Water & Wastewater Treatment

www.wwtonline.co.uk | WWT | MAY 2020 | 9 carbon, but at company level, delivering real impact. We were the rst water company in the UK to use 100 per cent of the sludge from our wastewater treatment to create energy via advanced anaerobic digestion (AAD), taking the sludge le• over once we have treated all the wastewater from customers' homes and businesses across the region, and turning it into energy. This is one of the ways that helped us reduce our own carbon emissions by 50 per cent since 2008, but more progress is needed rapidly. Clearly, for water only companies, a di„ erent approach is necessary. I have been impressed by Portsmouth Water's excellent work on production optimisa- tion. They have been targeting energy e‰ - ciency using advanced system controllers, which will help reduce carbon impact while also providing an opportunity to implement automated systems, allowing for improved e‰ ciency in the future. Yorkshire Water, one of the larg- est land-owning water companies with 28,000 Ha, recognised the opportunity this o„ ers to both carbon reduction and climate resilience, so they have been creating a cutting-edge tool with Ricardo to enable them to account for the carbon in our land to inform our future land man- agement decisions. From that baseline they can con- sider the impact of programmes such as planting one million trees and peatland restoration. They plan to use this tool to maximise the potential for carbon sequestration across their estate, and even further by working with other land owners and in- ' uencers through the new Yorkshire Land Anchor Network. The sector is also moving at pace when it comes to electric vehicles, both in terms of providing power that enables employees to make a change from petrol or diesel, by installing chargers at o‰ ces and treatment works, and also in terms of integrating EVs into ' eets. A lot of work is also being done to prove EVs can be cost competitive with diesels and to plot a route to broader deployment. We are aiming to have 100 electric vehicles by the end of the year and have committed to no new diesel vans by 2030. We are an industry that has been innovating for years and we are not beyond sharing ideas and successes. Other water companies are now using AAD – and our experts help by sharing their experiences. Our continued investment in renewable energy includes plans to put photovoltaic power into use on seven of our sites, building on our current portfolio of photovoltaics, hydro and anaerobic digestion. The challenge is to think not only of what the water companies can do, but what the water sector, its supply chain and customers can do as well. At the Paris United Nations Climate Change Conference or COP21, world lead- ers committed to "pursue e„ orts to" limit the worldwide temperature increase to 1.5 degree Celsius. Whilst this was not neces- sarily the strongest commitment made, it would only be achievable with urgent, transformative action to change the way we live, work and even play. As we approach the Glasgow United Nations Climate Change Conference or COP 26, now in 2021, the urgency and the necessity has only increased. The global political community has come to somewhat of a standstill in tack- ling this crisis, which gives all of us the potential and opportunity to demonstrate leadership. But more is required – much, much more. Unless we act now, the challenges we are already experiencing – as damaging as they are – will pale in comparison to those ahead if the world heats faster. The speed of action means we have to col- laborate and work together as a sector like never before. Northumbrian's AAD plant at Bran Sands Tee Port creates green energy by processing sewage sludge. NWG was the fi rst water company in the UK to fully recycle the materials that remain a er the sewage has been treated, in order to create renewable energy. "The speed of action means we have to collaborate and work together as a sector like never before." Heidi Mottram, chief executive, Northumbrian Water Group Onsite solar arrays at Northumbrian's Bran Sands plant. this o„ ers to both carbon reduction and climate resilience, so they have been creating a cutting-edge tool with Ricardo to enable them to account for the carbon in our land to inform our future land man- agement decisions. From that baseline they can con- sider the impact of programmes such as planting one million trees and peatland restoration. They plan to use this tool to maximise the potential for carbon sequestration across their estate, and even further by working with other land owners and in- ' uencers through the new Yorkshire Land Anchor Network. The sector is also moving at pace when it comes to electric vehicles, both in terms of providing power that enables employees to make a change from petrol or diesel, by installing chargers at o‰ ces Northumbrian Water Group

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