Water & Wastewater Treatment

36 | NOVEMBER 2015 | WWT | www.wwtonline.co.uk In the know Q&A: Drilling and Tapping that you would not win the competition. So the drilling and tapping has to be done in a safe, controlled, speedy fashion. How similar is the competition to the day job? Everyone asks when they see the Drilling and Tapping competition - if it only takes two and a half minutes to put a service connection in, why can they only do two a day when they are in the field? Well, the answer is that in the field they have to dig a hole first! Also, in the field they have other utilities in their way, their equipment isn't as engineered, and they are approaching it more cautiously. When you are doing it at speed and you are all pumped up, it can be easy to make a mistake. What's the worst that could go wrong in the process? What you are trying to do is connect all the fittings up with the result that you have a supply going through the meter and water coming out of the tap at the back. The worst situation is that you overdraw the water main, and your ferrule pops out, because then there's nothing you can do, you can't get water out and the competition is gone. So it is about getting it right first time. Have the format and rules changed over the years? The concept has been the same – it's always about connecting a service pipe to a main and installing a meter Tapping into Excellence Entries are now open for the Drilling and Tapping championships at Utility Week Live 2016. WWT talks to competition veteran Malcolm Holmes, Network Service Manager at Anglian Water, for the lowdown The Anglian Water team compete at Utility Week Live 2015. They won the Drilling and Tapping competition with a time of 2:16 WWT: How long have you been involved with the Drilling & Tapping competition? MH: I started off representing Anglian Water in the competition when it first came into fruition as a concept in the early 1990s. I competed in the competition, and was national champion for three years, before going into the judging side of it; then I ran the competition for about ten years. Now, I am still a national judge for the competition but I also look a‹er the team at Anglian Water and make sure that we submit a team. What's the main appeal of the competition? It's about getting the people that do this as a day job to an exhibition where they wouldn't normally go, to let other people see the skills that they use during their everyday working lives. It allows people to understand the concept of us connecting a water pipe to the house, and to see that it isn't as straightforward as it may seem. There is great camaraderie between the teams, so it's good for networking, and you can bring back innovative ideas from the show that your business can take on board. What are the key skills that you need to succeed? You have to show speed and dexterity, and complete the task in a manner that avoids any health and safety concerns. In the competition, any safety violation gives you a 30 second penalty, and that generally would mean

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