UTILITY WEEK | FEBRUARY 2023 |
5
KNOWLEDGE WORTH KEEPING
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Water sector faces a
deluge of challenges
This month's edition includes several deep dives into the challenges facing
water companies – from tackling sewer over ows and wastewater emissions to
the tests they will encounter over the next price control.
With public and political pressure continuing to mount, the sector knows it
has to innovate fast and • nd a compelling narrative to show it has the solutions
to overcoming these and other hurdles.
Transparency is key, although in the short term this will only increase the
pressure. In January, Thames Water became the • rst company to launch a near
real-time map showing sewer over ow spills across its entire region. On the
morning of writing this column (admittedly a er a sustained period of heavy
rain), the map shows a sea of red and yellow, with around 100 out of its 468
over ows having spilled within the past 48 hours – 40 of which were discharg-
ing as I watched.
Thames is far from alone in this situation and across England and Wales the
picture will look worse before it looks better. As our report on p10 shows, many
common challenges are being faced across Europe and there remain untapped
bene• ts in sharing knowledge and data across the globe to solve issues in our
back yards.
This international collaboration has resulted in some ground-breaking
research on reducing emissions from wastewater treatment, which is explored
on p8. The • ndings from Severn Trent and partners in Australia and Denmark
will be enormously helpful in measuring the true impact of emissions in waste-
water processing but they do make for worrying reading. Their conclusion that
potent greenhouse gases methane and nitrous oxide are "substantially" higher
than previously thought adds further complexity to the sector's ambitious net-
zero plans.
The industry has a more positive story to tell when it comes to sustainable
urban drainage (SuDS), as explored on p12. Defra's long-awaited green light for
a mandate on SuDS in all new developments is a landmark moment but much
more needs to be done to bring nature-based solutions into business as usual.
The regulator's approach to the next price control will be crucial here and as
we set out on p30 Ofwat has said it will support this "step change" by consider-
ing the societal and environmental bene• ts within business plans. How this
will work in practice is not entirely clear yet and a" ordability will inevitably be
a friction point as the companies begin to draw up their budgets for the second
half of the decade.
At this stage it seems unlikely PR24 will be a smooth ride, not that anyone
really expected that. The way water companies invest in their infrastructure and
their communities needs to evolve fast and that requires a joint e" ort by regula-
tor and regulated towards a common goal.
James Wallin, editor, jameswallin@fav-house.com
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