WET News

4 WET NEWS august 2016 News+ Good monthT- Bad month For Hong Kong, which has just opened its first self-sustaining sludge treatment facility, t.PaRK. Mott MacDonald and Veolia were both involved in the project. For Welsh Water's customers, who can decide how millions of pounds of the company's potential profit should be spent. For Portugal. It must pay €3M and a penalty payment of €8K/day, said the European Court of Justice, for some towns not being up to the urban Wastewater Directive's wastewater discharge (domestic and industrial) standards. For plumbers, as DWI annual report said a third of drinking water quality failures are caused in customers' own homes due to poor plumbing. ICE president praises Southern Water scheme as an 'excellent example' of a project • sir John armitt's tour of the south-east takes in southern Water's current and 'challenging' project to modernise Woolston Wastewater treatment Works. S ir John Armitt, president of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and the civil engineer responsible for delivering the venues and infrastructure for the London 2012 Olympic Games, has welcomed Southern Water's improvements to the wastewater treatment works currently under construction in Woolston. Sir John is one of the most influential civil engineers in the UK, delivering projects including the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, the Second Severn Bridge and the London 2012 Olympic Games arenas. He is also leading ICE's independent 'needs assessment' which will set out the country's infrastructure needs up to 2050. Visiting the site as part of the annual presidential visit to the South-east, Sir John said: "Changes to our communities, their populations and environmental challenges, place new demands on our infrastructure networks. The work taking place in Woolston to modernise the wastewater treatment facility will ensure it can serve the local area and better meet its needs long into the future. A project that works with and for the local community. "The treated wastewater leaving the site will also meet new, higher environmental standards, and the works are designed to fit with the redevelopment of the wider area – this is an excellent example of a project that works with and for the local community, and contributes to environmental goals." On the region's infrastructure, Sir John noted the South-east has seen a large increase in demand for housing over the past decade. However, new homes cannot be delivered in isolation – they need modern infrastructure systems so residents have access to water, local transport, clean energy, waste facilities and the internet. He stressed it was vital the region continues to invest in infrastructure as a key part of its strategy for growth. "The UK as a whole must also continually upgrade and improve its infrastructure to meet our changing needs– whether that's major motorways and rail lines or wastewater schemes like the one here in Woolston." he added. The redevelopment of Woolston Wastewater Treatment Works is a £63M project which began in September 2014. The CONTRACT WINS • Clancy Docwra and J Murphy & sons have signed major contracts with sutton and East surrey Water to upgrade its pipes and increase the resilience of its network. Clancy Docwra will renew and replace more than 100km of underground water mains in five years, while Murphys will design and build four new large pipelines in the water company's supply area. • Morrison Utility services (Mus) has been awarded a £250M three-year extension to its existing Water services agreement deal with Yorkshire Water. the contract extension has been awarded to Mus two years ahead of schedule, bringing the total remaining duration to five years. • Optimised resource management company Veolia has secured a new contract with Irish Water for works on Ireland's largest water treatment plant at the Ballymore Eustace Facility. Fines for UU and contractor over brook pollution • Judge criticises failings by senior management for the pollution incident in December 2013. U nited Utilities (UU) and its contractor, KMI+, have both been fined nearly £1M in total a¢er pleading guilty to polluting a brook. Appearing before Bolton Crown Court on June 24, 2016, UU was fined £600,000 and KMI+ £333,000. They were ordered to pay a total of £45,262 in costs (UU £19,090 and KMI+ £26,172) following a prosecution by the Environment Agency (EA). The court heard KMI+ had been contracted by UU to carry out improvement works at Wayoh water treatment works at Turton Bottoms. In December 2013, as part of the work, KMI+ emptied and removed a tank that was used to store sodium hypochlorite in 10% solution. Sodium hypochlorite is used in the water purification process, and is the principle ingredient of household bleach. It is very corrosive and highly toxic to aquatic organisms. By December 4, 2013 the majority of the tank's contents had been removed but up to 300 litres of the chemical was le¢ and needed to be emptied. The court heard that instead of pumping or siphoning the remaining liquid out, a decision was taken to put a hosepipe into the tank and dilute the sodium hypochlorite with water, letting it overflow into a bunded area, and leave the hosepipe running unattended overnight. This was carried out without any risk assessment or method statement, and the companies were not in agreement on what they understood had been agreed prior to the removal taking place. Neither company had surveyed the drainage adequately and did not realise there were faults in the drainage system, which meant the diluted toxic chemical entered the surface water drainage system and discharged to Bradshaw Brook. On December 6, 2013, the EA was alerted by a member of the public who had found dead fish floating in the water. A 1.7km stretch of the brook leading towards Jumbles Reservoir was so badly polluted that virtually all aquatic organisms, including fish, shrimp and earthworms were killed. Up to 900 dead fish were recovered, but the number killed is likely to be much greater. At the end of June 2014 the brook had recovered sufficiently for restocking to take place, and UU paid for the brook to be restocked with native fish from the downstream section. Both UU and KMI+ pleaded guilty at the first available opportunity and cooperated with the prosecution. The Honorary Recorder of Bolton, Judge Timothy Clayson, said the incident had arisen through senior management failings to ensure proper system and procedures were in place. current site was built in 1966 and is in need of modernisation. Julie Anne Stokes, Woolston's project manager from Southern Water, said: "This project is particularly challenging, not only due to the proximity to our customers with the nearest houses being directly across the road and the other extensive development happening in the area, but we also need to keep the treatment processes live during construction. "This has meant we had to build a temporary treatment works on land adjacent to the old site and divert flows before demolition could start. This temporary works has also allowed us to start delivering benefits to our customers, way ahead of construction being complete." L-R: Chris Roberts, 4D, Woolston; Julie anne stokes, southern Water; sir John armitt, ICE

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