Water & Wastewater Treatment Magazine
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/1223154
www.wwtonline.co.uk | WWT | APRIL 2020 | 27 The beating heart of the water industry Whether it's helping the industry to achieve its net zero ambitions or clean up in the a ermath of Storm Dennis, pumps and valves have a key role to play in the sector. A lthough it may sometimes feel like the water sector is something of a behemoth, the truth is that it has always been a team sport, with many different companies and organisations working together. And aer one of the wettest winters on record, many wastewater operators will be taking a fresh look at their infrastruc- ture, which will no doubt include looking again at the role pumps and valves play in operations. This role has subtlety changed over the years and with data playing an increasing role in the utilities sector and the PR19 price determination period just around the corner, it is more important than ever that pumps and valves are properly maintained. "Pumps are quite literally the beating heart of the water industry, so it is vital that – along with valves – they are well maintained to be available when called into action," says Black & Veatch's global director of water technology, John Tat- tersall. "As we move from a challenging AMP to one that is likely to place even more pressure on water company funding, we will see the growth of lean reliability centred maintenance (RCM) programmes to ensure that availability. "Lean RCM focuses on what a process or asset is intended to do, identifying factors that stop the process or asset from delivering, then implementing steps to mitigate those factors; creating a condi- tion-based regime for asset maintenance. Reliability centred programmes developed by experts in the design and construction of water company assets will be the ones most swily able to optimise and enhance system performance," adds Tattersall. Fujitsu UK's chief digital officer for manufacturing and utilities, Graeme Wright tells WWT that if pumps are not maintained properly then overall perfor- mance will drop. "In a business where the main costs are people, energy and chemicals, and that energy is mainly consumed by pumps, it is very important to optimise every aspect of a key cost driver to the business," says Wright. "Ensuring that pumps are monitored on performance and maintained properly is ultimately fundamental to cost manage- ment as well as wider resilience and emis- sions obligations." Mick Dawson, a consultancy director at BHR Group, which earlier this year launched a soware programme called SLOT 2.0, which analyses sludge pumping systems, adds that maintaining pumps properly is "critically important" when considering Ofwat's objective of resilience in the round, which "means maintaining Pumps & valves: overview A BHR pumping station.