WET News

AUGUST 2014 WET NEWS 3 L abour plans to put the UK's long-term infrastructure needs centre stage are ex- pected to address crucial water and wastewater issues that the normal parliamentary cycle has hampered. Party leader Ed Miliband has endorsed last year's Armitt Review proposal for a National Infrastructure Commission, should Labour form the next government. Sir John Armitt, the former chairman of the London Olym- pic Delivery Authority, said in his review last September that the UK could not "dodge" the need to adapt its inherited infra- structure or the critical impor- tance of investing for the future. Armitt speci† cally men- tioned the need for ‡ ood defences that could cope with the eˆ ects of climate change and he said the struggle to deliver the necessary investment had E cho Managed Services is de- livering contact manage- ment, billing and collection management services to NI Water for the next seven years. The deal, worth about £27M, has an option to extend for up to ten years. Under the contract Echo is providing NI Water customers with improved access choices by expanding and enhancing the Labour plans National Infrastructure Commission ' Party proposes an independent infrastructure commission if it wins the next General Election, but CECA says this should happen no matter who is successful. NI Water appoints Echo for contact management range of contact channels, mak- ing it easier for customers to get in touch when they need to dis- cuss their accounts. Echo's RapidXtra billing sys- tem, as well as a suite of state of the art innovative contact man- agement technology, is providing a full range of multi-channel cus- tomer services Sara Venning, chief executive of NI Water, said: "Being water industry specialists Echo under- stand the regulated environment in which we operate and the expectations of our customers. Echo is an innovative partner that shares our passion for continually improving the service we provide to our customers." led to water shortages. Other issues raised, which the new body could address, were the fragility of the UK's water supply highlighted by two recent droughts, water industry frag- mentation and a blurring of accountability and the need every ten years for a National Infrastructure Assessment look- ing at requirements over a 25-30- year horizon. Alasdair Reisner, chief execu- tive of the Civil Engineering Con- tractors Association (CECA), said: "It's something we are strongly supportive of because, in essence we have for many years been talking about the need, not to depoliticise infra- structure, but to provide a long- term vision of the infrastructure the country needs that steps out- side the normal parliamentary cycle. "Too oŸ en we see plans for infrastructure withdrawn around the time of, or just aŸ er, an election as one government seeks to diˆ erentiate itself from its predecessor so it is hugely damaging for industry and makes it di¢ cult for our mem- bers to make long term strate- gies and plans to develop their businesses." Reisner said the model for an independent infrastructure com- mission was "pretty much an essential" in the next parliament regardless of who won the Gen- eral Election. "If we don't do something about this, the problem will only get worse so we recommend that a body with a strategic oversight with a long term need for infra- structure is something the gov- ernment of the day should be considering putting in place," Reisner said. YOU WHAT? REALITY CHECK ' The new body could address the fragility of the UK's water supply ' Britain's "creaking business infrastructure" is the result of short-term thinking and constant U-turns by politicians, says BCC ' The water sector saves £1B a year on infrastructure expenditure ' The Environment Agency is committed to achieving cost reductions on flood defences of 5% by 2014/15 ' 12% of infrastructure expenditure has been saved on flood defences, according to the Treasury It will be easier for NI Water customers to discuss their accounts WET News is registered at Stationers' Hall. Origination by Faversham House Group, and PH"Media, Roche, Cornwall. Printed by Buxton Press, Palace Road, Buxton, Derbyshire, SK17 6AE. Copyright 2014. Faversham House. No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior written permission from the publishers. Every e™ ort is made to ensure the accuracy of material published in WET News. 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Editor Maureen Gaines: maureen.gaines@fav-house.com Production editor Mike Smith: mike.smith@fav-house.com Ad sales Deborah Lilley: deborah.lilley@fav-house.com Classifi ed sales Stephanie Lewis: stephanie.lewis@fav-house.com Team administrator Clare Klos: clare.klos@fav-house.com Production controller Sharon Miller: sharon.miller@fav-house.com Publisher Angela Himus: angela.himus@fav-house.com Published by Faversham House Ltd, Faversham House, Windsor Court, Wood Street, East Grinstead, West Sussex, RH19 1UZ Call: 01342 332000 Publisher's note: This issue includes editorial photographs provided and paid for by suppliers. 1yr: UK £99 Overseas (airmail) £113/$198 2yr: UK £171 Overseas (airmail) £199/$349 Call: 020 8955 7045 Email: fhcustomerservices@ abacusmedia.com SUBSCRIPTIONS: ONLINE: Search WET News' archives for more jobs, news, features, products and services, events and training courses. www. wwtonline.co.uk WET NEWS Average circulation Jan-Dec 2013: 6,110 British Water and Wessex Water Innovation Exchange "I went on Google a couple of days ago and I put in 'innovation de¨ nition'. I got a response that had 68 million answers. I'm not suggesting there's 68 million di™ erent de¨ nitions, but I don't think there's 68 million answers all saying the same" Paul Mullord, UK director, British Water "Introducing a wastewater meter, that's a really interesting one for us going forward" David Elliott, director of environment and assets, Wessex Water "We won't achieve the outcome unless we look at ways of innovating. That really is what is driving innovation" David Elliott "We monitor to every nth detail what's going on with our above ground assets, but our below ground assets are largely blind to us in terms of how our services are provided" David Elliott

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