8 | JANUARY 2019 | WWT | www.wwtonline.co.uk
Creating a resilient
response to extreme events
The Talk: opinion
W
hen Ofwat's review into the
water industry's response to the
Beast From The East landed in
July, it coincided with yet another period
of extreme weather, this time the hot
kind. It was hard to remember the shock
of the late, unexpected icy blast. As the
temperatures turn colder again and fore-
casters predict a hard winter, thoughts
turn again to contingency planning.
We can't control when extreme
weather events are going to hit, but with
the right planning and preparation we
can reduce the impact they can have.
Here are some suggestions for planning
an effective and resilient response when
the unexpected happens.
Resilience Strategy
The key to resilience is understanding the
risks within your operation and how they
Becoming more resilient
to extreme events such
as the Beast from the East
will require a mix of long-
term and medium-term
planning and activity
can be mitigated. Therefore, a resilient
long-term strategy should be based on
a sound understanding of the scenarios
that may present themselves during
extreme weather events and how your
assets can be best employed to overcome
or mitigate these risks.
Processes that are most likely to have
an issue are those with a single point of
failure. This is applicable, whether it's an
asset or component in a process, or a site
in a supply plan. What are these critical
points of failure, how can you remove or
strengthen them, and how can you miti-
gate them should the worst happen?
For some water companies, this means
investing in a grid network to increase
options for supplying customers. It is
oƒen the case that water companies have
enough water, but not necessarily in the
right places to meet customer demand.
JAMIE HARRISON,
SENIOR CONSULTANT,
EGREMONT GROUP
