Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 15TH - 21ST NOVEMBER 2019 | 21 Operations & Assets S arco Stopper is an SME based near Edinburgh that designs and manufactures ow-stopping and bypass systems for distribution mains in gas, water, oil and other pipeline applications. "Bagging-o " technology for under-pressure applications was • rst developed in the UK gas sector by British Gas back in the mid-1970s and has remained the standard practice for repair and maintenance activities. Sarco and partner WASK pioneered bagging-o technology in the water sector with the development of "Aquastop" for water mains in 2000, and in 2007 the "Wizard" system for removing hydrants and lower pressure ow- stopping also became available. These systems enable work on mains and hydrant risers to be done under pressure, minimising the disruption to supplies, and avoiding depressurising and repressurising the main, with all the potential for knock-on leaks and other issues this can cause. Over the past 15 years the sys- tems have become mature. They have delivered on their key objec- tives and demonstrate that very signi• cant • nancial savings can be achieved compared with the costs of turning o control valves and supplies to customers, not to mention avoiding ever-increasing regulatory penalties. Several water companies have invested signi• cantly in Sarco equipment, with some adopting high-pro• le in-house delivery teams who report increased leak- age repairs undertaken with fewer customers disrupted – and Ofwat penalties avoided. Yet a' er 12 or 18 months, when it should have become established practice, the equipment is increasingly le' in store, with a return to shutting o valves and customer supply and using expensive specialist line- stopping companies. Other companies designing innovative inspection and repair techniques have had similar frus- trations and low utilisation fac- tors that just don't give justi• able returns on the time and costs of design, development and imple- mentation support activities. The availability of new "through bore" hydrants, which provide clear access through the hydrant into the riser and main below with minimal dig access, enable many of these techniques to be deployed, but are not always being selected because there is approximately a £20 dif- ference in cost over the traditional design, and this surely is a lost opportunity for future repair and maintenance activities. In our experience, the sale of our water systems to export markets delivers greater and ongoing utilisation compared with our experience in the UK, and those clients bene• t from ongoing • nancial savings and higher customer approval ratings – enhancing their brand image and also demonstrating water conservation commitments. We have guarded optimism that the approach of Ofwat chair Jonson Cox, and his past experience within the water company sector, will • nally see the new AMP7 challenges utilis- ing the now available innovative techniques to address the well reported high levels of continued water leakage and customer inter- ruptions and respect the serious warnings for meeting future water supply demands and the impacts on the environment. For more information visit: www.sarcostopper.com EXPERT VIEW BILL MENZIES, MANAGING DIRECTOR, SARCO STOPPER Will Wizard work magic in AMP7? Portsmouth Water: greater resource and smart tech Portsmouth Water is the UK's smallest utility by population served and operates among the shortest networks at 10,000km. The utility hit problems in the big thaw of Febru- ary 2018, recording leakage of 36Ml/d, signi• cantly above its Ofwat target for the year ending 31 March 2018. This led it to question if it would reach AMP6 tar- gets by the end of March 2020, so it injected signi• - cant new resource, including doubling spend on leak detection and repair. It's on course for leakage of 30Ml/day in the current year ending 31 March 2020. This would bring it in line with its AMP6 target and 18 per cent below the 2017/18 peak. The • rst move was to double its leak detection and repair operatives. Fixed acoustic loggers were also strategically installed and personnel deployed using mobile loggers. A big challenge is half its network is made of plas- tic, which acoustic technology functions poorly with, so it is investing in R&D. Its next step-change will be to develop its network models to function as live tools. "The model won't serve to pinpoint a leak down to 'dig a hole here', but it will tell you to go and look," says Jim Barker, head of leakage and smart networks. The company aims to score an additional win by calming the network to prevent bursts. Portsmouth's leakage reduction activity also sup- ports its increasing function as a bulk seller to neigh- bouring utilities in water-stressed areas. Thames Water: smart metering and systems thinking Thames Water owns arguably the most challenging network in the country for reducing leakage. The utility's leaks hit 690Ml/day in 2018/19, bust- ing its yearly Ofwat target by 12.7 per cent. It has sig- ni• cantly stepped up e orts to meet its 606Ml/day target this year. If achieved, it will equal a 12.2 per cent decrease on last year's actual leakage. This year's performance is doubly critical because it stands to in uence Thames's success in the next AMP cycle too. Ofwat has set a target of 25 per cent leakage reduction for Thames for the upcoming AMP7 (2020-25). The challenge is vast. Its network covers 32,000km of pipework and is the industry's oldest. The bigger wins for Thames are likely to be at a systems level. It is aiming to integrate siloed man- agement systems to provide a single view of network leakage. And it will begin what it believes is the world's largest smart metering programme. "Getting meters into properties is key because it will really allow us to understand where the leak- age is, so that we can target investment better and so that we can • nd and • x better with an operational response," says head of networks Tim McMahon. Liz Bury is a freelance journalist The full report Strategies and Solutions for Tackling Leakage is available exclusively to Utility Week subscribers at: utilityweek.co.uk

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