WET News

S outh West Water has completed a £5M investment in wastewater treatment in East Devon. Ottery St Mary Wastewater Treatment Works has been decommissioned and a new state-of-the-art works has been constructed next to the existing works at Fluxton. The old site at Ottery remains as an operational site but is now only used for • ow control and storm storage. The project took three years to devise, develop and deliver. The new works was designed and built by South West Water's H5O delivery alliance in partnership with the company's wastewater team. South West Water Scientist Dr Nick Gardner said: "Ottery St Mary Wastewater Treatment Works was coming to the end of its useful life. Parts of the works dated back to the 1960s, though New £5M wastewater treatment works in East Devon there had probably been some sort of treatment process on the site for years before that. The works was diŒ cult to access and had become challenging to operate, and as the population of Ottery grew, it struggled to cope." Wastewater from all of Ottery St Mary is now treated at the new Fluxton and Ottery St Mary Wastewater Treatment Works, which serves a population of around 7,200. "The original works at Fluxton, which treated waste from Tipton St John, Fluxton, " State-of-the-art WwTW constructed with H5O delivery alliance A– er Labour stoked the debate over the renationalisation of the industry, we look at how Twitter reacted. T he shortlist has been unveiled for the Water Industry Awards, the annual celebration of excellence in the water industry organised by WWT and WET News. This year sees 71 entries shortlisted across 14 categories, with projects and initiatives from every corner of the UK featuring as water utilities, their contractors and suppliers put forward their best work. Re• ecting current regulatory trends emphasising innovation, resilience and new areas of market competition, this year the awards feature four new categories: 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. The awards will be handed out at a glittering black-tie ceremony on Monday 21 May at the Vox, Birmingham. This takes place on the eve of Utility Week Live, the showpiece annual exhibition for the utility industry. The awards are sponsored by the British Precast Drainage Association, Galliford Try, NM Group and Asset International. "With a healthy number of entries this year and an extremely high standard, our judges had a very diŒ cult time determining the shortlist for the Water Industry Awards and an even harder time picking the winners," WWT and WET News Editor James Brockett says. "Our new categories provoked some especially intense debate. Join us on 21 May in Birmingham to ¤ nd out who comes out on top." You can view the full awards shortlist at wwtonline.co.uk/ awards. Wow! It's been a long time since #UK #water has been such a hot political potato! @Waterscan @SMFthinktank £90bn price tag on #renationalisation of water. @CPSThinkTank reported, UK water and sewerage companies invested £50bn in ˆ rst 15yrs to catch up with past under- investment and more than £140bn total investment since #privatisation. @jessjohn_artist IN THE MOST DEMANDING ENVIRONMENTS I really don't care about the politics in all of this but if water companies have paid out anything like £13.5bn in dividends to shareholders that has been at a colossal environmental cost to London's rivers. That is the real scandal in all of this. @Feargal_Sharkey I think the key Q to #water #nationalisation is: would public ownership = lower consumer prices and better service? @stu_daviesUK design challenge. "Fluxton is now one of our most eŒ cient and technologically advanced activated sludge treatment works. We've also been able to incorporate a new phosphorus removal process. Phosphorus is an essential element for life in small amounts but if there is too much in a river it can act like a fertiliser, causing excessive weed growth. Phosphorus has also been linked with algal blooms in Lyme Bay, which is where the River Otter ends up near Budleigh Salterton. "So not only are we are pleased with the new works, but it's good news for the water quality of the River Otter, and I expect the otters and beavers are very happy too," concluded Gardner. wwtonline.co.uk | MARCH 2018 WET NEWS 3 Shortlist for WIA con rmed West Hill and about a third of Ottery itself, was le– running while we built a completely brand-new works right next door," Gardner said. "To combat the risk of • ooding from the River Otter, the works is built at elevation rather than at ground height, which was another If private proˆ t is the problem, why not consider not-for-proˆ t (Glas Cymru) or government company option (Scotland and NI Water) as alternatives to #water re-nationalisation. @ArtesiaRob WET News is registered at Stationers' Hall. Origination by Faversham House and TR Clash Ltd. Printed by Buxton Press, Palace Road, Buxton, Derbyshire, SK17 6AE. Copyright 2018. Faversham House. No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior written permission from the publishers. Every e¥ ort is made to ensure the accuracy of material published in WET News. However, Faversham House will not be liable for any inaccuracies. The views expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of the editor or publishers. The text and cover paper are manufactured from certiˆ ed sustainable sources and are produced with reduced environmental impacts via a recognised and independently audited management scheme. Technical articles of full page, or more appearing in this journal are indexed by British Technical Index. Editor James Brockett: jamesbrockett@fav-house.com Deputy editor Robin Hackett: robinhackett@fav-house.com Ad sales Lesley Evans: lesleyevans@fav-house.com Classifi ed sales Mark Scott: markscott@fav-house.com Production controller Sharon Miller: sharonmiller@fav-house.com Publisher Angela Himus: angelahimus@fav-house.com Published by Faversham House Ltd, Faversham House, Windsor Court, Wood Street, East Grinstead, West Sussex, RH19 1UZ Call: 01342 332000 1yr: UK £121 Overseas (airmail) £135/$196 2yr: UK £215 Overseas (airmail) £243/$353 Tel: 01342 332 2031 Email: subscriptions@fav-house.com Search WET News' archives for more jobs, news, features, products and services, events and training courses. wwtonline.co.uk WET News is a member of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (which regulates the UK's magazine and newspaper industry). We abide by the Editors' Code of Practice and are committed to upholding the highest standards of journalism. If you think that we have not met those standards and want to make a complaint, please contact the editor. If we are unable to resolve your complaint, or if you would like more information about IPSO or the Editors' Code, contact IPSO on 0300 123 2220 or visit www.ipso.co.uk Average circulation Jan-Dec 2017: 6,110

• Cover