WET News

6 WET NEWS OCTOBER 2018 | wwtonline.co.uk NEWS+ Innovation must not risk the environment, regulator says • Environment Agency director Fox says new ideas must not result in damage W ater companies must show they have "earned the right to innovate", Environment Agency director Pete Fox told the WWT Sustaina- ble Water Conference in Birming- ham on 18 September. Numerous speakers at the event talked of the need for new ideas and collaborative working prac- tices to tackle the growing chal- lenges facing the environment. However, Fox, who works as the regulator's director of water, land and biodiversity, stressed that new ideas must not come at the cost of serious environmen- tal damage, saying the regulator was adopting a 'yes, if...' policy to innovation. "Innovation implies risk and the environment suffers if we don't do it right," he said. "Unfortunately, as the regulator, I'm going to be a guy who says: 'Show me it works and then we'll talk'. Nobody will thank the Environment Agency if the environment suffers. "As a hard-bitten regulator, I will want to be assured the com- pany has earned the right to innovate." He offered an analogy for the Environment Agency's role. "Working for the Environ- ment Agency sometimes feels a lot like being a goalkeeper for a football team," he said. "You're stood in the goal, all the game is happening in front of you. "Actually, you can probably see it better than most of the players on the pitch and you can see what's going to happen, but it's hard to influence except when the opposition charge towards you. "That's when your part comes in and you're only person in the chance to fail were met with a range of responses, with Sarah Hendry, director of water and floods at Defra, suggesting there may be room for some more flexibility to incentivise water companies to try new things. Cardiff University professor of ecology Steve Ormerod, chair- ing the conference, said he would be "nervous about allow- ing failure" on the wastewater team who can pick the ball up. One thing you can do is fail. If you fail to do your job, the oppo- sition score the goal and may end up winning. "It's very difficult to recover and win the match. We aren't responsible for scoring goals." Earlier in the conference, questions on how the regulators should try to drive innovation and allow water companies the side, though, explaining: "Sometimes these problems can take a very long time to restore. I think there is a need for care." Ed Mitchell, director of envi- ronment and sustainability at Pennon Group and wastewater operations director at South West Water, said: "People are not too forgiving when things go wrong. "We've got to find a way British Water launches innovation search engine A n innovation search engine that can help match utili- ties, industrial users and contractors with the water technol- ogies they need has been launched by British Water. BWinnovate complements the trade association's popular onsite Innovation Exchanges with utili- ties and other client organisa- tions and the supply chain. The searchable portal is hosted on the trade association's website and integrates with its member database. Members are invited to post as many innovative 'solu- tions' as they wish along with images, documents and video links. Access to the searchable data- base is open to the worldwide web. A facility for member utili- ties and end-users to post their technology 'needs' in a section visible only to other members is also included. Paul Mullord, UK director at British Water, said: "BWinnovate is a natural extension of our pop- ular Innovation Exchanges, where supply-chain companies present their services and tech- nologies to potential clients. "It allows our members to pre- sent to a global audience and facilitates detailed searches to help identify the most appropri- ate solutions available. "BWinnovate is much more focused than a regular search engine and the benefit goes both ways. Those searching for innovations can find them all in Caption one place and at their convenience." British Water has worked closely with its members to iden- tify the most effective search crite- ria for the solutions. Prescribed categories include whether the solutions enhance health and safety, productivity and sustainability or whether they are water, wastewater or environmental solutions. Essex & Suffolk Water hosts inaugural innovation event E ssex & Suffolk Water hosted its first 'Day of Innovation' on 18 September as more than 250 innovation experts, scientists, engineers, designers, artists, cus- tomers and representatives from major global businesses came together to tackle 13 major social and environmental challenges. The event, held on grounds of Hanningfield Reservoir, built on the ideas generated at Northum- brian Water Group's Innovation Festival 2018, which took place in Newcastle in July. The event saw 13 'sprint sessions' take place, each tasked with a differ- ent social and environmental question to solve. The Day of Innovation was an opportunity to develop and test the big ideas that came out of these sprints, through a series of workshops, tech demos and interactive presentations. Some of the major ideas showcased and developed dur- ing the day included under- ground maps, wellbeing apps, travel assistance for the visually impaired, smart devices to monitor the water, 'dog bogs', self-sustaining homes and a 'drop swap' so people can save money as they save water. A team from the 'Blue Planet' sprint took the event on tour and headed into Billericay to speak to around 40 local busi- nesses about becoming Refill stations, with many signing up on the day. Refill is the national campaign that urges people to ditch single-use plastics by fill- ing up their reusable water bot- tles at Refill points. Organiser and NWG IS group director Nigel Watson said: "Some real game-changing ideas came out of our Innovation Festi- val in July, and I'm so pleased that we've been able to bring that spirit to Essex as the ideas are brought to life. "Of course the journey doesn't end here, and we look forward to seeing these ideas develop further and start making real changes to our everyday lives." where you can work together and take manageable risks in a way where it doesn't feel you're going to get hung out to dry when it goes wrong. "Working in partnership can feel scary and we've got to get over that." The WWT Sustainable Water Conference 2018 was sponsored by AECOM, Mott MacDonald and Rezatec "I'm going to be a guy who says: 'Show me it works and then we'll talk'. Nobody will thank the Environment Agency if the environment suffers " Environment Agency director Pete Fox Environment Agency director Pete Fox addresses the Sustainable Water conference

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