Water & Wastewater Treatment Magazine
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/889885
www.wwtonline.co.uk | WWT | NOVEMBER 2017 | 15 N ot many people in any field of activity are able to call themselves a world champion, but Jason Barratt, Solutions Delivery Engineer at Anglian Water, is one of them. Barratt is one half of the two-man Anglian Water team which triumphed in May at the Institute of Water's Drilling and Tapping competition, held annually at the Utility Week Live conference and exhibition in Birmingham. His seven victories in the competition over the years have also led to him taking part in the World Water Cup - competing against European and American opponents in Las Vegas and Amsterdam - and along with his colleague Lee Maddock, he has been a world champion of drilling and tapping for the last two years. He has worked on water networks in the Anglian Water region since 1997, for many years as a contractor for Balfour Beatty, before going in-house at Anglian three years ago. While his promotions mean he no longer works with drilling The mains man and tapping tools on a daily basis, this has not stopped him training or taking part in the competition – or winning. "When I was on the ground, drilling and tapping was part of the day job," he recalls. "You tap mains to make a new connection, and then when you replace a section of pipe a'er a burst main, if there's a service in the section you've replaced then you have to tap the main again to put the customer back on water. Obviously what you do in your working life and what you do in the competition are completely different in terms of speed, but the methods, the equipment and the fittings are exactly the same." Since entering the competition for the first time in 2009, not only have Barratt's times improved – his 2017 time of two minutes and two seconds is a formidable record – but his career has also moved forward in leaps and bounds. Having worked in water meter installation, pipe repair and maintenance, new mains installation and mains rehab over the years, he recently became a registered The Talk: interview Jason Barratt's skill in drilling and tapping water mains has led to him competing around the world as well as advancing his career