Water & Wastewater Treatment Magazine
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www.wwtonline.co.uk | WWT | FEBRUARY 2018 | 19 I N A S S O C I A T I O N W I T H A er 30 years of a pre y similar business model, it's me to look at alterna ves. II "Young people will be a racted to a great technical industry, not a red u lity that merely manages assets and is self- congratulatory." But even if companies adequately address the skills gap, Smith believes that a major barrier for innova on lies with the regulator. "I am not confi dent that the current regulatory models across water truly encourage suffi cient innova on to tackle future infrastructure challenges," he says. "Price and compliance at minimum cost with old reliable suppliers is unfortunately s ll the name of the game. C-Mex [Ofwat's customer measure of experience] is interes ng but we're s ll awai ng details to see what this will really mean for the sector." Barker agrees that current regulatory models can be restric ve but believes there is also room for companies to collaborate more as a means of driving innova on and best prac ce. "Ofwat o en talks about wan ng all companies to be in the upper quar le, which is nonsense, but there is defi nitely scope for companies to learn more from each other," he concludes. "I work interna onally so I know there's a lot that can also be learned from other countries. Unfortunately, there's an arrogance in the UK that we have nothing to learn from others. That's just not the case." A COMMUNITY FOCUS "For Wessex Water, this is an opportunity to make our services much more community focused and focussing on a greater use of markets in those communi es," says David Ellio , group director, strategy and new markets, Wessex Water. "For example, if farming can improve water quality cheaper than we can do it, then we should be contrac ng them to help improve water quality." Wessex Water's open system model is predicated on the concept of opening up regulated infrastructure. In a catchment "market", investors and effi cient infrastructure providers can bid to deliver a wider set of catchment outcomes such as fl ood allevia on and management, waste recycling or recycled water systems to reduce the burden of a growing pressure on resources. "Eff ec vely we are crea ng a market around the water system, rather than just thinking of our business as a water u lity," explains Ellio . "That will deliver be er outcomes at poten ally lower costs. Some of those outcomes deliver wider benefi ts than just improved water quality. Farming, for example, improves land management and water quality but it can also benefi t biodiversity and reduce soil runoff into rivers. There are a whole series of other benefi ts that come from looking at these services in a very diff erent way." The company's open system model is largely driven through the adop on of more digital solu ons. Ellio says this is about how the company uses data and then puts that informa on out into the marketplace to allow other stakeholders to develop new ideas and ways to deliver diff erently. "For example, if one of the drivers is water effi ciency, can we u lise data from consumers who use in-house devices like Nest? We can see this expanding into water consump on in the home," adds Ellio . "This could provide an alterna ve approach to investment in smart metering as a means of fi nding out what is driving customers' needs around water use. There's a lot of opportunity for informa on gathering." TACKLING LEAKAGE Driving effi ciencies through be er use of data and smart technologies will also be key to reducing leakage across the network. Leakage reduc on has become a thorny issue that is o en used as a barometer for the sector, but Ellio believes the current focus is misplaced. "We really need to take the discussion back to what we're fundamentally trying to achieve through leakage reduc on – it's about reducing the amount of water that we abstract from the environment," he says. "We should be looking at measures around smart water resource, driving the effi ciency challenge through be er use of smart data and looking at a more modular approach to asset investment. It's crucial to grasp these more modern approaches." REGULATION CONCERNS But with these more fl exible and diversifi ed approaches, Ellio insists that a "one-size-fi ts-all" approach to regula on will be problema c, especially as more companies transi on to use of catchment markets. "Businesses will be at diff erent stages of evolu on, so the way in which Ofwat adapts to that will be increasingly important," he says. "The sector is changing; it has to change. Determining the future based on the past is becoming increasingly diffi cult. A er 30 years of a pre y similar business model, it is me to look to an alterna ve model that is fi t to tackle the challenges of the future."