Water & Wastewater Treatment

4 | MARCH 2016 | WWT | www.wwtonline.co.uk Industry news March Portsmouth Water has announced that it is to exit the market for water retail services to business, as the further opening up of this segment to competition approaches. The south coast water supply company has agreed a deal with specialist business retailer Castle Water which will see the latter provide billing, call handling and other retail services to all Portsmouth Water's business customers from 1st April 2016. Initially, Castle Water will be acting on behalf of Portsmouth Water, with the customers then formally transferring in April 2017 when the market is expected to open fully. Neville Smith, Managing Director of Portsmouth Water said: "From April 2017 business customers in our region and elsewhere will be able to choose their water retailer. We have considered whether to set up a separate business to compete in this national market or to pass Portsmouth Water to exit business retail market Contract Tracker Nivus wins first Thames framework Nivus is to supply ultrasonic and radar flow measurement systems for Thames Water's sewage treatment and channel networks. The multimillion-pound framework is the first that Nivus has been awarded by Thames Water; the Nivus flow measurement products will complement and add to the existing flow measuring systems in use by Thames. DrainsAid and Amey to re- line Yorkshire sewers DrainsAid, the specialist drainage and sewer rehabilitation division of Peter Duffy Ltd, has partnered with Amey to provide re-lining services to Yorkshire Water. DrainsAid will be working with Amey both on reactive residential drain repair and larger planned proactive schemes. Fujitsu to build new EA flood warning service The Environment Agency has awarded the contract to develop its new future flood warnings system to Fujitsu Services. Work under the contract, which is estimated to be worth around £4.6M, will build on the Floodline Warnings Direct (FWD) service which came into operation in 2006. our customers to a specialist provider. We decided that working with a specialist provider represents the most sensible and cost effective solution for a company of Portsmouth Water's size and for our customers. This will enable us to focus on our core activity of the reliable supply of high quality water. Castle Water stands out as a company that, like Portsmouth Water, prides itself on offering high levels of service at a low price and is therefore ideally placed to satisfy the retail needs of our business customers". The change only impacts water retail services for business customers. Portsmouth Water will continue to provide retail services to household customers, which represent 95% of its customer base. John Reynolds, CEO of Castle Water, said "Castle Water was founded to participate in both the English and Scottish markets for business water supplies. We have become one of the leading independent suppliers to business water customers in Scotland, and we are excited about the opportunity to work with Portsmouth Water going forward." While there has been speculation ahead of the 2017 market reforms that the changes would induce some water supply companies to exit the business retail market, Portsmouth Water is the first in England to announce such a deal. In a recent straw poll conducted by WWT's sister title Utility Week, five water- only companies – Affinity Water, Bristol Water, Essex & Suffolk Water, Sutton & East Surrey Water and Cholderton and District Water – said they planned to remain in the non- household market, while South East Water and South Staffordshire Water (which includes Cambridge Water) refused to comment on their plans. 660 The number of flood defences that have been identified as needing repair by the Environment Agency following record- breaking storms over the winter. FAB LAB: South East Water's new laboratory facilities in Hampshire have been given the seal of approval by the UK Accreditation Service (UKAS). The company's laboratory, which recently relocated to new facilities at Southwood Business Park, Farnborough, was praised for its monitoring of water quality by UKAS in a five-day assessment visit. The laboratory has moved from its former home in Frimley, Surrey.

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