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NEWS+ Thames Water steps up airborne battle against leaks • Water company using aerial technology to get back on track in leakage battle and plans 50 per cent reduction by 2050 • Institution of Mechanical Engineers report urges new water infrastructure sustainability plan combining drought and flood T hames Water is seeking to make significant progress on leakage and has launched a three-pronged aerial attack to find and fix problem pipes. The company leaked 695 mil- lion litres a day in 2017-18, fail- ing to meet its target by 75 mil- lion litres, but has pledged to get back on track by 2020 and then reduce leakage by a further 15 per cent by 2025. Dozens of teams are fixing more than 1,000 leaks a week across the company's 20,000- mile underground pipe network and, to help identify problems, it is using a fleet of drones, an aeroplane and a satellite with state-of-the-art thermal imaging and infrared cameras. It has five drones, which can fly more than 100 metres high and a distance of 500 metres to survey huge landscapes, as well as a satellite that takes high- resolution images of the ground, which are cross-referenced with maps of pipes and other aerial images. An aeroplane with an infrared camera has also been flying through the skies, predomi- nantly over the rural areas of the Thames Valley and south Lon- don, taking hundreds of pictures that are then analysed by special so‰ware. Euan Burns, chief engineer at Thames Water, said: "Reducing leakage is one of our main pri- orities, and we know it's really important to our customers too. "We're always looking for innovative ways to help solve operational issues, and this aer- ial approach with the latest technology will give us another perspective and another tool to help find leaking pipes. We're in the early stages of introducing Thames Water has also removed one option of abstract- ing more water from the River Thames in Teddington which, following feedback, expert anal- ysis has shown could have a detrimental impact on the ecol- ogy of the river. Thames Water's head of envi- ronmental regulation, Yvette De Garis, said: "Our plan looks at how we supply water to our nine million customers right up until the year 2100 so it's vital we get it spot on." CONTRACT WINS UK-based pump system optimisation expert Riventa has been awarded the Energy Efficiency Services Framework by Severn Trent Water and Hafren Dyfrdwy to enable these organisa- tions to invest in pump refurbishment and improve efficiency and resilience. Energy technology and demand side response provider GridBeyond has been awarded a five-year contract with NI Water for demand side unit and DS3 system services. Bedford Pumps has won the third and final order to supply pumps for the £300 million Birmingham Resilience project, which is designed to make the area's water supply more resilient by providing a new back-up water supply. For Balfour Beatty, which reported a 69 per cent increase in underlying profit from operations for the half-year ending 29 June. The figure stands at £66 million, up from £39 million in 2017, while pre- tax profit from continuing operations grew from £12 million last year to £50 million this time around. For Interserve, which announced a pre-tax loss of £6 million during the first half of the year and the loss of another 470 jobs. Interserve CEO Debbie White said performance was in line with expectations and the company's 'Fit for Growth' initiative "will result in a simpler, more focused and more effective Interserve". Climate change 'will lead to higher UK water costs' B ritain's water industry will face higher costs for treat- ing and managing water supplies due to the increasing occurrence of drought and flood resulting from climate change, according to a new report from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. As summers become longer and hotter, water treatment plants will be required to run at peak flow rates for longer, rais- ing maintenance and running costs as well as energy con- sumption. The increased water flow will also require more chemicals to clean the water faster. The Institution said in its Water: Drought and Flood report that companies will also need to increase the pace of pipework replacement significantly, which will be expensive but is becoming essential. To combat flooding, particu- larly a‰er long periods of dry, hot weather, greater investment will be required in drainage sys- tems in urban areas, including more sustainable options such parkland, ponds and ditches. Dr Jenifer Baxter, head of engineering at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and the report's lead author, said: "We need to make people aware of the value of water as a resource. "Consumers need to under- stand the challenges of manag- ing water in more extreme envi- ronments and the increased costs that water companies will face running treatment plants at higher flow rates as well as reducing leakage. "Sustainable drainage and water recycling systems along with reducing water use are all part of the solution of helping us adapt to climate change." Most Government policies, strategies and reports do not consider hot, dry weather together with flooding – looking at one or the other – and a new water infrastructure sustainabil- ity plan is needed which com- bines drought and flood. The Institution supports a 'systems thinking' approach to water management as high- lighted in regulator Ofwat's Resilience in the Round report, which was released in 2017 and identifies the linkages between many aspects of urban life – physical, social and economic. The Ofwat report brings together the challenges of unex- pected events, such as super- storms, heatwaves and black- outs, but also infrastructure, Aerial imagery is playing a role in leakage detection for Thames Water wwtonline.co.uk | SEPTEMBER 2018 WET NEWS 7 and an ageing and growing population. The Institution made the fol- lowing recommendations in the report: 1. All major UK cities to publish research on what their infra- structure needs will be in rela- tion to water. Water is a limited resource – infrastructure for new-build homes and busi- nesses should be designed and developed with increased extreme weather in mind. This should include sustainable urban drainage and greywater recycling in new-build proper- ties, reducing the burden on water treatment works in the summer months and helping to manage extreme rainfall events 2. UK Government should run a public awareness campaign on the value of water and conse- quences of our changing cli- mate. This could include what householders and businesses need to do to build resilience into their properties, in order to mitigate the impacts from poor drainage when periods of dry weather end this year, and in future years. 3. The water industry, with the support of Water UK and the National Infrastructure Commit- tee, creates a forum of water- intensive industries and the water companies create a water infrastructure sustainability plan for UK industry that com- bines drought and flood. According to the report's authors, it is crucial that supply exceeds demand not just by ever increasing production but by mitigating use in a similar way to the electricity grid, which has clients on interruptible contracts. this at the moment, but the signs have been encouraging and we're looking forward to seeing the results our eyes in the sky can bring." Thames has also announced that it will re-consult on changes made to its dra‰ water resources management plan, as it looks to provide a secure and sustaina- ble water supply for the next 80 years. The original dra‰ was pub- lished earlier this year and the company received more than 530 responses on topics includ- ing smart water meters, leakage reduction, a proposed new res- ervoir and the impact of taking water from the environment. Following that feedback, it has now revised its proposals in three areas, taking into account changes to predicted long-term population growth and new tar- gets to reduce leakage by 50 per cent by 2050 in line with recent recommendations by the National Infrastructure Commission. The report's lead author was Dr Jenifer Baxter Good monthT- Bad month

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