Water & Wastewater Treatment Magazine
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www.wwtonline.co.uk | WWT | NOVEMbEr 2016 | 7 SIM scores show Portsmouth Water top for customer service Portsmouth Water has come top of Ofwat's annual service incentive mechanism table for 2015/16, up from eighth the previous year. The company's score of 90 out of 100 is the highest ever achieved since the service incentive mechanism (SIM) began in 2010. Wessex Water is again the highest-performing water and sewerage company with a score of 87, earning it second place for the second year in a row. Southern Water was bottom of the table. The average SIM score across the sector rose from 81.6 in 2014/15 to 82.5 this year. Ofwat senior director David Black said: "We are pleased to see an increase in companies' average scores for customer service. This shows that our customer service scores continue to be a powerful incentive for driving improvements in how companies deal with their customers and building customers' trust and confidence in the sector. "Even the best performing companies cannot afford to rest on their laurels. We know that customers increasingly expect water companies to offer the same range and level of service that they find in other sectors. "We will continue to make sure that meeting customers' interests is at the top of companies' to-do lists." Ofwat's SIM is calculated annually. It is made up of two components: the number of complaints companies receive, collected and published by the Consumer Council for Water, and customers' satisfaction with their company's handling of queries and resolving issues, from a series of independent surveys commissioned by Ofwat. Companies' SIM scores will contribute towards financial rewards and penalties when Ofwat next sets price controls in 2019. Polluters pay VOX POP "EU standards are in Scotland's best interest, providing safe, clean drinking water and protecting the environment, all of which we see as essential to Scotland's prosperity." Roseanna Cunningham, Scottish Environment Secretary (see p4). "Customer service scores continue to be a powerful incentive for driving improvements in water companies." Ofwat's David Black (see story, le ). "Metaldehyde can be treated but it is not necessarily the right option – the best option is usually to tackle it at source." Marcus Rink, Chief Inspector, Drinking Water Inspectorate (see Innovation Zone, p24) Southern in recycling success Southern Water is now recycling 100 per cent of its waste for the first time, the company has announced. Southern says that no waste from any of its works or offices has been sent to landfill since July, putting it among only a handful of utilities to achieve a zero waste policy. The company was already recycling all of the biosolids from its treatment processes – with sludge principally used as fertiliser – and all of its office waste. However the final hurdle was the recycling of extra debris that ends up at treatment works, such as wet wipes, cotton buds and sanitary items. Until recently, all of this – about 10,000 tonnes a year – went to landfill. But a deal with Southern Water partner MTS, which recently opened a state-of-the-art recycling plant at its depot in Hoo, Kent, means that this is all now recycled into compost. Southern Water's Waste & Recycling Manager Nigel Heward said: "This is a huge achievement which we're determined to make normal practice. We've long had a desire to be greener when it comes to recycling and this puts us among the class leaders. "Of course, we'd prefer it if some of these things didn't end up in the network in the first place. But it is reassuring to know that all the 'unflushable' items that are collected at our sites are now not going to landfill." Restaurant fined over FOG in sewer Severn Trent has successfully prosecuted a restaurant for blocking sewers with fat, oil and grease, in a case that was the first of its kind for the utility. Café Saffron in Church road, Codsall, was ordered to pay a total of £5,495, including costs, at Wolverhampton Magistrates' Court, for repeatedly blocking the sewers with cooking oil and fat from its kitchen. blockages had been reported on several occasions a er the fat coagulated in the sewer, causing neighbouring businesses to complain of being unable to flush their toilets. The restaurant had refused to install a grease trap despite being warned of the consequences. UK in court over marine species The European Commission is taking the UK to the Court of Justice of the EU for its failure to propose sites for the protection of the harbour porpoise, a marine mammal regularly found in UK waters. Due to the unfavourable status of the harbour porpoises in the EU, 13 other member states have designated around 200 sites for its protection and have promised measures to ensure their conservation, in line with EU legislation. However, the UK has so far formally proposed only one small site in Northern Ireland and one site in Scotland. NI Water admits WwTW discharge NI Water has admitted that an accidental discharge of polyelectrolyte, which is used in the sludge thickening process, from its Annsborough Wastewater Treatment Works caused a pollution incident affecting the Annsborough-Carrig river on Saturday October 8th. The company said it was "disappointed and extremely sorry" that the incident had happened, and that it was working with with Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) and local anglers to assess the impact and the needs of the river in terms of re-stocking the fish. Industry news November