Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 22ND - 28TH JUNE 2018 | 11 Policy & Regulation A modern paradox We often talk about water utilities, when we should be talking about the utility of water. Chief executive's view Ian McAulay, Southern Water W ords, their mean- ings and the way they are used fascinate me, especially when they tell a compelling story. Utility is one of those words. As a noun it has two definitions: 1. An organisation supplying a service such as electricity or water to the public. 2. The state of being useful or beneficial. I feel pretty much the same about water. Water is fundamen- tal to health, wellbeing, busi- ness, tourism and leisure; it's essential for the production of food and energy and for sustain- able economic growth across countries generally. In short, it has enormous util- ity. Yet, and here is the first para- dox, in much of the first world it is routinely taken for granted. The second paradox is that the "utility of water", which is what I believe we should be talk- ing about most, is frequently and inaccurately transposed to "water utilities" in discussions. I believe that situation is changing and changing quickly, which is an exciting prospect. I was taught that when developing future strategic approaches, recognising the potential for disruptive change is extremely important. One must identify all megatrends that could potentially impose change to a business or sector. They must then be assessed in terms of impact, low to high, and then finally in terms of convergence. A good rule of thumb is that three high-impact megatrends con- verging indicates that disruptive change lies ahead. So what megatrends do we observe in relation to the future of water in the UK? Better appre- ciation of the environment, greater environmental ambition from the public and govern- ment, increasing water scarcity and flooding (at the same time), climate change, population growth, the need for economic growth, growing water tourism, global technology advances, increasing cyber-threats, Brexit and CAP reform. I'll stop there but there are more. How do I rank them in terms of impact? Probably all high. Convergence? Again probably all but certainly more than three. All water utilities are at the heart of our communities and play a crucial role in realising the utility of water in underpin- ning the socioeconomic wealth of our region and the country. It starts with our role in pro- viding wholesome water and protecting, maintaining and improving the environment – but those megatrends mean we have to think differently and play a wider, bigger role in future. At Southern Water we're using innovative and ambitious programmes to tackle issues and opportunities through partner- ship and collaboration while also transforming our business to achieve a sustainable water future. We have made great pro- gress in helping our customers reduce the amount of water they use through an industry-first universal metering programme – which has led to a 16 per cent fall in consumption. Also, we have an ambitious project – called Target 100 – to help customers reduce daily use to 100 litres per person by 2040. To achieve this, we're working with planning authorities and housebuilders, embedding water sustainability into new homes and retrofitting properties with water-efficient products. We're also making excit- ing technology advances. This includes innovations such as DataWell, which we're co-creat- ing with Google to allow water companies to seamlessly share key operating data with regula- tors and scientists. Remote monitoring of many of the key information drivers from our operations is being integrated with more sophisti- cated network management pro- cesses and systems. Having been a technology laggard, the water sector has an enormous oppor- tunity to move quickly from reac- tive to prescriptive analytics and to more automation. It's not enough for water to be a standalone sector. We must work with other industries and organisations. As an example, we're working with farming communities to establish the potential for agri-water net- works – a different kind of water service that would enable our wastewater treatment to be more productive. At many of our sites we're already well on the way to being energy neutral, but our ambi- tion is to go further and be a net exporter, and to install energy storage as well. We could also use our sites as distributed generation hubs for commu- nity energy, another emerging megatrend. Southern Water's catch- ment-based approach to water resource and environmental management is another innova- tion. Retaining as much water to be used by customers is a necessity. Refill and efficiency schemes are vital, but water re- use innovation is equally impor- tant to create headroom. Managing upstream for qual- ity and quantity is important too. Working with farmers to manage raw water quality in catchments is already established. We are piloting nitrate-management schemes that I believe will be the forerunners of future ecosystem service frameworks and fit well in subsidy reform. Developing rain gardens and managed water flow through substantial green infrastructure fits well too. All of this means thinking of customers in a wider and more innovative way and putting them at the heart of our utility of water thinking. Read the full article online at www.utilityweek.co.uk

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