Water & Wastewater Treatment Magazine
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/1202034
14 | XXXXX 20XX | WWT | www.wwtonline.co.uk In Focus T he threat of shortfalls, particularly in the south, results largely from the dual pressures of climate change and population growth. Problems are exacerbated by creakingly-old infrastruc- ture in places. Utilities are adopting the twin approaches of managing customer demand, predominantly by installing meters, and building new infrastructure. At the same time, they are keeping an eye on their carbon footprints. United Utilities (UU) is spending £300 million on Thirlmere Transfer scheme aiming to secure supply into West Cum- bria with a new treatment works and pipeline from Thirlmere Reservoir. The infrastructure will form a core part of the company's Strategic Resource Zone (SRZ), one of the country's largest such zones, when it completes in March 2022. UU's Water Resources Management Plan 2019, which covers 2020 to 2045, notes "a very can elevate supplies by 200 metres from coastal areas in the south to chalk-lands in the north. The upgraded network is managed by an algorithmically-driven, real-time monitoring and control system known as 'the optimiser'. "At first our operators kept switching it off, thinking, 'this isn't doing what I would do. Over time, we convinced them - just because it stops pumping at what they thought was a key moment, it wasn't wrong. Actually it was saving energy by not pumping between 4pm and 7pm," says Martin Wood, grid design manager at Wessex Water. Such projects are vital to managing future supplies. But the bigger picture is that water companies want to collaborate on supply issues across company bounda- ries. Lesley Tait, water resources stake- holder lead at Thames Water, says: "We're looking at population now and in the Ensuring future water supplies The water sector is entering a period of greater focus on managing water resources as it seeks to ensure future supplies. Here, Liz Bury examines what some of the water companies are doing in this area. 14 | FEBRUARY 2020 | WWT | www.wwtonline.co.uk small deficit," in the SRZ for the five years ending 2045. The strategy to close this gap includes cutting leakage and reducing de- mand with a metering programme helped by television personality Gloria Hunniford "explaining the benefits for particular groups of customers," the company says. UU's WRMP19 also points to pockets of re- silience risk, which it will address through projects such as replacing sections of an aqueduct dating from the 1940s and sup- plying Manchester and the Pennines. Similarly, Wessex Water has invested to ensure supply. The company's licence to abstract from chalk streams in the north of its catchment was restricted from April 2018, while waters in its southern areas show high amounts of nitrates. The answer was a £230m project linking up previously separate parts of the network and establishing bi-directional trunk mains to effect bulk transfers. The system Wessex Water has invested to ensure supply. 14 | XXXXX 20XX | WWT | www.wwtonline.co.uk