Water & Wastewater Treatment

www.wwtonline.co.uk | WWT | JANUARY 2015 | 5 Polluters pay Birmingham firm fined for metallic sewer discharges Severn Trent has successfully prosecut- ed a Birmingham firm for making illegal discharges into its sewer network. H&P Polishing UK Ltd of Tyburn Road, Bir- mingham was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay costs of nearly £4,000 in the case at Birmingham Magistrates Court on December 4th. They were found guilty of breaching limits relating to chromium and nickel in their trade effluent, contra- vening the Water Industry Act 1991, in the incident on 23rd January this year. CSO pollution leads to £4K fine for NI Water Northern Ireland Water has been fined £4,000 by magistrates a er a pump failure led to pollution in Dundrum Bay, County Down, in November last year. In a hearing at Downpatrick Magistrates Court, the utility pleaded guilty to breaching the conditions of a discharge consent in relation to the incident at Flynn's Wastewater Pumping Station, Dundrum, on 4th November 2013. Untreated sewage was observed flowing into the bay from CSO points in the area. The Northern Ireland Environment Agency traced the source of the pollu- tion to the station, where one pump was running but not pumping as a result of an airlock, while the other was out of action awaiting repair. EC takes Spain to court for wastewater failings The European Commission is taking Spain to court for failing to ensure that wastewater is properly treated. The re- ferral to the EU Court of Justice follows the country's slow progress in imple- menting stringent treatment measures to protect designated "sensitive areas" from pollution, including those areas where freshwater is abstracted for drinking water. Appropriate treatment is still lacking in areas such as Berga, Figueres, El Terri (Banyoles), all in Catalonia, and Pontevedra-Marín-Poio- Bueu, in Galicia. Under EU legislation, member states were required to put in place systems to protect sensitive ar- eas in 1998, and Spain was previously warned about its failure to implement these measures in 2003. Southern brings project design back in-house EA restocks Crane River a er pollution incidents The River Crane in Mid- dlesex has been restocked with thousands of fish as it continues its recovery from two serious pollution in- cidents. The Environment Agency - working as part of the Crane Valley Partner- ship – are seeking to restore the river's vitality following major sewage spills in 2011 and 2013. They released 2000 chub, 2000 dace, 2000 roach and 1500 barbel into the river. It is the first in a new 4-year fish stocking pro- Southern Water has an- nounced it is bringing out- sourced engineering teams back in-house for AMP6, rather than using partners to design its capital projects. Its engineering team will include civil, mechanical and electrical engineers, en- vironmentalists, modellers and hydraulics experts, and will be tasked with design- ing new projects. The team is expected to com- prise 200 people, with 120 employed by Southern Wa- ter and the remainder com- ing from strategic solutions partner MWH. The company is looking to source talent from a variety of sectors. All of Southern's AMP5 capi- tal projects were designed by external partners. Southern Water's chief engi- neer, Ian Kirkaldy, said: "By rebuilding our engineering skill-set we're able to take greater control. The current model perhaps relies too heavily on key decisions being made by suppliers. Changing the way we work will allow us to take owner- VOX POP "The reality is that the capital needs both the tunnel and sustainable drainage systems. It is not an either or choice, as other world cities such as Washington DC are already demonstrating." Andrew Mitchell, chief executive, Thames Tideway Tunnel "Looking forward to AMP6, we are progressing with the organisational changes required to deliver our plan... the enthusiasm and passion I am witnessing in our people gives me every confidence that we will hit the ground running on 1st April next year." Liv Garfield, Chief Executive, Severn Trent "The next regulatory period will place more emphasis on operational performance. Our significant improvements and the foundations we have built provide a solid platform for the future." Steve Mogford, CEO, United Utilities gramme, funded by Thames Water, which replaces one put in place a"er the first pollu- tion incident in 2011. That was caused by an illegal discharge of untreated sewage for which Thames Water was prosecut- ed and fined, but also made a voluntary £400,000 donation to the restoration effort. A first successful restock- ing took place in December 2012, but the benefits of this were wiped out when treated sewage sludge flowed into the river as a result of criminal damage to a pipe carrying the sludge between Thames Wa- ter's sewage treatment plants in Iver and Mogden. The cul- prits for the damage were never identified. ship of projects and make the key decisions. "We're recruiting across the board at all levels, from graduates and new starters to experienced senior man- agers to lead the teams. But recruiting engineers into the South Coast has never been easy, which is why we're really widening the net to parts of Europe, including Spain, where we've recently held a recruitment fair." Southern Water is develop- ing a training programme for new starters. This will be open to graduate trainees and will offer professional qualifications. Kirkaldy said: "Offering such training is an inherent part of build- ing our own in-house skills. It will help us become a sus- tainable business - these are our leaders of the future. "I have an ambition for us to be recognised as a lead- ing engineering organisa- tion. Our regulators will set us significant challenges in AMP6 and we need to be cre- ative and work differently." wwtonline.co.uk

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