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I nnovation was the headline theme of Util- ity Week Live 2016, and delegates had the opportunity to look into the future in the Innovation Zone, hosted by the Energy Inno- vation Centre. Two sessions of technology pitches by exhibitors on day one revealed the breadth of innovation being undertaken to improve every aspect of asset production, management and maintenance. Innovations ranged from new network poles, to person- alised videos to explain billing and analytics soware. Here are three of our favourites: OptoSci. The company's Optomole system is an optical methane sensing system designed to allow gas networks to rapidly locate mains gas ingress points, without the need to dig. It is an inherently safe sensor, rapidly deployable, that provides instant gas data. Trials have revealed a 30-60 per cent cost saving on repairs. Pollywood. This company is developing a replacement for the creosote pole because the current exemption from the creosote ban will end soon. Its poles promise a wealth of environmental benefits, and are strong and lightweight enough to be deployed without heavy liing equipment. Roadmender Asphalt. Using a seven- minute heat mix cycle on site, these ready- mixed bags of asphalt and bitumen allow workers to make the quantity needed on site, with no waste, and at the correct tempera- ture. Many clients waste between 20-40 per cent of what they collect from the plant, and only have between four and five hours to use the asphalt, limiting production. LD 12 | 27TH MAY - 2ND JUNE 2016 | UTILITY WEEK Putting a price on failure The increasing unpredictability of the weather makes it impossible to assess the likelihood of an asset failing, and therefore to measure risk. Headlining in the Innovation Zone Innovation was the headline theme of the exhibition, and a dedicated section of the hall was put aside for companies wanting to showcase their latest product developments to utilities. Resilience Innovation UtilityWeek Live T he threat of climate change and more extreme weather events has thrown a spotlight on the extent to which the water sector can maintain and restore ser- vice in the face of unexpected challenges. Here's what Utility Week Live taught us about resilience in the sector. Increasing resilience is not simply about reducing risk. While minimising the risk of failure is an important aspect of designing water and wastewater systems, resilience should also be about response and recov- ery when failure occurs. It can be thought of as "bouncebackability" or making sys- tems "safe to fail", according to David But- ler, professor of water engineering at Exeter University. Resilience as a property of a system needs therefore to be distinguished from the performance of that system, he said. Cost-benefit analyses may not be reliable with resilience projects. While everybody agrees that more resilient networks and systems are a good thing, the real difficulty is establishing the level of protection that needs to be invested in – and basing a cost- benefit calculation on a 1-in-50-year drought or a 1-in-100-year storm is problematic because these climatic events are becoming much more frequent. "Because we can no longer rely on a sta- ble climate, we can't rely on return periods to establish the value of an investment," Trevor Bishop, deputy director of water resources at the Environment Agency, said. "We don't know how climate change will affect these probabilities – we only have the direction of travel." For this reason, if failure of a particu- lar asset would represent a catastrophe, then a much higher level of protection may be justified. For example, the Dutch have determined that some key assets must be protected against a 1-in-10,000-year storm, an almost unimaginable event. Catastrophic scenarios might be very low probability but they are very high cost. For example, it was estimated that the cost of a total failure of water supply to London would be £7-10 billion a week. Non-household retail competition may help promote resilience, Ofwat believes. Director Nicci Russell said the example of Scotland had showed that businesses changed supplier on the basis that retail- ers could help them manage their water demand, reducing bills but also boosting system resilience. Finally, the behaviour and response of customers could be the missing ingredient in creating a more resilient water network, according to Jacob Tompkins, managing director of Waterwise. He said that "social infrastructure" was just as important as hard assets, and that customer awareness could make the key difference in reducing water use and in protecting sewerage. Rain- water harvesting was also given as an exam- ple of how individuals or communities could make water supplies in their immediate area more resilient. James Brockett is the editor of WWT