WET News

2 WET NEWS DECEMBER 2017 COMMENT "...it's hap- pening faster than anyone would have expected" DECEMBER 2K Mobile Performance Management software provider NetMotion is working with Yorkshire Water to provide the utility's 2,000 † eld technicians with speedier trouble-shooting and accurate connection visibility. "I'm taking the chair at an exciting time as we see the Project 13 Community grow and have a real opportunity to reshape the way infrastructure is delivered." @One Alliance boss Dale Evans on being the new chair of Infrastructure Client Group. 41% 63% £180K Interserve has "agreed in principle" to pay around £180,000 for the costs of recovery work following a flooding incident in North Yorkshire in November last year. 5 The number of years a quarter of infrastructure companies reckon it will be before they have digital ways of working. "OHES is a highly respected environmental consultancy that has built a fantastic breadth of client-focused services." Henry Simpson, commercial director of Adler & Allan, on the group buying OHES. "It was some of the most gut-wrenching work many would have seen on national television..." Alex Saunders, waste network manager for Thames Water, on taming the monster fatberg in London's Whitechapel. The 130-tonne congealed mass was discovered in September. £2.1M South West Water faces a penalty of £2.09M, while Severn Trent Water and Anglian Water are both set to bene† t from † nancial incentives for outperformance, Ofwat has announced. Get on board the digital revolution train or get left behind T he digital era is taking over at a rapid pace but it would seem some companies in the infrastucture sector may have a lot of catching up to do. That's if new research by engineering and project management consultancy Atkins is anything to go by. The company surveyed leaders from more than 30 organisations in the UK infrastructure sector to understand the challenges and opportunities being faced as a result of the sector's shi€ towards digital. Around 60% reckoned organisations were more than two years away from having digital ways of working and service o„ erings fully embedded, with 23% stating that they were more than ‡ ve years away. Twenty-three per cent is a staggering ‡ gure when you think that some digital technologies such as Building Information Technology (BIM) and the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, have taken the engineering world by storm in the past few years. And they already seem to be becoming outdated when you compare them to arti‡ cial intelligence, or the Internet of Things. Let's face it, the digital world is here to stay. However, it is happening much faster than anyone would have expected. If that is the problem now, what's it going to be like in ‡ ve years' time? Companies have got to get on board the digital revolution train – or risk being le€ behind. Water Industry Awards entries deadline looms! Don 't forget to enter the Water Industry Awards 2018 as there are only a few days le€ in which to enter. The deadline for entries is December 14. The awards, organised by WET News and WWT, celebrate and reward forward thinking and best practice in the water industry. There are a variety of categories to choose from including four new ones: Water Company of the Year, Water Industry Contractor of the Year, Sludge & Resource Recovery Initiative of the Year, and Water Resilience Initiative of the Year. Check them out wwtonline. co.uk/awards, where you can also see our fantastic judging line-up; get a downloadable entry pack; and ‡ nd details of sponsors Concrete Pipeline Systems Association (CPSA), Nomenca Group, and Asset International (Weholite) All companies can enter – large or small – with the winners crowned at a prestigious gala event on May 21, 2018 at The Vox, Birmingham. Best of luck! IN A NUTSHELL Anglian Water is reaping the bene† ts of Michelin's 'Fill Up With Air' tyre safety campaign having registered its best ever performance at an annual pressure check event. Since 2011, sta— underwent voluntary tyre inflation tests – and, most notably this year, 63% of employees are driving cars and vans that are running on four correctly inflated tyres, versus 41% in 2016. S evern Trent Water has em- barked on a trial to detect leaks from space to help achieve its target of reducing leakage levels by 15%. The company is working with Rezatec, which analyses di„ erent types of satellite data and imagery to monitor changes in the landscape near to the pipe. This includes changes to the vegetation, water content in soil, water accumulation and sub-centimetre ground move- ment all of which help to iden- tify potential leakage. It is also doing some work with Utilis, using a Japanese satellite 637km above the earth. The technology works by pick- ing up a signature of longwave radiation of chlorine in water, tracking the "signature" of drinking water escaping into the ground. The trials have so far identi- ‡ ed many points of interest, which teams are then following up with onsite investigations.« Any leaks found are then planned in and ‡ xed as soon as possible. Dr Bob Stear, head of Inno- vation at Severn Trent,«said: "At the moment leakage detection hasn't developed much in the way of new emerging ¬ Utility cites a lack of emerging technologies to help tackle leakage for it 'taking a chance' on satellites. Severn Trent trials leak detection from space technologies, so we've chosen to take a chance on satellites. We're doing two trials to ‡ nd leaks in di„ erent ways. "We're really excited to be working on this. Its early days so far, but it's looking really promising.« What's really impressive, is that we're picking up leaks as small as boundary boxes and leaks on valves – something that is normally incredibly di® cult to pinpoint." Stear added: "With this new satellite technology, the time it takes to locate leaks should sig- ni‡ cantly reduce, which is obvi- ously great news for leakage levels and our customers. We can see clearly the value that this level of geospatial data insight can deliver, and we fully expect to be able to improve our costs and e® ciency by making better informed decisions when ‡ nding and ‡ xing leaks." Philip Briscoe, chief operat- ing o® cer of Rezatec, said: "It's incredible what we can under- stand from satellite data in rela- tion to monitoring asset net- works. Identifying high risk areas of underground pipeline infrastructure and detecting symptoms of leakage is a cost- e„ ective alternative to more tra- ditional methods as its non- invasive, frequently updated and highly scalable." Nick Haskins, of SUEZ UK, the exclusive representative of Utilis in the UK and Ireland, is very excited to be working alongside Severn Trent with this ground-breaking technol- ogy: "Using a satellite, orbiting the Earth at 633km, o„ ers the most up-to-date and innovative method for locating water leaks. This gives water compa- nies the ability to survey the whole water pipe network in a single operation. This, of course, has the added bene‡ t of being completely discreet to the customer and without any dis- ruption to them." RESERVOIRS & WATER TOWERS, CLEAN & SEWAGE TREATMENT WORKS, STEEL/ CONCRETE TANKS & VESSELS, SPILLWAYS & AQUEDUCTS, BRIDGES, PIPEWORK, PIPE BRIDGES & OTHER ASSETS. FULL CIVILS CAPABILITY INC NEW BUILD SERVICE RESERVOIRS & OTHER PROJECTS. CALL US FOR OUR FULL SCOPE OF SERVICES. INDUSTRY LEADERS IN THE REFURBISHMENT OF WATER RETAINING STRUCTURES & ASSOCIATED ASSETS water courses clean water waste water civils

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