Water & Wastewater Treatment

4 | June 2014 | WWT | www.wwtonline.co.uk Industry news June The Water Bill, granted Roy- al Assent in May and coming into force in 2017, will allow more businesses in England to choose their water suppli- er. More than a million Eng- lish firms will have a choice over water supplier, current- ly restricted to businesses consuming more than five million litres a year. Firms with multiple sites in Eng- land are expected to consoli- date business with one sup- plier to gain from economies of scale. The bill replicates in England reforms already brought in by the Scot- tish government where the non-domestic water market ● Competition starts in 2017 for the £2bn English water market ● More than one million English businesses to get choice Green light to competition from 2017 Contract Tracker Water main upgrade for Lagan The Lagan Construction Group has been awarded a £494k contract to up- grade the water mains at Altnagelvin, Co London- derry, northern Ireland. The contract is part of the second phase of northern Ireland Water's pro- gramme to improve water quality and supply across the province. The current framework is for five years with an estimated value of £75m. Anglian Water names AMP6 partners Anglian Water has named Balfour Beatty, Barhale, Grontmij, MMB (a joint venture of Mott MacDon- ald and Jn Bentley), MWH and Skanska as its capital delivery partners for a contract worth approxi- mately £1.3billion during AMP6. The procurement process builds on Anglian Water's existing @one Alliance. Black & Veatch has also signed a contract as a reserve partner. The new Integrated Main Works Capital Alliance will deliver the type of work previously undertaken by both the @one Alliance and Special Projects team and is characterised by its focus on 10 key outcomes such as satisfied custom- ers, a smaller carbon footprint and fair profits. opened to competition in 2008. Alongside market liber- alisation, the act also in- troduces measures to crack down on unsustainable ab- straction and make water trading easier and faster. The UK's water supply is at risk from unsustainable agricultural abstraction of rivers and ground water sources, particularly in the south and south east of the country. The Committee on Climate Change warned last year of a potential 120bn litre shortfall in water sup- plies for agriculture alone in the 2020s. Domestic and industrial demand is also set to grow with population increases. The Act will address this growing pressure on water resources and improve the resilience of the UK's water supply. "We are building a stronger, more competitive economy and our new re- forms to the water market will continue to support that long-term plan," said Owen Paterson, Environ- ment Secretary. Control of extraction is critical, says Dr Simon Festing, chief executive of the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management. "The environ- ment must be on an equal footing with economic and customer affordability con- siderations to ensure that it is protected when decisions are made," he said. The government hopes for similar results to those in Scotland where custom- ers have had an estimated £70m reduction in their bills saving some 16 billion litres of water. The water industry wel- comes the change. "The Act enables us to build on the success of the last 25 years by driving forward improve- ments for business custom- ers and the environment and boosting innovation and growth," said Pamela Taylor, chief executive of in- dustry body Water UK. wwtonline.co.uk 90% Southern Water's score in Business in the Community's 2014 Corporate Responsibility Index, an independent measure of corporate responsibility. Southern beat the national and utility sector average of 85% and its score gave it a ranking of three stars out of five, in an overall result where no company scored five stars. Anglian Water has refurbished 10 sludge collection tanks at its Pyewipe Water Recycling Centre in Grimsby, replacing existing Zickert sludge scraping equipment with new and upgraded Zickert equipment from Hydro International. The five-month project involved four intermediate sludge tanks 45m long by 11m wide and six final settled sludge tanks 55m by 11m. "We have also taken the opportunity to upgrade the failing electric vertical drive mechanisms by replacing them with hydraulically driven horizontal drives," said Anglian Water project manager Sean Rennie. www.wwtonline.co.uk | WWT | june 2014 | 5 Polluters pay Scottish Water fined for river pollution Scottish Water was fined £6,000 at Stir- ling Sheriff Court for causing untreated sewage to enter the Dragon Burn. Scottish Water pleaded guilty to allowing untreated sewage to enter a combined sewer and emergency overflow which subsequently discharged to the Dragon Burn, a tributary of the River Teith. The incident occurred in March 2012 and was investigated by the Scottish Envi- ronment Protection Agency. Investiga- tions showed the discharge occurred when both pumps at the sewage pump- ing station failed and the wet well filled resulting in a spill to the watercourse. Severn Trent Water fined over sewer pipe Severn Trent Water pleaded guilty at Telford Magistrates' Court to polluting the Pudding Brook in Cleobury Mortimer, Shropshire with untreated sewage. It was fined £7,500 and ordered to pay £2,232.60 in costs, along with a £15 victim surcharge. A Severn Trent Water camera survey found that an electric ca- ble had been installed incorrectly through the sewer pipe trapping debris leading to a blockage of the sewerage system. As a result sewage was flowing from a manhole into a drain and consequently into an adjacent stream. Severn Trent Water has re-trained staff and contractors to prevent a repeat of the problem. Northumbrian Water fined for discharge Northumbrian Water was fined £30,000 for two offences of discharging polluted matter into watercourses in 2013. The two cases were heard before Peterlee Magistrates' Court. The first incident af- fected Kyo Burn, the source of the River Team, south-west of Stanley, in June. Investigating officers found the burn had been affected by sewage from a blocked storm overflow on the Tanfield Trunk Sewer. A second pollution incident oc- curred in August in Bowburn Beck. ICE welcomes "water shares" Lanes' tramline sewer relining Lanes Group has been com- missioned to reline sewer pipes along the route of a tramline being constructed in Nottingham. The company's Reline Division has already used its trenchless pipe rehabilitation expertise to line 800m of foul water sewer pipe. Drainage infrastructure A "water shares" system, which would see all li- censed water extractors own a share in their local water catchment, could create a sense of mutual responsibility to preserve water supplies and incen- tivise trading of water dur- ing droughts, according to the Institution of Civil Engi- neers (ICE). In response to Defra's recent '"Making the Most of Every Drop'" consultation, which aims to reform the water abstraction manage- ment system, ICE said that meeting England's future water needs under current circumstances would be- come "increasingly chal- lenging" and agreed on the need for abstraction reform. ICE welcomes the con- cept of the "water shares" option put forward by De- fra which it believes could increase the value placed on water and help to bring about a more collabora- tive approach to managing catchments. These things should ultimately help make the water sector more resilient, argues ICE. Chair of ICE's Expert Wa- ter Panel, Michael Norton, said: "Water trading will require increased storage and interconnections. Water companies should be incen- WATER BILL "I am delighted that this new environ- ment is being created, it can only result in enhanced performance. Success will come, I suspect, from those organisations that dare to be different." Piers Clark, Commercial Director, Thames Water (see page 15) "Clearly it creates scope for change to the shape of the water industry in England" Clive Mottram, Head of water regulation, Eversheds (see page 11) "This is a new area of growth, allowing the two companies (Wessex and Bristol) to target potential clients." John Vinson, Managing Director, Water2Business (See page 47) is being upgraded as part of the project to build the 17 km Nottingham Express Transit (NET) Phase 2 tram extension. Chris Norbury, area devel- opment manager for Lanes Group's East Midlands depot in Derby, said: "We've com- pleted four separate reline projects. So far, we've used a cure in place pipeline (CIPP) technique on pipes ranging in diameter from 225mm to 600mm." wwtonline.co.uk tivised through the regu- latory regime, to develop multi-use water resources which benefit society, the environment and industry." ICE also urges Defra to push ahead with a proper strategy or "roadmap", which sets out the objec- tives for the UK's water resources and how these benefit society, the economy and the environment. "While ICE supports the concept of abstraction li- cence reform there is still no overarching water security strategy," warned Norton. "Abstraction licence re- form would form a part of an overarching strategy – how- ever, without this strategy there is a risk that abstrac- tion reform will progress in isolation and not account for other aspects of improving the UK's water security, such as increased water storage, interconnections and de- mand management." ICE's "State of the Na- tion: Infrastructure 2014 report" – a 'scorecard' style report grading each of the economic infrastructure net- works – will be published this month (June). It will set out more recommendations for the UK's water sector ahead of the May 2015 gen- eral election. wwtonline.co.uk Correction Alpha Plus Ltd have asked us to point out that the image used on page 3 and 19 of the May issue of WWT shows Alpha Plus pipes at the Peacehaven WwTW

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