Water & Wastewater Treatment

12 | DECEMBER 2015 | WWT | www.wwtonline.co.uk Events Round table: private pumping station adoption Grey areas remain on private pumping stations adoption O n a fittingly grey November aer- noon, delegates arrived in Lon- don to discuss what should be the final chapter in the private pumping station adoption saga at WWT's round- table 'Preparing for Private Pumping Station Adoption', held in association with Xylem. All eligible private pumping stations are set to transfer to water companies on 1st October 2016. Yet four years into the five year programme, water companies and developers at the event concluded there are still grey areas around eligibility. Concerns remain over which assets will be transferred, and furthermore, water companies face the challenge of communicating with customers who may be convinced their pumping station is set to be passed to the water company, when in reality it isn't. Alongside this, there has been no regulatory clarity on the 'supplementary transfer' of pumping stations built aer July 2011; it is unclear when, or if, stations built aer this cut-off date will be transferred. From a nuts and bolts perspective, there is still the worry of the known unknowns – how many pumping stations are still out there that are hidden away and potentially a ticking sewage time bomb, and the issue of how – once found – water companies will monitor their newly adopted assets. Top of the agenda, as it appears it oen is, is the ongoing uncertainty about exactly what pumping stations will be eligible for adoption come 1 October 2016. Welsh Water private pumping station transfer programme manager Mike Hartwell highlighted blocks of flats as a main area of concern. "The interpretation of single curtilage is a grey area, and one of the greyest areas is blocks of flats," he said. Anglian Water pumping stations adoption manager John Usher agreed the lack of clarity over the issue of curtilage means there will be a lack of consistency across the industry over which pumping stations are adopted, and those that remain in private hands. "Our guys in our asset planning department look at whether they pumping stations are eligible or not and they found grey areas which are open to interpretation. "This inevitably means that different people will interpret things differently, and there will be a lack of consistency across the sector." Even Ofwat's deputy head of environment and water quality Kevin THE SPEAKERS "With curtilage, interpretation is everything – and there are a lot of grey areas." John Usher Pumping stations adoption manager Anglian Water "October 2016 is a deadline which is not moving, so we all need to understand what the pinch points are." Guy Fitzpatrick General manager, ICA Xylem "A sizeable chunk of private pumping stations remain undiscovered, although some of the numbers talked about may not exist." Kevin Ridout Deputy head of environment and water quality Ofwat "In terms of eligibility, blocks of flats are probably the banes of our lives." Mike Hartwell PPST programme manager Welsh Water "We're starting to apply a risk- based approach to the upgrades we deliver so sites with a higher risk of pollution get dealt with first." Justin Camis Specialist network manager Thames Water "It's all hands to the pump – literally." Paul Richardson Infrastructure delivery engineer Northumbrian Water Round table participants: John Usher (Anglian Water), Mike Hartwell (Dwr Cymru Welsh Water), Justin Camis (Thames Water), Guy Fitzpatrick (Xylem), Jason Doward (United Utilities), Sam Oliver (Severn Trent), India Perry (DEFRA), Kevin Ridout (Ofwat), Peter Ward, Gary Lee (Taylor Wimpey), Rob Nicholls (Barratt Homes)

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