WET News

OCTOBER 2015 WET NEWS 3 Under certain circumstances, liquid water has been found on Mars - Jim Green NASA Planetary Science Director @NASA O fwat will announce initial proposals this December on how competition on construction and nancing costs could be applied to other projects in the sector. The water regulator is keen to implement the process having awarded the Infrastructure Provider licence to the Bazalgette Tunnel consortium to nance and deliver the 16-mile "super- sewer" to tackle the untreated sewage pouring into the Thames, and paid for through Thames Water's customers' bills. Announcing the licence award, Cathryn Ross, Ofwat's chief executive, said the regulator had taken an innovative approach to challenging costs on the project and would see how going out for competition on construction and nancing costs – which had resulted in "signi cant savings" – could be applied to other projects. Keith Mason, senior director, nance and network, at Ofwat, told WET News areas identi ed for exploration included "water treatment, water trading, as well as sludge treatment and disposal. The Thames Tideway Tunnel is a unique project, both U U has put a major m u l t i m i l l i o n - p o u n d aqueduct maintenance and repair project on the backburner as a result of its recent cryptosporidium crisis. About 450 people were ready to work on the 56-mile Haweswater Aqueduct, and a bespoke training camp was to run from September 21 to ensure everyone was "ready to hit the ground running". O at prepares ground for TTT- style projects — Water regulator plans to unveil construction and ‡ nancing proposals before the end of the year. in scale and complexity, requiring a bespoke delivery framework. We are not proposing to simply mirror the Tideway model. Rather we want to learn whether a competitive approach to establishing costs could be bene cial for other projects in the sector". He said the investment would likely be new, have a high value and be clearly distinct from the rest of a companies' portfolio of work. This is important as it allows a clear separation of project risks, enabling an e˜ ective competitive tendering process to reveal what is best value," he said. Mason said it was too early to go into further detail but Ofwat was keen to hear ideas from across the sector to see how this could best work. He pointed to the bene ts of competitive tendering evident in the energy sector. "Ofgem has looked to go out to competition on the licensing of o˜ shore electricity transmission. They take a ™ exible approach, and the result is that electricity generators are partners with the most eš cient competitive players in the market. "This helps lower costs and ultimately lowers bills for customers. Our sense is that we would be talking about projects which require what would be, for a water company, a proportionately signi cant investment." That could be something that was too big, complex or risky for a company to take on, but not necessarily too expensive. "A project could be very expensive – the water sector has invested more than £120bn since privatisation – but relatively straightforward," Mason said. ● See analysis, p7 You What! On news that water has been found on Mars. WET News is registered at Stationers' Hall. Origination by Faversham House and TR Clash Ltd. Printed by Buxton Press, Palace Road, Buxton, Derbyshire, SK17 6AE. Copyright 2015. 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. However, Faversham House will not be liable for any inaccuracies. The views expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of the editor or publishers. Text paper is printed on PEFC accredited paper. For more info see www.PEFC.org. License number PEFC/16-33-141. 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Editor Maureen Gaines: maureen.gaines@fav-house.com Ad sales Deborah Lilley: deborah. lilley@fav-house.com Classifi ed sales Danielle Mason: danielle.mason@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 £104 Overseas (airmail) £118/$213 2yr: UK £181 Overseas (airmail) £209/$377 Call: 020 8955 7045 Email: fhcustomerservices@ abacusmedia.com Search WET News' archives for more jobs, news, features, products and services, events and training courses. wwtonline.co.uk Average circulation Jan-Dec 2014: 6,110 If you wish to make a complaint about the editorial content of this issue please contact the editor. An adorable water- sipping Mars gets its own Google Doodle today @VoxDotCom UU shelves aqueduct project A UU spokeswoman said the company had to pull o˜ many of the people involved with the 56-mile pipeline to deal with "the major incident". She said the resolution of the crisis had come too late to resurrect what UU had dubbed "Aquanauts 2 – the big return. The work will need doing at some point but won't be going ahead this autumn. The outage has been postponed for a year". The sensors and meters have been installed across 100km of water mains and 140km of sewers "Water on Mars very limited" say NASA, admitting ‡ rst objective of manned mission to planet will be imposition of hosepipe ban. @HaveIGotNewsForYou NASA: We found liquid water on Mars Africa: Can we have some? @OmarlmranTweets In light of yesterday's NASA announcement about Mars, we've updated our records: Order reference: 12345678, Mars, The Solar System, Milky Way @STSearches Head Office: 187c High Street, Cranfield, Bedfordshire, MK43 0JB t 01234 750924 e enquiries@stonbury.co.uk www.stonbury.com concrete steel clean water civil engineering waste water REFURBISHING: RESERVOIRS - WATER TOWERS - CONCRETE, STEEL TANKS & VESSELS - PIPE BRIDGES - DAMS - PIPEWORK AQUEDUCTS - SPILLWAYS - CLEAN WATER & SEWAGE TREATMENT WORKS WORKS: INSPECTION SURVEY - RELINING SPECIALIST COATINGS - CORROSION PROTECTION - WATERPROOFING - CONCRETE REPAIR - CLEANING & CHLORINATION DESIGN/INSTALL: SECURITY WORKS INC LPC4 ACCESS COVERS - ACCESS LADDERS, HANDRAILS & WALKWAYS - SURGE VESSELS SUPPLY/INSTALLATION M&E WORKS CIVIL ENGINEERING: DEEP EXCAVATION - STREETWORKS - DEMOLITION INTERNAL, EXTERNAL & UNDERGROUND PIPEWORK - VALVES - DRAINAGE - RETAINING WALLS - ACCESS ROADS, HARD STANDING & PARKING AREAS - CABINETS - SMALL BUILDING INSTALLATION - DEMOLITION - FLOOR SLABS & SCREEDS Its Stonbury is a bespoke software specialist, born from the creation of an inhouse software solution within a nationwide contracting company, producing innovative online communication and data sharing tools for the UK's Water Industry. Our software allows the sharing of up-to-date reports with photos, videos & text updates, to your selected or public user group. Other functions allow asset management tool users to schedule maintenance and programme works. This software allows an easy to use, functional and user friendly cross platform solution to share all varieties of media at ease, with endless benefits! We have even been nominated for various awards within the Water Industry, bringing recognition to our software solutions, which are an absolute must have for any business within this industry. MARKET LEADERS IN THE REFURBISHMENT OF WATER RETAINING STRUCTURES AND ASSOCIATED ASSETS INNOVATIVE ONLINE COMMUNICATION & DATA SHARING TOOLS To schedule a live demo or discuss any software needs please contact us on: info@itsstonbury.co.uk or visit www.itsstonbury.co.uk for more information. "Ofgem has looked to go out to competition on the licensing of o• shore electricity transmission" Keith Mason, Ofwat Eighty 'aquanauts' went underground in 2013 to inspect the pipeline for the ‡ rst time in 60 years

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