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In partnership with Utility Week, the Institute of Water runs a talent recognition scheme called Rising Stars. As well as giving a profile to individuals who have shown potential and appetite to pro- gress in the water industry, the Rising Stars programme offers them opportunities for profes- sional development and the chance to attend key industry conferences. Winners in 2014 ended the year attending a dinner with Martin Baggs, chief executive of Thames Water. David Bell, a chartered civil en- gineer at URS, is a 2015 Rising Star. He talks to Utility Week: Why did you want to work in water? I first became involved in the water industry when I joined Ferguson McIlveen Consulting Engineers as part of the Quest Scholarship Scheme. My early experience was focused on reservoir and drain- age infrastructure schemes. People & Opinion Utility Week community Rising stars David Bell, chartered civil engineer, URS I was fascinated with the aspects of reservoir design and in a short space of time acquired a range of knowledge in the design, inspection, refurbish- ment and supervision of res- ervoir-related works. My early project experience included the design of two rock-fill embank- ment dams with a combined length of 600m to raise the top water level of an existing resource by 4.5m. I later became heavily involved in a scheme to refurbish the valve tower facility at 23 reservoirs. What's your career ambition? My career ambition springs from my time assisting the All Reservoirs Panel Engineer on inspections to identify reservoir maintenance and safety issues. I now aim to become an All Reser- voirs Panel Engineer. The role of the inspecting engineer in iden- tifying maintenance and safety issues affecting the integrity of a reservoir is crucial. What do you think is the big- gest challenge facing the UK water industry today? Ensuring water is better appre- ciated within our society. Inef- ficient water usage is a major stumbling block to supply secu- rity and this boils down to water being vastly under-appreciated. We must encourage sustain- able water usage by educating the public on the processes that ensure clean water continues to the come to their taps. This, alongside developing more inno- vative ways of capturing, treat- ing and distributing water will leave the water industry in a much stronger position. What have been the best moments of your career to date? I have had many positive expe- riences so far and have ben- efited from being extremely active within the Institute of Water, Institution of Civil Engineers and British Dam Society at local committee and national level. From 2012 to 2014 I sat on the Graduates and Students Network Committee of the Insti- tution of Civil Engineers at ICE headquarters as the elected representative for the Northern Ireland Region. I am currently part of the Institute of Water Rising Stars Programme and have found the early stages of this programme to be very rewarding. Alongside this I was co-author of a paper entitled Refurbishment of Woodburn Reservoirs Eduction Towers and Scour Pipework, which was presented at the 2014 Brit- ish Dam Society Conference. I also achieved Chartered sta- tus with the Institution of Civil Engineers in 2014. Find out more about the Institute of Water's Rising Stars programme at: www.instituteofwater.org. uk/rising-stars utILIty WeeK | 20th - 26th February 2015 | 7 "Cities use a large proportion of the world's resources and need to be in the forefront of environmental improvements." Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council, on the appointment of Siemens to equip city buildings with energy management technologies and develop an autonomous energy grid. Business Stream Johanna Dow has been confirmed as the new chief executive of busi- ness Stream, the water supplier for commercial customers in Scotland. Dow had been fulfilling an interim role as chief executive since her predecessor, Mark Powles, stepped down suddenly in October 2014. Dow has been with Business Stream since 2007. On her appointment the company's chairman, Ronnie Mercer, said: "No-one knows Business Stream better than Jo." ORE Catapult Andrew Wells has been appointed finance director at the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult. Wells trained with PwC and has worked with investment bank Quayle Munro Holdings and independent charity the Robertson Trust. On taking up his position, Wells said he was delighted to join the ORE Catapult, which has a "pivotal role to play in driving forward the adoption of cost-effective offshore renewable energy and our goal is clear – sustainable offshore renewable energy for the UK, coupled with job creation and exportable skills". ExECutivE appOintmEntS "By 2016, third-party charges are set to account for more than 50 per cent of a large electricity user's bill." Mark Alston, Director of Ener-G Procurement. See more in next week's issue.