WET News

COMMENT Major infrastructure comes back onto the agenda Robin Hackett, Deputy Editor, Wet News AUGUST "There's much to celebrate this year [but] the sector is not doing enough to reduce serious pollution incidents and ensure compliance with discharge permits" Environment Agency chair Emma Howard Boyd after pollution incidents attributable to the water sector fell in 2017 from 1,902 to 1,827, while 'serious' incidents dropped from 57 to 52 "Trant Engineering has been pioneering health and safety excellence in challenging, high-risk environments for decades now, long before safety was a priority in the UK construction industry" Trant Engineering business development director Brendan Dowd on the company's 30th consecutive award from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents £40M Yorkshire Water is getting started on demolition work ahead of the construction of a £40 million energy and recycling centre in Brighouse that will use anaerobic digestion to convert human waste into electricity £300M Amount that could be lost daily if there are restrictions on water use…in London "This has all been made possible by the tenacity and foresight of Northumbrian Water, who were prepared to think outside the box and support us through a lengthy and challenging development programme" nuron founding director Mike Ainger after the launch of its sewer 'nervous system', which uses optical fi bres to monitor the wastewater system "After more than ‡ ve years of reactivation operations for industrial customers, we are delighted to make this ‡ rst step into drinking water carbon regeneration" CPL Activated Carbons divisional director Steve Bell after the company successfully reactivated its fi rst batch of 'green list' spent carbon from a drinking water treatment facility L ast month, we were talking about Ofwat's report into how companies coped with the freezing temperatures during the Beast from the East. This month, the focus has switched to how they can cope with drought amid a prolonged spell of warm weather. Increasingly, extreme weather looks like the new normal and, for many, there is signi‚ cant work to do. A„ er nearly 50,000 customers lost supply for more than 12 hours amid the freezing weather, the introduction of hosepipe bans in some areas of the UK and Ireland has served to generate further public anger towards the industry at a time when its highly publicised pro‚ t-making is fuelling calls for renationalisation. As the industry's defenders are quick to point out, around £150 billion has been invested in improvements to water and sewerage since privatisation in 1989, with £8 billion a year continuing to be invested, and leakage levels – a particularly popular topic when hosepipe bans are threatened – are down by around a third since 1994. The National Audit O• ce– found– that "most measures of service quality have improved markedly" since privatisation. Still, it is an understatement to suggest more could be done. Over 95 per cent of the £18.8 billion pro‚ t made by the nine large English water and sewerage companies between 2007 and 2016 went– to shareholders. An average 3,123 million litres of water was lost to leakage every single day in England and Wales in 2016-17 – only a 7 per cent reduction on the ‚ gure in 2000. And, as Defra told the Regulation of the Water Industry inquiry, there has been no investment in new nationally signi‚ cant supply– infrastructure, such as major reservoirs, since privatisation. That may well have to change, and a number of issues now seem to be combining to force the issue: Labour has put the industry's pro‚ ts in the political spotlight, climate change is causing issues with supply, and the National Infrastructure Commission's recommendations for a national water network and additional supply infrastructure are sharpening focus on what needs to be done. Ofwat has already spoken out about the lack of ambition in companies' dra„ water resources management plans, but praised, for example, Portsmouth Water for its proposal to construct Havant Thicket reservoir to support increased exports to Southern Water. Earlier this year, Wessex Water highlighted the success of its new £228 million, 74km water supply grid–in contending with the Beast from the East. While there has been a signi‚ cant trend in recent times towards the smarter use of existing assets, investment in nationally signi‚ cant supply infrastructure will at times be the best option. The weather and the political climate may just create a perfect storm to bring about change. IN A NUTSHELL M orrison Utility Services (MUS) and M Group Services Plant & Fleet Solutions have joined forces with vacuum excavation spe- cialist Vac-Ex to deploy micro vacuum excavators on smart metering works in the London area. The micro 'AIR-VAC' has been commissioned to support MUS smart metering teams working on behalf of Thames Water in o„ en busy and con- gested locations in and around London. The unit o¬ ers safe, non- aggressive and non-invasive excavation around buried utili- ties and non-removable obstructions and is ideal for metering works, stop taps, slit trenching and trial holes for investigation work and service pits. The compact, towable and self-contained unit o¬ ers the capacity to hold its own spoil and the facility to tip from height into a wheelbarrow, skip or trailer. As well as enabling faster, more e• cient excavation, the equipment minimises the risk of cable strikes as there is a reduced need to put shovels in the ground; noise and waste is also reduced. MUS executive director Adam Gosnold said: "Vacuum ¯ Morrison Utility Services to use micro 'AIR-VAC' to aid smart meter installations for Thames Water Micro vacuum excavation to assist smart metering works excavation is becoming increas- ingly essential in the o„ en con- ‚ ned and congested inner Lon- don areas that our smart metering teams are working in. Each year, our smart metering teams make over 61,000 exca- vations whilst carrying out their work on behalf of Thames Water. Whilst our teams' cable strike performance is good, innovations such as this will help towards our target of zero. "The micro-design of the AIR-VAC o¬ ers a more agile, HAV's (Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome) free method of vac- uum excavation in and around buried live services that will prove particularly useful for our teams conducting small digs in built up, tight access areas. We are very excited by the new e• ciencies that this tool will bring." MUS head of customer ser- vices, Dan Rhodes, said: "The reduced size and improved agil- ity of the micro AIR-VAC is deliv- ering signi‚ cant customer ser- vice bene‚ ts to our smart metering teams working on behalf of Thames Water. "The unit's self-contained design is also helping to mini- mise the impact of the work being carried out as no spoil is le„ on site which addresses the issue of site tidiness – a key pri- ority across all of our contracts. From a customer service view- point, this is a great example of the ways in which we can take customer feedback and incor- porate it into new and progres- sive ways of working." 2 WET NEWS AUGUST 2018 | wwtonline.co.uk 3 Morrison Utility Services has invested in three TheIsuzu 7.5t FlexCom jetter/vacuum vehicles to support teams working on its Dwr Cymru Welsh Water contract infrastructure comes back onto www.teekaycouplings.com tel: +44 (0)1494 679500

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