Water & Wastewater Treatment Magazine
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/971076
18 | MAY 2018 | WWT | www.wwtonline.co.uk • ILLEGAL NETWORK USE any instances to the water regulations team. Following on from the success of that initiative, Severn Trent began rolling out the educational programme to the public, using social media and letter drops to target areas suffering from a heightened number of discolouration complaints, and encouraging customers to report suspicious behaviour on the website. "We just made it as easy as possible and, around August last year, we noticed that reports coming in of illegal use from customers overtook the amount of employee reports," Littlewood says. Another initiative saw Severn Trent make the standpipes that are available for legal hire green, allowing casual onlookers to spot illegitimate use more easily. In 2017, the company received a total of 606 reports of illegal hydrant use. "The tagline we've put on it is: Green is clean," Littlewood says. "Companies can hire the green standpipes from Aquam Water Services. "There's three major benefits to hiring these approved standpipes. Number one, they've got a meter on, so the use is captured. Number two, these standpipes incorporate a double-check valve, which prevents water backflowing and keeps the end use separate from the drinking water in the main. The third and definitely most important aspect is they come with training, which ensures they know how to use them so they won't cause any of the issues – the transient surges, the bursts, the loss of supply, the discolouration." Over the course of 2016/17, Severn Trent saw a 13.24 per cent decrease in the type of discolouration complaints that relate to illegal hydrant use. Locking caps – for which only Severn Trent employees and the fire service hold keys – also help to curb activity. "The locking caps have been useful, but they're not fool-proof," he says. "They're more of a deterrent. It's difficult to get them off without a key, but it is possible, and we've seen the odd case where they've been smashed." The strongest deterrent may be prosecution under the Water Industry Act 1991 although, as a summary only offence, the water companies must bring charges within six months of the offence and have evidence of it occurring. "We operate almost a zero-tolerance The Works: water theft policy," Littlewood says. "If we've got a case where it's clear who the offender is, unless there's any extreme mitigation, we'll usually always prosecute. If it's something that has or could have caused problems to the customers then it's something we're very likely to prosecute on. That's the key decision-maker – whether it's in the public interest." Guilty parties can only be fined £1,000 per offence plus court costs, and Littlewood says: "In a number of cases, the magistrates will actually say: 'Our hands are tied but we feel the offence warrants a bigger fine'. Especially in cases where customers have gone without water or had dirty water for long periods of time, it's frustrating that the fines are not higher." An example of illegal standpipe use Severn Trent has painted its standpipes that are available for legal hire bright green, so illegal use from other points is more obvious to spot