response to Covid-19, to give members the chance to gain insights from key stakeholders on how the pandemic is impacting the industry, as well as identify ways for to best support the industry.

Calls usually take place every Friday from 12-1pm. The next call will be on Thursday 7 May, due to the bank holiday. Register via the British Water website.

Ovarro chief executive David Frost says streamlining the company’s operations will be the most effective way of delivering for customers.

A new word enters the water technology lexicon on 12 March with a bold rebrand by Servelec Technologies and recent acquisition, leak detection specialist Primayer. The two companies are now united under one brand and one name - Ovarro.

Water is a core sector for Ovarro, which also works with clients in the oil & gas, broadcast and transportation markets. The company helps organisations monitor, control and manage their assets and is anticipating considerable organic growth as utilities and municipalities seek greater analytics capability to drive multiple efficiencies in their operations.

Ovarro is inspired by the name of Roman scholar Marcus Terentius Varro who was first to propose the honeycomb conjecture. He stated that a regular hexagonal grid or honeycomb pattern is the best way to divide a surface into regions of equal area with the shortest total perimeter. Charles Darwin later commented that, “The honeycomb is a masterpiece of engineering. It is absolutely perfect in economising labour and wax.” David Frost, chief executive of Ovarro said, “The water technology market is entering an extraordinarily vibrant phase, which we wanted to capture with the honeycomb theme of our rebrand. Exceptional efficiencies are sought by our customers and they will only be achieved through the collaborative efforts of a busy hive.

“We have some great technologies and unrivalled in-house expertise and in coming together and integrating our teams in R&D, operations and at the executive level, we can streamline our offer across industries and geographies. Having a single brand to wrap around this unique integrated offer is the most effective way of delivering to our customers.” Looking ahead, Frost said, “Tightening regulatory drivers mean water utilities and municipalities around the world are expected to do more for less. There are also considerable strains on our natural resources and water losses through leakage are a massive issue. Our combined solutions tackle that head on.”

Ovarro’s rebrand includes a new logo and colour palette on the honeycomb theme, along with a new website www.ovarro.com. The company is headquartered in Sheffield, UK, and has offices in Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates.

Production operators, subcontractors and maintenance technicians working in the water industry need easy access to various remote sites where Locken has fitted thousands of access control systems.

In complex settings, where a drop of water travels through miles of pipelines, pumping stations, tanks, treatment plants, then sewers and waste water treatment plants to complete the water cycle, controlling the process and securing these highly sensitive sites is challenging.

Water industry facilities usually comprise many scattered sites. This means maintaining tens of thousands of facilities across the country in urban and often remote areas (home to the largest clean water production plants). These plants are often far from any power supply, adding further complication to the access control solution.

Autonomous access control, the very latest in cable-free technology, offers the perfect solution for access points and doors, as the padlock and lock cylinders are passive. Keys provide the necessary power and hold the access rights data. Electronic cylinders can easily replace existing cylinders and do not require any special maintenance, making it especially suited to remote sites and clean water aqueducts. The complete solution is managed by the Locken Smart Access software.

We recently spoke to Stéphane Conreux, CTO of Locken, to find out more about this solution and why it is particularly wellsuited to the water industry.

A: Our software solution, Locken Smart Access (LSA) has been developed to design and operate access policy. LSA can be easily connected with other software to become part of the customers’ IT system. Within a water network, the best performance is achieved when all parts are fully connected, LSA offers scalability to integrate the individual specifications of water companies… to talk the language of the customers.

A: Each part of Locken Smart Access is focused on the needs of the who and why. For example, the web part of LSA operates the specifications of scalability and manages access policies - manager centric access policy. MyLocken (Locken’s mobile app) is dedicated to the specific needs of end users. Each part of Locken Smart Access considers both user and manager to deliver added value through global collaboration of access management.

A: Choosing Locken Smart Access doesn’t mean choosing a solution among other

similar solutions. It means choosing a tool that allows you to create custom-made solutions that meet the specific needs of each water company, while seamlessly integrating into their value chain.

A: Innovations and new technologies only make sense if they reflect the requirements of the water sector. Their major roles are to simplify the expected answer and to address the user’s needs by creating added value without any additional task for the user. Data mining is a key factor of Locken Smart Access, because one of the main values of access control solutions is their capacity to deliver relevant information to the managers. This helps them understand complex situations and provides them with the ability to define and meet the needs of their organisations. The major challenge of innovation is to deliver its promises without adding complications that may result from introducing new technologies. With expertise in both the hardware and software elements

Extended family for water and waste industries

VEGA has extended its proven VEGAPULS family for continuous level measurement.

The new series features the very latest

FMCW 80-GHz technology and, with a developed radar level microchip, excellent performance and a low price, it represents a real alternative to ultrasonic technology.

This makes it highly economical for applications in the water/wastewater sector, or auxiliary applications in process automation.

With features including: ■ Strong focusing - ensuring measurement without the jumps ■ No dead zones - for measurement in confined spaces of the solution, Locken is able to offer the most capable and reliable access control solution on the market.

A: More and more, the water sector requests flexibility, enabling people to find solutions which support them in doing their job and ultimately managing the entire water cycle. Locken Smart Access uses the capacity offered by mobile apps to get the user of the electronic keys more involved in the smart access process. This increases the benefits of the access control solution. telemetry operation without maintenance chemicals

The compact loop powered radar is available in two versions: a model with a cable connection housing and a standard model with fixed cable connection (IP68).

A: We plan to continue to develop and add to the Locken system. Our objective is to make each user an active contributor for the benefit of all; as an example, expanding our ‘MyLocken’ app to key users by adding smart technologies and innovative functionalities that will help to make their job always easier and safer.

visit https://www.locken.eu, find us on

Low power - for remote sites and Handles build up - enables longer EX approval - for hazardous areas and

LinkedIn or telephone 0203 691 1610.

The compact radars also have an optional field mounting controller for local display, extra outputs and level alarms. Both sensors and controllers can be easily and safely adjusted via Bluetooth with a smartphone or tablet – ideal for harsh environments, operational safety or Ex areas.

More information at www.vega.com/uk