Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | MARCH 2023 | 37 Water will be a delicate but important task to help billpayers see where their money is spent and what value that brings to service and environment. 'National transformation' needed for blue-green schemes Customers will not be able to a ord the extra costs of urgent improvements to meet required environmental and service standards. That was the stark warning from one water company in a discussion around implementing nature-based solutions along- side traditional engineered infrastructure. Steve Wilson, managing director of waste- water services at Welsh Water, said deliv- ering the huge environmental programme a ordably was a huge challenge. He said if the company followed a techni- cally achievable approach to lower phospho- rus levels in waterways near small sewage treatment works there was "no way custom- ers are going to be able to a ord to pay". Welsh Water is opting for "an alternative way" to deliver improved performance in the face of changing climate and more billpay- ers on social tari s than ever before. This is through nature-based solutions, which deliver multiple bene• ts and open opportu- nities for co-funding with partners including agricultural land owners. Discussions over the two-day event piv- oted back to the mounting investment needs to meet environmental targets including phosphorus removal in waterways and to reduce reliance on combined sewer over- - ows (CSOs). These are anticipated to cost several multiples of previous environmental investment programmes and add consider- ably to business plans at PR24. Wilson said the board at the not-for-pro• t water company favoured blue-green solu- tions with multi-capital bene• ts and would not compromise on net-zero targets, so schemes needed to work to those goals. He said catchment solutions could o er customers better value by working with rural land users to minimise phosphorus and open up co-funding options but required - exibil- ity to enable more experimental schemes. "We need some help from regulators to make this happen," Wilson said. "We need some experimental powers to trial some of these approaches and recognise that a wet- land solution might take longer time to per- form. We need to recognise that spending customers' money on a catchment solution to get phosphorus out will be better for the long term and the quickest route to get rivers to the standards required." He said the approach could be applied to CSOs as well. "Spill numbers are an output, we should be focused on outcomes and the outcome is river water quality." John Russell, senior Ofwat director, added that the regulator was supportive of nature- based and catchment projects and "would love to see a lot more blue-green solutions". He stressed the bene• t of partnership working but warned: "One of the big chal- lenges is the time it takes to implement these things can butt up against compliance targets." Russell added that companies should waste no time in getting pilots up and run- ning to prove the viability to then roll out. What is the prescription for pharma pollution? The environmental side-e ect of pharma- ceuticals entering waterways was a topic discussed by Scottish Water's chief scientist, Elise Cartmell. She explained that over the past 15 years there has been a 40% increase in the num- ber of prescriptions issued in Scotland. The build-up of these pharmaceuticals in the environment impacts animal and human health including development of antimi- crobial resistance, which the World Health Organisation has declared to be one of the top 10 global public health threats facing humanity. "Our use of these chemicals to support and improve our health is closely coupled to the health of animals and our shared envi- ronment," she said. "We cannot keep uti- lising pharmaceuticals as our treatment of choice at the detriment of the environment." In a bid to tackle the problem, Scottish Water formed the One Health Breakthrough Partnership (OHBP) with health bodies, reg- ulators, academia and research groups. It raises awareness of the impacts of phar- maceuticals on waterways, biodiversity and the wider environment and is mapping the presence of substances in the water to plan e ective interventions. Through water quality monitoring upstream and downstream of wastewater treatment sites, in bodies of surface water it has identi• ed substances of concern ranging from well-known steroids oestrogen to anti- biotics, beta blockers and ibuprofen. "Some chemicals are e ectively removed through existing processes but others go right through the wastewater treatment systems," Cartmell explains. "These then have an impact on surface waters, the water environment and the wildlife dependent on that." All the drugs that GPs and hospitals can prescribe and use are on a formulas list based on clinical e ectiveness, as well as cost e ectiveness. The OHBP wants that list to also take into account the environmental impact of pharmaceuticals. A way of assessing the environmental impact of di erent substances is being devel- oped, while water quality testing is being undertaken to build a map of drug usage. Through this information, the group is creating a baseline of water quality infor- mation presented in an open data platform. This is then overlaid with maps of drainage and wastewater treatment catchment areas. "As we make interventions, we want to know where the problems are, where the hotspots are and are the interventions actually having any positive impact," Cartmell said. She explained that the work has already highlighted trends in usage – such as sea- sonal use of medicines to treat chest infec- tions and a drop-o of substances when people had less access to GPs during lockdown. Ruth Williams, water correspondent With thanks to our sponsors Headline sponsor Xylem Co-sponsor Innovyze Breakout sponsor Metasphere Conference and panel partner, Esmil Group "Spending customers' money on a catchment solution to get phosphorus out will be better for the long term and the quickest route to get rivers to the standards required." Steve Wilson, managing director of wastewater services, Welsh Water route to get rivers to the standards , managing director of wastewater services, Welsh Water

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