Water and Effluent Treatment Magazine
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/1043468
12 WET NEWS NOVEMBER 2018 | wwtonline.co.uk Focusing on what matters to customers As UK water companies await feedback on their business plans for the 2020 to 2025 period, there are key opera- tional challenges for each of the 17 water and wastewater compa- nies. Ofwat asked each of the companies to produce plans that deliver more of what mat- ters to their customers, includ- ing affordable bills, great cus- tomer service, resilience in the round and innovation. The initial 17 proposals from the companies include a reduc- tion in daily household water to 119 litres per person compared with the current sector average of 141 litres, and a commitment from two companies to reduce leakage by more than 20 per cent, with a further 16 compa- nies committing to a 15 per cent reduction. These performance improvements come alongside a reduction in customer bills by most of the companies. Ofwat has now started the process of assessing these pro- posals and will categorise each company's plan according to the level of quality, ambition and innovation they have demonstrated. In the absence of • INSIGHT SMART TECHNOLOGIES Neil Croxton, Stantec's technical director – water distribution, on why it's not enough just to adopt new smart technologies this feedback, many of the UK water and wastewater compa- nies will require a step change in performance to meet their AMP7 commitments. Smart technologies Over the past several years, the industry has increasingly reached out to new technologies to address performance gaps and improve efficiency. With the increased focus on innovation and affordability, this trend is likely to increase. Across water network distri- bution systems, the use of smart technologies is becoming more prevalent. There is a drive to use data-driven technologies across networks and there is a growing array of operational technolo- gies (OT) that can be used to meet the challenges of a 21st century utility company. What are smart water tech- nologies? The Smart Water Net- works Forum (SWAN) defines smart water network technology as the collection of data-driven components helping to operate the data-less physical layer of pipes, pumps, reservoirs and valves. These technological solutions seek to improve the efficiency, longevity and relia- bility of the network by better measuring, collecting, analys- ing and acting upon a wide range of network events. However, experience in other sectors has shown that the adoption of smart technologies needs to be fully considered if the benefits proposed below are to be realised. From my own experience within the sector, many of the challenges associ- ated with realising the true ben- efits of smart networks result not from the technology itself but from how successfully the new technology is embedded by the organisation attempting to adopt it. So as water and wastewater companies reach out to embrace new and innovative operational technologies, it may be time to take a step back and seek to learn from other industries that have already taken the path to attempted performance improvement through the adop- tion of new data-driven solutions. Perhaps the most closely linked technological develop- ments in recent decades – which could provide insight into the successful adoption of opera- tional technology across water networks – come from the IT rev- olution. While the way we work and live has undoubtedly been influenced by IT, concerns remain in terms of its failure to deliver the expected benefits to both indus- try and to society in general. IT was once seen as a means of increasing productivity to the extent that we would have so much free time, we would not know what to do with it! I think it's fair to say that we are not quite there yet. So, whether the initial aspirational impact of IT was overplayed or it simply has yet to deliver such widespread changes, there is potentially a lot to be learnt when looking to adopt OT.