Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 1sT - 7Th AUgUsT 2014 | 25 Operations & Assets serious message behind the quirky event. "We find all sorts of items at our sewage works which shouldn't have been flushed down the toilet – such as wet wipes – and visitors got to see the problems they cause." He said Wessex Water deals with about 13,000 blocked sewers a year, costing £5 million to clear. If you have an asset or project you would like to see featured in this slot, please send your pictures and details of the project to: paul.newton@fav-house. com or call 01342 332085 Pipe up Adrian Johnson I n 2012, in our State of the Nation: Water report, the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) called for prompt action to tackle the UK's water security. We made several recommendations for change, including the development of new water storage facili- ties, improved regulatory incentives for water sharing, and more collaborative investment in new infrastruc- ture. We also recommended the phased introduction of metering, with social tariffs to protect the poorest. We recommended that a UK Water Security Taskforce be created – to bring all these components together into an integrated strategy or "roadmap to water security". Two years on, there have been some welcome proposed changes to the abstraction licence regime and changes in the Water Act have rightly given Ofwat responsibility for prioritising network resilience. The recently created National Water Resources Group (NWRG), which provides a forum for stakeholders to consider the benefits of using alternative water resource and water management approaches, is also a step forward. But despite these steps, progress is slow. Our State of the Nation: Infrastructure 2014 report – which grades the UK infra- structure networks on capacity, performance and condition – rated our water infrastructure "B" or "adequate for now". Can we afford to have water infrastructure that is only adequate for now – what about the challenges ahead? As the government, regulators and water firms estab- lish the levels of resilience required for future scenarios, they should consider the interdependencies between water, food, energy and the environment and the varying needs from these users. We also need to increase our secu- rity of supply through better access to water resources, additional local storage and more flexible inter-company transfers to close the long-term supply and demand imbal- ance in some regions. And importantly, we need to pro- actively reduce all water uses and improve water conserva- tion to ensure we maintain a healthy water environment. Metering is one way to help the public place higher value on water. It will also enable water and sewerage companies to monitor leakage more effectively. Two things are clear: first, water is a complex sector requiring co-ordinated demand- and supply-side meas- ures to ensure resilience to extreme weather and to future social and environmental change. Second, the need for a proper integrated strategy or "roadmap" to drive change is becoming more pressing. ICE is confident the NWRG could establish and implement such a roadmap. Adrian Johnson, water expert, Institution of Civil Engineers "Water requires demand- and supply-side measures to ensure resilience to social and environmental change." "Can we afford to have water infrastructure that is only adequate for now?"

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