Water & Wastewater Treatment Magazine
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www.wwtonline.co.uk | WWT | OcTOber 2016 | 5 Green light for Yorkshire Water's £72M sludge treatment facility Yorkshire Water's proposed £72M new state-of the-art sludge treatment and anaerobic digestion facility at its Knostrop works in the centre of Leeds has been given the go-ahead. The company's planning proposal for the bio-energy facility was approved by Leeds City Council's planning committee. The contract has been awarded to Black & Veatch, with the civil engineering element being delivered by Clugston Construction. Knostrop wastewater treatment works has been treating sewage from domestic properties and industry for about 100 years. The new facility will replace the existing sludge and bio-solid incinerator, constructed in 1993, and enable the more efficient and effective treatment of sewage combined with the additional benefit of renewable power production from the wastewater effluent. Nevil Muncaster, director of asset management, said: "This is the single biggest investment of our current investment period (2015-2020) and will not only provide increased treatment capacity for our sludges but will also deliver significant operational cost savings enabling us to keep customer bills as low as possible. "Knostrop is designated as a strategic waste site so by increasing the future sludge and bio-solid treatment capacity of the works the project will also support growth in the Leeds sub-regions." Planned for completion in 2019 the facility will be capable of processing 131 tonnes of dry sludge daily, and will generate enough renewable energy, using heat and power engines, to provide 55% of Knostrop's energy needs. Once the site is operational it will result in a 15% reduction in carbon emissions across the company and contribute to the utility's goal achieving 94% recycling of the region's sludge by 2020. The project is the latest step in Yorkshire Water's commitment to invest in renewable energy to benefit the environment and keep customers' bills low; the company intends to generate approximately 18% of its energy needs by 2020. In October 2014, a 123m high wind turbine was constructed at Knostrop. This structure, which cost around £3.5M is already a major source of power for the Knostrop site, and will on average provide 10% of Knostrop's energy needs. Polluters pay VOX POP "Efficiency, affordability, customer service and competition are among UK water companies' greatest challenges, and data is the common thread in meeting these challenges." Scott Aitken, Black & Veatch (see story, le ) "The industry has invested billions of pounds in securing the nation's precious water resources, but we all need to do more in the face of pressures on those resources." Michael Roberts, Water UK (see p23) "Even if a treatment solution [for metaldehyde] is technically possible on such a large scale, our cost estimates show that funding it would be hugely costly." Anglian Water's Lucinda Gilfoyle (see le ) Water companies commit to permanent flood defences Water companies have made a commitment to increase flood protection of their key local infrastructure assets to boost resilience to extreme flooding. Defra has published its National Flood Resilience Review, outlining its new approach to preparation for and resilience to flooding. In the report, the government said the water and telecoms sectors had plans in place for temporary improvements to resilience for the coming winter, like those already available in the electricity supply industry. The plans will ensure that utilities obtain stock-piles of temporary defences in advance, and have ready site- specific plans for deploying them. However all three sectors will develop and implement longer term plans for permanently improving the resilience of service provision to local communities from flooding. Tunbridge Wells failings cost Southern £57K Southern Water has been fined £24,000 a er an Environment Agency (EA) investigation found it had failed to meet the conditions set out in its environmental permit for Tunbridge Wells North wastewater treatment works. The water company agreed to pay costs of £33,218. The company has an environmental permit to discharge treated effluent from the Tunbridge Wells North works to the Somerhill Stream, and the EA investigation found that the permit conditions were exceeded between July 2013 and July 2014. Cornish farmer handed £9K slurry penalty A farmer has been ordered to pay £8,957 in fines and costs for polluting a stream near a popular Cornish holiday beach. David Phillips of East Lanescot Farm admitted the slurry spill from the farm in July 2015 had polluted Twyardeath Stream in Par, which is near Par Sands, a designated bathing beach. 50,000 gallons of slurry had leaked from a lagoon a er a pipe collapsed. Chester firms prosecuted for hydrant use Dee Valley Water has successfully prosecuted two businesses in the Chester area for illegally accessing water from hydrants connected to its water supply network. The two companies prosecuted were Clean Line Waste Water Solutions Limited of Birkenhead and TDM Drainage Ltd (trading as Metro Rod) based in Deeside. Following a court case, both were charged with offences that breached Section 174 of the Water Industry Act 1991 and received fines with full costs awarded plus an additional victim surcharge.