Water & Wastewater Treatment Magazine
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www.wwtonline.co.uk | WWT | JULY 2018 | 17 UK urged to follow Germany's lead on phosphorus recovery R ecovering resources such as phos- phorus from sludge should be in- centivised so that it may truly take hold in the UK water sector, Yorkshire Water manager of innovation Jon Brigg told delegates in the Water Theatre at the Utility Week Live exhibtiion. Brigg said Yorkshire Water, which has enjoyed success with an advanced ther- mal conversion (ATC) gasification plant, is trying to take a 'waste nothing, value everything' approach. However, he would like to see the UK following in Germany's footsteps by "legislating out the cheap option to make better use of resources" so as to "stimu- late circular economy principles". Germany has made phosphorus recovery from sewage sludge obligatory for wastewater treatment plants larger than 50,000 PE, with the only exemptions applying to sewage sludge with low phos- phorus content. The regulation does not specify a particular technology and allows scope for innovative recovery processes. Brigg told delegates he thought Ger- many's approach was "very credible" and said recovering nutrients like phosphorus is difficult economically if companies are not faced with incentives or punishment. "I applaud what's happening in Germany," he said. "If you value some- thing, you have to stimulate that value. The phrase we don't like is 'the burning The Talk: events platform'. While we only aspire to be com- pliant, it's never going to change. "We don't necessarily need regulation change but we do need stimulation of a commercial market and an acceptance that we can recover things safely from a waste stream." He said Yorkshire Water would urge its supply-chain partners to explore means of gaining a "much higher level of resource recovery". Ofwat expects innovation on leakage Ofwat's director of customer engagement and outcomes, Jon Ashley, told the event that the regulator expects to promote greater innovation by setting strong leak- age challenges in PR19. Ofwat is challenging companies to reduce leakage by 15 per cent as part of its PR19 methodology and Ashley said there had been a "mixed response" from the companies, with some "really recognising there was a need for an ambitious reduc- tion in leakage" and others believing the target may be a step too far. One delegate highlighted the man- ner in which Ofgem had incentivised risk-averse energy companies to pursue innovation through the Innovation Fund- ing Incentive (IFI) and then the Network Innovation Allowance (NIA). Asked if Ofwat might adopt a similar We round up the highlights of the water-related content at Utility Week Live, the showpiece utilities exhibition of 2018 Robin Hackett and James Brockett report from Birmingham approach, Ashley said: "We don't have the innovation funding in the way Ofgem has at the moment, but one of the ways we're stimulating innovation is by really pushing companies on their leakage com- mitments, like the 15 per cent reduction challenge, on the basis that necessity is the mother of innovation." He added that new chief executive Rachel Fletcher, who joined Ofwat from Ofgem in January, will be "thinking about different incentives" for the forthcoming Price Review. He said public opinion would play a part in ensuring leakage will be a major issue in AMP7, even if Ofwat would not be taking its cue from the media coverage of the topic. "Leakage is a high-profile issue for the water industry – it's ožen in the media," Ashley said. "These headlines illustrate that we're talking about a very important issue, an issue that matters for our Price Review and for Water Resource Manage- ment Plans. However, our policy for the PR19 on leakage is of course not driven by headlines but by a considered view of the evidence on leakage and through consul- tation with our stakeholders. "One of the key inputs for our policy on leakage is the views of customers, and our policy explicitly allows companies to take account of their customers' views in their performance commitments for PR19.