WET News

T he shortlist has been unveiled for the Water Industry Awards, the dedicated awards scheme for the water industry organised by WWT and WET News. The annual awards, being held for the 13th•time, celebrate excellence in the sector, with the winners announced at a glittering black-tie dinner at Hilton Birmingham Metropole on 20 May 2019. There are „ ve new categories this time around, recognising consultants, water retailers, o… site manufacture, and water and wastewater innovation projects. The 2019 awards are sponsored by Galliford Try, Marshalls CPM, nmcn and Weholite. Find out more and book your table now at waterindustryawards.co.uk Water Industry Awards 2019 shortlist announced wwtonline.co.uk | APRIL 2019 WET NEWS 3 WET News is registered at Stationers' Hall. Origination by Faversham House and TR Clash Ltd. Printed by Buxton Press, Palace Road, Buxton, Derbyshire, SK17 6AE. Copyright 2019. Faversham House. No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior written permission from the publishers. Every eŽ ort is made to ensure the accuracy of material published in WET News. However, Faversham House will not be liable for any inaccuracies. The views expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of the editor or publishers. The text and cover paper are manufactured from certi' ed sustainable sources and are produced with reduced environmental impacts via a recognised and independently audited management scheme. Technical articles of full page, or more appearing in this journal are indexed by British Technical Index. © 2019 Faversham House Ltd. ISSN 1364-4513 1yr: UK £127 Overseas (airmail) £141 2yr: UK £227 Overseas (airmail) £255 Tel: 01342 332031 Email: subscriptions@fav-house.com Search WET News' archives for more jobs, news, features, products and services, events and training courses. wwtonline.co.uk WET News is a member of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (which regulates the UK's magazine and newspaper industry). We abide by the Editors' Code of Practice and are committed to upholding the highest standards of journalism. If you think that we have not met those standards and want to make a complaint, please contact the editor. If we are unable to resolve your complaint, or if you would like more information about IPSO or the Editors' Code, contact IPSO on 0300 123 2220 or visit www.ipso.co.uk Average circulation: 6,110 Editor James Brockett: jamesbrockett@fav-house.com Deputy editor Robin Hackett: robinhackett@fav-house.com Sales Manager South/Global Michael Butcher: 01342 332073 michaelbutcher@fav-house.com Sales Manager North/Midlands Judith Eastham: 07733 232418 juditheastham@fav-house.com Classifi ed sales Mark Scott: markscott@fav-house.com Production controller Sharon Miller: sharonmiller@fav-house.com Publisher Angela Himus: angelahimus@fav-house.com Published by Faversham House Ltd, Faversham House, Windsor Court, Wood Street, East Grinstead, West Sussex, RH19 1UZ Call: 01342 332000 How Twitter reacted to the proposals to hold utilities responsible for potholes for ' ve years We'd support utility companies being better held to account for poor road repairs that cause #potholes, but that doesn't solve the problem of decades of underinvestment in local roads. #FillThatHole @WeAreCyclingUK Very targeted at utilities. Why do we get potholes in motorways? @AnitaSo89632618 Bring on the litigation about which utility ' rm is at fault. Great time to be in arbitration @Fletchbar Genius! Not!! Every councillor dealing with pothole complaints knows that failed utility company remediation is a major cause. What has taken Grayling and DfT so long to do something about it? Fear of utility company shareholders? @CllrBobBarr I'd estimate 75% of potholes are caused by utility works not being up to standard so this would go a long way to improving the condition of our roads @rgdavies Mott MacDonald joins up with Microso to deliver smart infrastructure platform implementing that technology to improve people's lives through better decision- making today," MicrosoŒ 's Trudy Norris-Grey said. Mott MacDonald's Oliver Hawes added: "Smart infrastructure combines deep domain knowledge, digital technology and outcomes-based thinking to turn data into meaningful information that reveals new insights and empowers decision- making to generate much better results. "It is vital that smart infrastructure delivers social, economic and environmental bene„ ts for society, as well as investment return for businesses." Moata is already being used in New Zealand to help Auckland City Council better engage with those who wish to use its beaches by improving the accuracy of water quality predictions and the associated public health risk from less than 20 per cent to greater than 80 per cent. The city-scale digital twin represents the real-time interaction between atmospheric conditions, the urban stormwater and wastewater networks, and the marine environment. Tom Joseph, head of asset performance optimisation at Mott MacDonald, told WET News: "Our teams are supported by world-class systems including our Moata smart infrastructure digital twin platform, which enables the integration of asset data, including live operational performance, with forecasts and analytics such as hydraulic network modelling to develop predictive digital twins and undertake scenario testing." The SafeSwim project in Auckland covers 200km of coastline and around 900km of trunk sewers, combining seven di… erent analytical models, including network hydraulics and coastal dispersion modelling, with social media feeds and live operational data into a single twin. "It processes over a billion data points every day and coordinates third-party modelling to deliver real-time water quality insights to both the asset owners and the public," Joseph added. "The system is now driving optimisation of operational costs during commissioning and operations and has enabled Auckland to prioritise its capital budget by virtually trialling proposed solutions and simulating their performance in the digital twin environment, leading to $400m additional funding on infrastructure to improve water quality." M ott MacDonald and MicrosoŒ have teamed up to create a cloud- based smart infrastructure platform that makes use of asset performance modelling, advanced analytics and arti„ cial intelligence. It aims to help asset owners, cities and governments improve decision-making and asset management, and better understand where investments should be made. The collaboration will use technology and cloud computing capability, with MicrosoŒ Azure's continuous multi-layered security, to enable bene„ ts to be realised and shared at scale. As part of the partnership, Mott MacDonald will move its cloud-based analytics and digital twin platform – named Moata – to Azure. "This is the „ rst time MicrosoŒ has partnered with a company like Mott MacDonald, which is not only leading the way in developing smart infrastructure but is actually WET News editorial board members: Ian Small (AECOM) Andrew Ross (Amey) Andrew Cowell (BIM4Water) Mark Kaney (Black & Veatch) Ronan Clancy (Clancy Docwra) Maxine Mayhew (Costain) David Beaty (Kier) Andy Brierley (Lanes Group) Tim Sargent (Morrison Utility Services) Stuart Rothery (Murphy) Mark Hanrahan (nmcn) James Stonor (Stonbury) Tim Bullen (Trant)

• Cover