Water & Wastewater Treatment

The Public's View of a Changing Sector We are entering into a period of enormous change. The proposed Water Act, mandatory water meters, increasing customer choice and various environmental challenges are combining to create an uncertain future. Many of the proposed changes are being carried out in the name of the public interest, but how informed (or indeed interested) are the public? We commissioned a report in order to answer that question and help frame the debates that will be concerning the water sector in future months and years. View the report at www.talis-uk.com We have done the research... www.wwtonline.co.uk | WWT | JULY 2014 | 7 Comment A s a relative "newbie" to the water industry, or at least a fugitive from the energy industry, one of the most interesting and challenging aspects of my role has been to understand the way in which ooding occurs and impacts customers' lives. To say this area is complex, be that in terms of responsibilities, resilience levels or in fully understanding ooding mechanisms, is a gross understatement. Certainly over the last four years I have devel- oped a huge respect for the skills, knowledge and experience of the folk, both in the water industry and other key stakeholders, for the work they do in this area. In the region that we, Severn Trent serve, we have had two extremely dry years and two ex- tremely wet, which makes monitoring assets, pre- dicting weather e• ects on ooding and using data to develop sustainable solutions a pretty tough ask, as there is no xed baseline to start from. Add intense localised summer storms in to the mix and it just gets harder. But if it is chal- lenging for us, as experts, imagine what it feels like for those a• ected. The customer experience Following a particularly intense period of rain which a• ected one of the major cities in our region last year, I spent an evening with custom- ers whose houses were internally ooded up to the window sills – just about the most miserable experience imaginable for your home. I was with one of my technical managers and all the other key stakeholders were there or represented, including the local and county council, the property developer, Environment Agency and all of the relevant departments. None had done anything wrong, made a mistake or failed to discharge their responsibilities and all of them were sincerely and genuinely con- cerned for the plight of those a• ected. However, despite welcome clarity from the Pitt Review and clear guidelines and undertak- ings from each of the di• erent organisations, we found ourselves engaged in a mind-boggling conversation in a customer's wrecked front room. A conversation that covered asset resilience, design standards and maintenance schedules, none of which meant anything to the Lost in the fl ood The water industry needs to change the language it uses in fl ood communication with customers or it risks drowning out its own message. owner of the home we were in. Add to that a tangential conversation about how more property being built in the area might be a possible capacity investment trigger and, whilst the discussion amongst the professionals was technically correct, it was easy to see why the customers were le‰ feeling frustrated, confused, and worst of all frightened of this happening again and having nowhere to turn for help. Ultimately, of course, the cause was a freak summer storm, which from available data, exceeded all required design parameters for the drainage systems, but not necessarily "by a lot". And that, of course, was something the residents could understand, prompting the understandable and practical question about what investment might be needed to deal with the "not a lot" part of the discussion. However, as I have learnt, not all ooding is the same. Each event has its own speci c features and challenges. This particular storm came a‰ er a signi cant spell of dry weather which led to an overland ooding impact (as the water could not drain into the parched land). It meant that on this occasion, "not a lot" became "a heck of a lot" in terms of exceeding design standards, and this has no trigger for investment. Finding a new language So why is this story important? Because current models are predicting a huge increase in fre- quency and intensity of ood risk events. It is clear to me that as an industry we have a huge challenge ahead to work in partnership with other key stakeholders more e• ectively and to communicate with people at risk of ooding in a much clearer and more accessible way. Our industry is littered with jargon and statistical probability which simply does not allow our customers to feel informed enough to take action, and feel con dent of support in the event the worst occurs. We need to communi- cate di• erently, to make customers aware of the simple things they can do to minimise the risk to their property. Particularly if addressed on su" cient scale in dense urban areas, measures such as incorpo- rating drainage when paving over driveways and using water butts as temporary storage, could just make the di• erence, For us as professional organisations, working in partnership is key, understanding and disentan- gling our di• ering undertakings, combining our resources to get best outcomes for communities. We need to be working together e• ectively not just in emergency response, but on an ongo- ing basis, month-in, month-out. Partnership makes a great media headline but in reality it is about commitment of time and resource. I believe that as we step into AMP6, catchment management and partnership working, if cor- rectly approached with real conviction, will prove to be both a powerful and impactful part of our business strategy, o• ering great opportu- nities to think and act di• erently to support our customers and communities more e• ectively. Why would we not want to step into that space? SIMON COCKS WASTE WATER SERVICES DIRECTOR SEVERN TRENT WATER "Our industry is littered with jargon and statistical probability which simply does not allow our customers to feel informed enough to take action, and feel confi dent of support in the event the worst occurs... we need to communicate diff erently, to make customers aware of the simple things they can do to minimise the risk to their property" About the author: An electrical engineer by trade, Simon's background includes eleven years at London Electricity, and operations manager and technical services manager roles for the London Electric network. He joined National Grid in 2001, where he held a variety of roles, including starting up the telecommunications business creating opportunities to use National Grid's existing infrastr ucture, before returning to the engineering side of the business as operational planning manager. Simon then became commercial director before his last role as chief procurement offi cer. In June 2009 he joined Severn Trent Water as Waste Water Services Director.

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