Water & Wastewater Treatment Magazine
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/1040774
www.wwtonline.co.uk | WWT | NOVEMBER 2018 | 5 A NEWT APPROACH: Wessex Water has become the first utility company in the UK to use an in-house great crested newt detection dog to assist in pipe instal- lation projects. UK and European legislation makes it an offence to damage or destroy their environment without a licence from Natural England. (Photo credit: Nick Upton/Wessex Water) Anglian Water has unveiled proposals for dozens of further wetland treatment sites as part of its business plan from 2020 a er the success of its work on the River Ingol in west Norfolk. If Ofwat approves the plans, as many as 59 treatment wetlands could be built in the coming years. QUOTE OF THE MONTH "We have this curiosity that we have these huge companies and we have these absolutely tiny companies – Bristol Water, Cambridge, South Staffordshire. Ofwat historically have never wanted to change that. Perhaps there is an opportunity in the future but we would only do that if we had a big revolution in the way the industry operates." Environment minister Therese Coffey told a think tank event at the Conservative Party annual conference that consolidation among the UK's privatised water companies could help ensure security of supply and infrastructure Severn Trent is working with US-based WatchTower Robotics on creating and trialling a UK-specific leak-finding robot in the company's pipes. Created by Dr You Wu, who got his PhD from MIT this year, the robot has been named as a national winner of the James Dyson Award, which celebrates, encourages and inspires the next generation of design engineers. The robot looks like a badminton shuttlecock, is very flexible and 'fills' pipes, allowing it to travel with the flow of the water, logging its position and leak information as it goes. The data can be retrieved wirelessly and a 'map' of leaks can be produced before the robot is fished out using a net or flushed out of a hydrant. £80,000 Northern Ireland Water has received its largest ever fine for pollution incidents that occurred at its treatment works in Killinchy and Annsborough. NI Water was fined £60,000 for two separate discharges from a sewage treatment works at Killinchy, County Down, in 2017 and £20,000 for an incident near Castlewellan in 2016 that left 1,900 fish dead. €35M Irish Water has initiated a project to secure drinking water supply in the Greater Dublin Area by linking the Leixlip Water Treatment Plant with the Saggart Reservoirs. It will result in greater connectivity between water supplies so Irish Water can access different sources at different times of the year and during extreme weather. GOOD MONTH FOR... Yorkshire Water, which generated enough electricity in one week from its flagship Thermal Hydrolysis Plant (THP) at Esholt Wastewater Treatment Works in Bradford to power 3,600 homes. The firm's £34 million THP plant opened in 2014 with the sole intention of creating energy from sludge to power the site and supply any excess electricity to the National Grid, and its record performing week in September generated 490MWh. BAD MONTH FOR Bristol Water, SES Water and Southern Water, which were warned to improve their customer service as a new report by the Consumer Council for Water revealed households made more than 2.1 million calls to resolve problems last year. The three companies have been asked to provide quarterly reports highlighting what action they are taking to reduce complaints. CCWater chief executive Tony Smith said: "Some water companies still have a lot to learn when it comes to communicating effectively with their customers and ensuring that when something goes wrong they put it right quickly and with the minimum of fuss." GETTING STARTED NUMBERS LAY OF THE WETLAND