Water & Wastewater Treatment

www.wwtonline.co.uk | WWT | OCTOBER 2014 | 7 Industry leaders Mark Lane Chairman, British Water "You can live in a world without gold, diamonds and oil, but you cannot live without water" M ark Lane is among the world's foremost thinkers on water and wastewater regulations, with disruptive, futuristic ideas about our most precious resource. Global risk from peak water, water scarcity, homegrown challenges and the UK's ageing water infrastructure occupy his mind today. To fix these, Lane advocates not rushed overhauls, but assessment criteria. But today's science remains challenged, with no national or global metric to ease its use. "In terms of UK water infrastructure, one of the key elements to look at is lifecycle assess- ment (LCA), across all the elements including pipes, pipework, pumping stations, you name it," he begins. "Without benchmarks on this there's a lack of the hard evidence to tell us what we need to be doing. LCA science is developing all the time and for it to reach critical mass there may be a need for standardisation by way of some form of certification." Whether this is national, international or at EU is level is harder to say. But regardless of LCA, much of the UK's water runs through lead or iron pipes and leaking, resource intensive engineer- ing. By definition something that's underground is hard to fix, but for Lane that's no excuse for unsustainable inaction. "We as a nation have experience in this area dating back to 1858, around the time modern sewerage development started in London. Now, with 150 years of knowledge we shouldn't dis- miss our strengths." Innovation and catalysing change Strengths there may be, but Lane knows world- wide water companies are struggling with the best ways to innovate. UK innovation has histori- cally been slow. The secret to solving this will be in discovering and growing the right technology to effectively answer the call. "The arguments for technological innovation are strong," he explains. "The internet of things can help with this race for innovation. Automat- ed devices can read meters, and automatically transmit that via the net. "That immediately saves time, jobs, carbon from transport to read meters, and money. Being adaptive and creative is the secret to how we can change ageing infrastructure in a way that also helps grow a green economy." In this new world, self-powered useful devices, or SPUDS, come to the rescue. These increasingly ni"y tools use solar power, specifi- cally matched to their low energy needs. Running from indoor light, tomorrow's meters might report by themselves, setting off net-based charging for water. Legions of vans and workers would be freed to take on other tasks. Crucial too is a meaningful dialogue with SMEs. "The water utilities need to engage with them because these are the people with the ideas. There are lots of young firms with interest- ing tech." says Lane. He points to numbers in a recent UKWRIP re-

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