Water & Wastewater Treatment

Industry news April Interim chief executive of Northern Ireland Water, Sara Venning, has pointed to a more engaged role for the customer in the next regula- tory cycle in the province. Speaking at WWT's annual Water NI event in Belfast in February, Venning said, "We need to hear from the customer, understand from them what they want," she said, adding that the util- ity "wants customers to have implicit trust in us." Taking up the theme, Aod- han ODonnell, interim chief executive of the Consumer Council said, "For the „ rst time we have direct evidence of where consumers are most ready to contribute." NI Water's director of „ nance and regulation, Ronan Lar- kin, highlighted the utility's successes, which include very high drinking water ● NI Water becoming customer focussed ● Utility homing in base maintenance in PC15 Record-breaking pumps ordered for Hull A contract for the design, manufacture and installa- tion of one of the world's largest Archimedes screw pumping stations (PS) for stormwater has been won by Spaans Babcock. The specialist pump company has been awarded the multimillion pound or- der, for a surface water PS in Hull, by Black & Veatch, which is Yorkshire Water's Water NI: customer moves centre-stage Contract Tracker Flood defence bidders battle it out Five bidders will go head- to-head for the Environ- ment Agency's (EA) £485M fl ood defence contract in the Thames Estuary. The contract is for the Thames Estuary Phase 1 pro- gramme, which includes projects to maintain, refur- bish, and replace Thames tidal defences in London and the Estuary over a ten- year period. The shortlisted bidders are: • Jacobs • CH2M Hill • A Morgan Sindall and Grontmij joint venture • Vision4TE, a Volker Stevin and Mace joint venture, with Atkins as strategic sub- consultant • CCU Alliance, a Cos- tain, Capita and URS joint venture Giant coupling contracts are world's largest Contracts to supply some of the largest couplings in the world to some of the largest desalination plants under construction have been won by Piedmont Pacifi c Corp, which was acquired by California-based H2O Inno- vation in December 2013. Piedmont specialises in the manufacture of fl exible pipe couplings for corrosive environments. The contracts include desalination plants in Sorek in Israel, the US's Carlsbad plant, Fujairah's latest expansion (UAE) and Sadara in Saudi Arabia. quality, a record low in pol- lution incidents and highest ever wastewater compliance. He said that going forward the main challenges for the utility were rising energy prices, higher environmen- tal standards, increasing customer expectations and maintaining service dur- ing extreme weather events. Director of regulation at the NI Utility Regulator, Jo As- ton, praised the utility for its successes and acknowledged that the economic regula- tory framework had played its part. She said that the company is "homing in on base maintenance" in PC15. Aston also stressed the importance of data and evidence to support the investment programme. "To in• uence you need evidence," she said. NI Water will submit its business plan on 24 March and the proposals will be shared publically in June. The „ nal strategy will be release in December 2014. Over 200 delegates at- tended Water NI and had a "sneak preview" of the utility's strategic out- look a possible £990M in- vestment cycle in PC15. A unit similar to those ordered for Hull leaves Spaans' factory for a pumping station in Paris principle contractor for the project. Once refurbishment is completed, it is believed Bransholme surface water pumping station will be the largest capacity screw PS in the world for stormwater pumping. The company will install eight screw pumps in the new pumping station, two duty screws of 2.1m-diameter and six stormwater screws, each of which are 3.75m- diameter and over 20m in length, the longest ever pro- duced by Spaans. Each unit weighs over 55 tonnes. 15,000 is the number of homes the Government intends to build in a new 'Garden City' for Ebbsfl eet on the Thames Estuary in Kent. The government has yet to state w hether the plans take account of fl ood risks in the area a er Ebbsfl eet was designated an area of high fl ood risk in 2009. According to the Environment Agency, there are 1,282 properties currently at risk from fl ooding in the region. "For the fi rst time we have direct evidence of where consumers are most ready to contribute" 6 | APRIL 2014 | WWT | www.wwtonline.co.uk The Right Stock We stock what you need FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT www.burdens.co.uk At Burdens, we know that our customers need to be able to take for granted that their materials will be on-site and ready to use in line with their project plans. We have to understand their projects, carry a comprehensive range of stock and schedule deliveries to make this happen. Specialists in Below Ground Drainage for Civils and Utilities J13-096 Burdens_adverts for WWT_210x297_v05.indd 2 11/02/2014 17:15

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