Water & Wastewater Treatment Magazine
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The Works: Fat, oil and grease There have also been two short Un ushables lms, which bear the in uence of TV classics such as Thunderbirds, as well as a free app for children in which items appear – either pee, poo and paper or a variety of 'Un ushables' – and the user has to swipe them into the toilet or bin. The company has also worked with a communications consultancy, Corporate Culture, to sharpen its understanding of how to shape public opinion and now has its own insight department, which is helping to reveal information about how people think and how to in uence behaviour. For example, amid the Blue Planet II-inspired concern over plastics' impact on the sea, Southern Water's messaging now serves to highlight the presence of plastics in wet wipes and female sanitary products. "One sanitary pad equals four plastic shopping bags," Gabos says. "When people look at that image, they suddenly connect plastic with the Un ushables." The project is delivering results. According to Southern Water's own research, customer awareness of issues around FOG and un ushable items has risen from 69 per cent to 76 per cent over the last three years. More signi cantly, despite an increase in both population and wet wipe usage, the number of sewer blockages has fallen more than 25 per cent to 17,000 per year. The project also won the Sustainable Use of Natural Resources prize at the 2019 FOOTPRINT Awards, which recognise sustainability and responsible business practice in the foodservice sector. "When it comes to stopping blockages, education is at the core," Williams says. ™ TOWARDS ZERO POLLUTION Southern Water has set a target of zero pollution by 2040. While education is a major part of that, it is clear that the company cannot achieve its ambition solely by raising awareness. In 2018, the company's pollution performance deteriorated, including three more serious pollution incidents than in the previous year. As such, it has put a Pollution Reduction Plan in place, including the development of a dedicated Pollution Task Force as part of its Environment+ programme. "Our run-rate in terms of pollution is not in the right place," Nick Mills, Southern Water's head of asset performance, says. "We've got some pretty he y targets, which led us to design quite an intensive programme." The Pollution Reduction Plan, which was reviewed by the Environment Agency, identifi es which sites have the highest potential environmental impact so that the company can prioritise its eff orts. It also seeks to improve the culture of the organisation to ensure that every member of staff knows the appropriate response when incidents are reported. "That cultural change is happening," Mills says. While the company plans to use predictive analytics and automated control of its sewerage network as standard by 2040, Mills stresses that many sites currently have the technology required to deliver immediate improvements. "The big focus is on the sites that have got telemetry already," Mills adds. "We've got alarms on pumping stations and treatment works. Really there should be no excuse – we shouldn't have pollutions on those assets and we still have, so a lot of the focus is on how we get those down. "It's not just about the asset failing, it's about how the asset's failed, how we're maintaining it, how we're investing in it, how we're looking at the data that comes from it. The focus starts with prevention, then detection, then response, and that process is starting to reap some results. The trends are suggesting the number of events is going down." 20 | SEPTEMBER 2019 | WWT | www.wwtonline.co.uk FOOTPRINT Awards, which recognise sustainability and responsible business practice in the foodservice sector. "When it comes to stopping blockages, education is at the core," Williams says. "It's top of the tree. When this project started, we said we'd see a mushroom cloud eš ect – there'll be a little explosion and then a lot of fallout. "We're at the stage where we're starting to get the fallout and the message is getting out there – if it doesn't go in the sewer, it doesn't cause us a problem and we can prevent all those spills and pollutions from aš ecting the environment." Stephen Williams will be speaking on the future regulatory landscape for FOG at the WWT Wastewater 2020 Conference & Exhibi- tion on 28 January in Birmingham. For more information, visit https://event.wwtonline. co.uk/wastewater The FOG and Unfl ushables team have played a major role in reducing blockages