WET News

concrete steel clean water civils waste water FULL REFURBISHMENT SERVICES FOR RESERVOIR & WATER TOWERS, CLEAN & SEWAGE TREATMENT WORKS, STEEL/CONCRETE TANKS & VESSELS, SPILLWAYS & AQUEDUCTS, BRIDGES, PIPEWORK, PIPE BRIDGES & OTHER ASSETS. FULL CIVIL ENGINEERING CAPABILITY INC NEW BUILD PROJECTS. PLEASE CONTACT US FOR OUR FULL SCOPE OF SERVICES. 4 WET NEWS february 2017 News+ SWW tests drones with thermal sensors to detect water leakage • utility believes the technology will help reduce leakage detection and repair costs by pinpointing exact leak locations. S outh West Water (SWW), working with the Univer- sity of Exeter, is testing the use of drone technology and thermal imaging for leak detec- tion. Laboratory tests of the ther- mal cameras have proved posi- tive and field-scale trials are planned for 2017. The technology works by attaching a thermal sensor to a drone which is then flown along pipeline routes particularly in rural locations. The thermal sen- sor can detect differences in soil temperature which can be caused by an escape of water. SWW said the technology could help reduce the cost of leak detection and repair by pin- pointing more exactly the loca- tion of a leak, particularly in rural locations where traditional methods are less effective. Bob Taylor, director of drink- ing water services, said: "Water is part of our region's natural capital. It is a precious resource and, especially once it's been treated, we all need to use it wisely and not waste it. Finding a cost-effective method of find- ing large escapes of treated water has the potential to help save water and make our service more efficient, which is why we're continuing this trial with the university to test the technol- ogy on a landscape scale." The pilot is one of several pro- jects that will be led by the new South West Partnership for Envi- ronment & Economic Prosperity (SWEEP), funded by the Natural CONTRACT WINS Environment Research Council. The new institute will allow experts and businesses to work together to solve some of the challenges facing our natural environment and use the latest research and technologies to boost our economy, create and defend jobs and enhance well- being in the region. This will drive sustainable economic growth, help create new prod- ucts and services, safeguard jobs and create new employment, improve policies, and enhance the health and wellbeing of peo- ple living in the South-west. Need to know SWW has 18,000kms of pipe, mostly in rural and remote areas Leakage has reduced by 40% since the early 1990s Most visible leaks are repaired with 72 hours The pilot is one of several projects to be led by the South West Partnership for environment & economic Prosperity Malvern, Worcs WR14 1JJ, UK Tel: +44 (0) 1684 891 371 info@pulsar-pm.com www.pulsar-pm.com SLUDGE INTERFACE DETECTION Sludge Finder 2 reliably measures primary, secondary and tertiary interface levels in treatment and process applications. ● Self cleaning and maintenance free ● Automatic desludging ● Continuous blanket level output for compliance and efficiency Trio of utilities join forces over outages W ales and West Utilities, Western Power Distri- bution and Welsh Water have joined forces to help customers get extra assistance when there are outages or other disruptions to their services. The trio are working together to encourage eligible customers to sign up to their respective prior- ity service registers. "It seemed logical that if we were going to be asking people to register for additional assis- tance if their gas supply was interrupted, that these same people might also need extra assistance if their electricity or water supplies were inter- rupted," said Wales and West Utilities director of business ser- vices Mark Oliver. "The option for customers to register for their electricity pri- ority service register has been running for some months now and we are looking forward to working together with Welsh Water so those who need it can register for special assistance if their water supply is interrupted too." Welsh Water managing direc- tor of retail services Julia Cher- rett said: "We work hard to iden- tify those customers with additional needs but we know there are more people out there that could be benefitting. Work- ing in partnership in this way will mean that we can reach even more customers with the extensive range of help that we offer." • Mouchel has been appointed by Welsh Water to work on two key sustainable drain- age plans as part of its aMP6 asset manage- ment consultancy framework. The plans, worth around £140,000, cover 14 rural water catchments in the north of Wales including Wrexham. • Pure Air Solutions (PaS) has gained preferred supplier status with Thames Water and eight2O for the supply of odour control equip- ment. The framework includes PaS' Sulphus biotrickling filters and actus Carbon units. Thames has identified a £17M spend on odour control units during aMP6, and £29M on wider odour control schemes. PaS, which has earned achilles uVDb Verify Category b2 accreditation with a 92% average score, is now preferred supplier to execute these works along with OSIL and erG. The drone is flown along pipelines

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