Water & Wastewater Treatment Magazine
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/1062770
www.wwtonline.co.uk | WWT | JANUARY 2019 | 9 Effective longer-term planning will look at existing and future customer demand, to identify the right investment strategy to ensure security of supply in even the most extreme conditions. Resilience Planning (medium term) The medium-term plan covers all proce- dures, training and maintenance sched- ules to ensure everything works to plan when extreme conditions occur. A few key examples would be: Regular maintenance - Don't neglect your assets in 'peace time'. Regular maintenance is essential for ensuring as- sets are available when they are required, even at short notice. This is particularly important in relation to the availability of emergency assets that, while not used all the time, become essential in times of crisis. Why would you avoid replacing the batteries in your home smoke alarm when you know it could end up saving your life? Money spent looking aƒer emergency equipment could easily be the difference between being able to maintain supply in a fast escalating crisis or that supply fail- ing completely. Data - Investing in more network intel- ligence and sensors is all well and good, but for this data to be effective, it must be linked to triggers that instigate a response or escalation. It is not just taking each weather event in isolation, but learning what will be needed to mitigate the risk and modelling a response that is linked to a well-rehearsed plan of action. It is about understanding the environment you are in and how to manage the risks that the environment presents throughout the year, from the dry, high temperatures we experienced in the summer, to the freez- ing temperatures that hit earlier in 2018. Training - consider the manpower needed during a crisis situation. When the unforeseen happens, can you mitigate and flex the workforce? What are your mitigation options – do you have enough people with the right skills? Set up train- ing during quiet times. Manpower - Think about contractors and third parties, do you have the right agreements in place, can they help to sup- ply the people you need at short notice, and get them to deliver quality of service when you need it most? It is important to consider safety too. Overtime rates in a crisis period can be very lucrative but an overworked and tired team is not a safe one. How will you meet the need of increased demand without working your team into the ground? The 'Beast from the East' last year demanded a response from all water companies (pic: Northumbrian Water) Resilient Response When the worst happens, the long and medium-term resilience plans make it much easier to respond quickly and effectively in co-ordinated and prioritised manner. From a customer perspective, commu- nication channels need to be robust so that customers are kept informed and updated on how the recovery is going, when normal service will be resumed and how they can get support and advice e.g. bottled water. How resilient is the contact centre? Can you deal with the flood of calls and provide the right information first time around? Can you deploy social media channels to take away pressure from your contact centre? Do you know who your vulnerable customers are and how you can reach them? Be Prepared Like an army that never goes on exercise, it is much more difficult for water companies to prepare and effectively respond to an extreme event if it's people haven't been trained on how to handle one. We are used to seeing our emergency services carrying out training exercises - how about the water industry taking their scenario planning into the real world? That way they can see if the plans they have in place will actually work when called for.