WET News

2 WET NEWS JANUARY 2017 COMMENT "Laing O'Rourke has taken the bull by the horns to tackle the skills shortage..." JANUARY 29% Wessex Water produced 29% of its own energy from renewable sources in the „ rst half of its 2015/16 „ nancial year. More of its sludge is processed via AD. "The award of this framework is an exciting opportunity to develop our delivery for Affinity Water across this agreement" Mark Hanrahan, NM Group business development director, on MEICA contractor Nomenca winning a triad of frameworks with A• nity Water. The deals end in 2021. The UK now has almost 90 plants injecting green biomethane into the gas grid, double the number this time last year, accord- ing to a new report from the Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association. The report shows the total number of AD plants in live operation has risen from 424 a year ago to 540 today. AD has also already reduced UK greenhouse gas emis- sions by nearly 1% annually. 1% 540 280K The number of meters that A• nity Water aims to install in customers' homes by 2020. The company had installed 50,000 meters by August 2016, it said in its latest „ nancial results. 150K The number of additional engineering construction workers needed by 2020. "This landmark project marks the beginning of our involvement in the SR15 Managed Delivery Framework " Amey's managing director for utilities, Kevin Fowlie, on the company getting the deal to deliver Scottish Water's £17M Paisley sewer upgrade scheme. "It is expensive to produce water for con- sumption, to treat wastewater, and to renew infrastructure" A report from an Irish government-appointed commission, which says water in Ireland should be paid for through taxation. 15% More than 15% of the total sewage sludge produced in England and Wales is not being treated by AD, says Alison Fergusson, principal engineer on Ofwat's Water 2020 programme. The 2020 programme will make it easier to identify commercial opportunities for treating sewage sludge and generating renewable energy from it, she adds. The industry should be congratulated for skills plans I t's great to see engineering Laing O'Rourke taking a proactive approach to the skills shortage. With infrastructure investment having been given a starring role in the government's recent Autumn Statement, it is inevitable that further strain will be put on the market to - ll vacant engineering jobs. Rather than wait until it's too late, Laing O'Rourke has taken the bull by the horns to try and help tackle the skills shortage by devising a ten-point plan (see front page). Laing O'Rourke highlights in its ten-point plan that an extra 150,000 engineering cconstruction workers will be needed by 2020. That's just three years away! This plan comes hot on the heels of the Skills Accord, launched recently by Energy & Utility Skills. Here, utilities and other leading businesses in the water, gas, power and waste management industries have joined forces for the accord, a voluntary, cross-industry partnership designed to address the skills gaps that threaten to undermine the future health of the UK's utility sector. Anything that can be done to try and reverse the skills problem – either as a collective or at company level – has to be congratulated. Get your entries in Don't forget the closing date for entry to our Water Industry Achievement Awards is looming. It's January 20, 2017. Water companies, their contractors and supply chain need to be forward thinking in all aspects of their activities whether it's regarding technologies, health and safety or customer service. Innovation is about the use of a better and novel idea. It's doing something di– erent and thinking outside the box. Don't hide your innovative thinking under a bushel – prove you're a winner and enter now at wwtonline.co.uk/ awards. Giving tarpaulins new homes Ever wondered what to do with your unwanted tarpaulins? Well, Scottish Water and contractor George Leslie have found an answer. They are planning capital maintenance work in the Gartmorn Dam area over the coming weeks and months, and have donated tarpaulins to a school in nearby Alloa. The items will be used to shelter pupils on - eld trips to Gartmorn Dam Country Park, near Sauchie. The only thing is, the pupils will have to assemble the tarpaulins themselves as part of a team-building exercise. Where's Bear Grylls when you need him? A research consortium that includes Scottish Water and environmental consultant Aqua Enviro has been awarded €7M in EU Horizon 2020 funding to develop novel modular sustainable rural wastewater treatment systems. The INNOQUA project aims to provide an innovative, modular and sustainable wastewater treatment technology with near zero CO2 life-cycle emissions. The technology includes novel biological treatment and disinfection modules and is designed to provide safe and a– ordable sanitation with the ¥ exibility for global application These technologies resemble natural puri- cation processes and are based on the puri- cation capacity of earthworms (lumbricids), zooplankton and microalgae, and alternatively sunlight exposure. Aqua Enviro and Scottish Water joined the INNOQUA consortium as part of the four- year European research project of 20 partners that is being coordinated by Nobatek, a French Research and Technology Organisation. The two companies teamed up as § Consortium develops technologies that resemble natural puri„ cation processes to provide safe and a› ordable sanitation worldwide. EU nding for rural wastewater systems project the project directly addresses one of Scottish Water's strategic objectives of 'Sustainable Rural Communities'. Demonstration trials both within and outside of the EU are planned in the latter phases of the project, with Scottish Water hosting a demonstration unit. Paul Lavender, business development manager at Aqua Enviro, said: "It's great that the EU has recognised the consortium's really innovative technologies and the impact these could have on meeting the challenges of decentralised wastewater treatment. "Aqua Enviro are committed to driving innovation within the water industry, and this project will help us to meet this objective." A key step in the exploitation of any new technology in the water and wastewater sectors is design, installation and operation of prototype technologies under real conditions. In total, 11 demonstration sites will be used during the project in locations worldwide, and each one will run for a year in order to simulate all climatic conditions. Scottish Water will host a demonstration site in a small rural setting in the Scottish Highlands. This site will have a collective sanitation system installed aimed at demonstrating low cost, sustainable, biologically-based waste water treatment for small size housing units (20-30 people) in extreme weather conditions. Roi Otero, innovation programme manager for Scottish Water, said "Scottish Water has a high proportion of rural works and developing a sustainable approach to water use, treatment and sludge recycling is a challenge. This exciting project will play a key role for us in the development of innovative new solutions to make our rural communities more sustainable." Allan Mason, sustainable rural communities senior project manager for Scottish Water, added: "Nature has a solution for nearly everything and what it is capable of is truly outstanding. "This project will help us better understand how we can utilise the natural world to improve our processes and develop new solutions that o– er economic and environmental sustainability in rural Scotland." Praher M1 Ball Valve from IPS - Now WRAS Approved The Praher M1 Modular Ball Valve now has WRAS approval in both metric and imperial sizes DN10 through to DN50. The modular design allows easy transfer between different configurations and comes with a locking handle and integrated bracket for fix point mounting. IPS Flow Systems Tel: 0191 521 3111 www.ipsflowsystems.com For further details or a copy of our handbook contact our sales team. Freephone: 0800 975 7971

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