Water & Wastewater Treatment Magazine
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/717366
4 | SEPTEMBER 2016 | WWT | www.wwtonline.co.uk Industry news September The number of pollution events caused by water and sewerage companies (WASCs) in England has fallen to the lowest levels achieved since 2008, the latest Environmental Performance Assessment (EPA) report from the Environment Agency (EA) has confirmed. There were 1,742 incidents (category 1 to 3) in 2015, which the EA said was a large reduction on the 2,358 events the previous year. The number of serious pollution events (category 1 and 2) fell slightly from 61 in 2014 to 59 last year – the lowest ever recorded. The EA said there were four category 1 incidents caused by the sector, which matched the previous year's record. Only three of these four serious incidents in 2015 were associated with sewerage which is a record low. Pollution events caused by WASCs fall to lowest level since 2008 Contract Tracker Scottish Water awards Tier 1 alliance deals Morrison Construction, Coffey Construction and Fastflow Pipeline Services Ltd have been awarded Tier 1 alliance partner contracts by Scottish Water to deliver its quality and standards IV (Q&SIV) programme, which covers drinking water network assets, for the regulatory period 2015-2021. The expected final value of the three contracts is £50M. Meter-U in Thames win Meter-U, part of the Enserve Group, has been appointed to Lot 3 of Thames Water's AMP6 water meter reading and sales investigation service framework, which is worth between £35M and £350M over 84 months. Murphy wins Gatwick pump station work J. Murphy & Sons has been awarded a £1.35M contract by Gatwick Airport to upgrade a water pumping station in the airport's north terminal. The award will see the company re-develop a pumping station to run with a motorised computer control panel to service the north terminal. Murphy has also been named preferred contractor on a five-year framework to carry out medium-sized mechanical and electrical works at Gatwick. South West Water (171 incidents per 10,000km of sewer) and Northumbrian Water (97 per 10,000) were the companies responsible for the most pollution incidents. South West Water also topped the table for having the most serious incidents. Anglian Water (35 incidents per 10,000km) and Thames Water (38) had the fewest, while Severn Trent Water led the way in terms of the fewest serious incidents. On self-reporting of incidents – where the water companies notify the EA about their incidents before a member of the public or third party does – the report says that in 2015 it was "pleasing" that the highest ever level of self- reporting was achieved static at 69% for the sector, compared with 66% for 2014. The report said only one company had self- 81% The proportion of water sector employers who say they have seen increased turnover of staff as a result of skills shortages in the industry, according to a survey by Matchtech and CIWEM. 70% said that these shortages had resulted in a reduced ability to finish projects. Southern Water customers are using less water than ever before following the company's compulsory metering roll-out, new figures have revealed. In 2015/16, each of the company's customers used an average of 130 litres per day – well below the national average of about 150 litres. The figure means that Southern has already hit its AMP6 target of reducing consumption below 133.7 litres per day, down from 148 litres at the beginning of the five-year cycle. Pictured: a water efficiency visit from Southern contractor Aqualogic. reported a failure to meet satisfactory sludge disposal criteria, whilst others self- reported full compliance. This, said the EA, is a slight deterioration on 2014 when all companies reported complete compliance. The EA said: "Water companies have made welcome improvements and thankfully, the indus- try no longer has the level of adverse impact on the environment that it had in the past. It recognises there is further work to do to meet the requirements of legislation and public expectation. "We will be working with all companies through- out the year and continu- ing to encourage good performance and to satisfy ourselves that their plans to improve performance are working sufficiently quickly and that environmental protection remains a high priority for them."