WET News

JANUARY 2017 WET NEWS 13 JANUARY 2017 WET NEWS 13 SUPPORTED BY WASTEWATER 2017 CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION INFRASTRUCTURE | NETWORKS | TREATMENT | INNOVATION 31 JANUARY | BIRMINGHAM book now events.wwtonline.co.uk/ wastewater The only event with all WASCs represented The largest single-day showcase of wastewater-specific case studies, innovation and thought-leadership under one roof Choose your focus: wastewater Infrastructure & networks conference wastewater treatment conference David black Senior director, Water 2020 Ofwat nevil muncaster Director of asset management Yorkshire Water steve wilson Director of wastewater services D ŵr Cymru Welsh Water mark worsfold Director of asset management South West Water nick mills Head of wastewater innovation Thames Water kate Zabatis Head of environment policy & regulation United Utilities Luke de Vial Head of water resources Wessex Water Peter Vale Technical lead – innovation Severn Trent Water EXPERT SPEAKERS INCLUDE: EXPERT SPEAKERS INCLUDE: ● Prepare your business for AMP7 and long-term investment priorities ● Improve collaboration with customers, retailers and manufacturers to reduce FOG ● Build resilience to flooding and optimise existing wastewater assets ● Apply lessons from Europe's largest privately- funded infrastructure project ● Align investment decisions with Water 2020 and the evolving competitive landscape ● Implement innovative strategies to drive efficiencies in treatment works ● Extract more commercial value from sludge ● Reduce damage, inefficiency and cost in pollutant removal FOLLOW US CHARITY PARTNER @WWTlive #wastewater SPONSORED BY TECHKNOW • The Rapid Response Emergency Pump unit is capable of pumping 130,000l/h • The Rapid Response unit has a 35-litre capacity integral fuel tank, enabling 24 hours' continuous operation • Silt Away can be connected to a 6" pump to separate suspended solids before the water is released down- stream • With Silt Away, water passes through filters via a Lamella platebox, so solids end up in a discharge hopper NEED TO KNOW 1 A high water table, high silt levels in natural watercourses are contributory factors to flood events 2 Flood defences are still not in place in some areas, so communities must be ready to tackle floods reactively 3 There are no current proposals to carry out dredging work to remove silt build-up 4 The UK is very vulnerable to episodes of flooding with some locations at high risk THE VERDICT "Pumping solutions cannot protect us from floods but, deployed correctly, they can help minimise the impact, which is good news for those tasked with handling the fall-out and for those most affected" Chris Graham, Sykes Pumps tanks usually need to be delivered to site, connected to the pump and managed to ensure environmental compliance and adequate fuel levels throughout the flood response period. Where there is an electrical supply on site, electric surface pumps or electric submersibles are also an option but, in the immediate aermath of flooding, electricity supplies may be down or unsafe. Longer term, a generator may be installed on site as part of the flood remediation activity, but a diesel pump with associated fuel supply may be the only option in the short term. The new Rapid Response unit has been designed with a 35-litre capacity integral fuel tank, enabling 24 hours' continuous operation to help keep flood waters under control until a full-scale pumping operation can be put in place. It can also be used to address rising water levels as part of flood prevention. It is important to remember that managing flood risk and flood waters does not involve a single static solution in any specific location. Sudden changes in the weather can create significant differences in the severity and nature of the risk, so a pump strategy must be adaptable. Silt build-up One of the major contributory factors to flood risk in the UK is the level of sediment in natural water courses, which inhibits natural drainage of excess water and reduces the depth of water channels, increasing the speed with which water levels rise following bouts of wet weather. While many have called for dredging to remove silt build-up, there are no current proposals to carry out this work, even in the areas most at risk of flood. It is important, however, that any flood response does not exacerbate the problem of silt and sediment in our natural watercourses by returning silt into the flow downstream of the floods or adding additional debris to the flow as part of an over-pumping operation. In order to safeguard against this, silt can be removed from the pumped water before it is discharged so that it can be disposed of off-site. Historically, this has been challenging, which is why Sykes Pumps has recently launched the Silt Away, a unit that can be connected to a 6" Sykes pump to separate suspended solids before the water is released downstream. Once the pump is connected to the unit, the water passes through filters via a Lamella platebox, allowing any solids to drop to the bottom of the filter chamber and into a discharge hopper. While lessons have undoubtedly been learned from recent flooding incidents in terms of both prevention and response, the fact remains that the UK is very vulnerable to episodes of flooding with some locations at particularly high risk. Pumping solutions cannot protect us from floods but, deployed correctly, they can help minimise the impact, which is good news for those tasked with handling the fall- out and for those most affected. Chris Graham is sales director at Sykes Pumps. The Rapid Response unit is designed for fast deployment to site as a first response pump Modular, multi- parameter water quality monitors for networks t. 0800 8046 062 www.atiuk.com

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