Collaborative Approach Required to Achieve Zero Pollution
Oct 22, 2020
Water companies can expect increasing scrutiny into their environmental performance, as customer awareness of river and bathing water quality grows. This was among messages from Helen Wakeham, deputy director of water quality at the Environment Agency, during a keynote address at the Zero Pollutions Conference 2020, hosted by technology consultancy Isle.
Speaking on 14 September to an audience of international water professionals, including utilities and suppliers, Wakeham said: “Something has really changed in the past year. Everyone is talking about water quality. Local interest groups are attracting not just local media interest but national media interest. Rivers and beaches are all our shop windows. People notice and people care.”
The conference, hosted by Isle to support the UK water sector as it strives to achieve ambitious pollution targets over the next five years, took place days before the Environment Agency published figures that found just 14% of English rivers are of good ecological standard.
Wakeham also spoke at Isle’s 2019 conference, when she said the agency expected the water industry to “sprint to zero pollutions”. Updating the 2020 audience on the current national picture, she said: “It doesn’t feel like we are sprinting at the moment, I don’t think we’ve even sashayed. The public could be forgiven for thinking we haven’t even heard the starting gun.”
Wakeham said there were areas of progress, however, particularly in innovation for real-time sewer monitoring and areas of both large and small-scale investment. She added that companies’ incident reduction planning should be innovative and forward-looking and the opportunity to communicate with an increasingly engaged customer base should be seized to regain public confidence.
“We need to be able to say what we’re doing, what we’ve done and what we’ve achieved. There are lots of opportunities that can make for a really positive conversation about water quality with the public. We need to tell a much broader story about the water industry and its role in the environment.”
The conference also included presentations from Anna Boyles, head of performance, risk and optimisation at Thames Water, who spoke about the companies’ intelligence-led approach to pollution reduction, Peter Hadfield, recently retired from Sydney Water, Australia, who presented on the company’s award-winning Keep Wipes out of the Pipes campaign and Rebecca Burgess from environmental organisation City to Sea, who highlighted the ecological and business benefits of partnership working.
Other speakers included Sarah Purnell, principal research fellow at the University of Brighton’s Centre for Aquatic Environments, who presented research on how data can be used to determine factors influencing pollution performance, Ben Hawkins, innovation business partner at Amey, which has developed an augmented reality app to show customers how flushing the wrong items can lead to sewer blockages, and Nick Wood from EuroTempest, which uses data analytics to manage weather risk in the insurance sector.
Giving the closing remarks was Southern Water chief executive Ian McAulay, who agreed: “Something has changed in just one year. Our customer insight has definitely shown us that the environment is one thing that is truly going up the agenda. Lots of good work is being done and we should never forget that. We have a fabulous set of people in our sector, across all aspects. Helping the individual become part of the collective is screamingly important for me. We can’t do this on our own, it’s got to be a collective so embracing new ways of that is really important.”
Thanking participants after the event, Isle’s UK managing director Ben Tam said: “As the public focus shifts more to the natural environment and areas such as bathing and river water quality, events like this bring home the importance of the work we do. They also reinforce the need for us to work collaboratively and innovatively to bring the necessary environmental improvements we all want to see.”
More News and Articles
Jul 24, 2024
News
UK utilities place multiple orders for settlement tank technology
Northumbrian Water, Southern Water, and Dŵr Cymru upgrading wastewater sites
Three UK water utilities have agreed orders for the installation of a total of six conical settlement …
Jul 22, 2024
Article
Reusing wastewater, rethinking water: Maharashtra's roadmap
How Maharashtra turns wastewater into a resource
Water resource management is a critical issue globally, and in India, the state of Maharashtra is pioneering efforts to regulate and …
Jul 19, 2024
News
Kansas City advances fire hydrant leak detection technology
An acoustic fixed-base pipe monitoring technology that uses fire hydrants to host multi-sensor devices, has already found more than 30 leaks for Kansas City Water, says Lou Rossetti …
Jul 17, 2024
News
When two bores right a wrong
The Edge Underground team is adamant: there is always a risk of things going wrong on a trenchless project, even for the most prepared contractor.
Experience and having the right equipment can be the difference between …
Jul 15, 2024
News
Adapting to a region’s growing water and wastewater needs
Gippsland Water has completed two major projects to provide local communities with water security. Trenchless Australasia takes a look at the two projects helping increase water supply …
Jul 12, 2024
News
Connections made in Glastonbury
Difficult ground conditions called for a specialist solution when new PE pipes for potable water services had to be installed underneath two, 10-metre road crossings in the grounds of the UK’s ultimate music festival …
Jul 10, 2024
Article
The Water-Energy Nexus: Interdependence and Challenges
Niclas Andersson, CEO of AirWater2All, explains the connection between water and energy. The importance of this connection and the areas in which it needs to be considered are explained …
Jul 08, 2024
News
Minimising cultural impacts with trenchless technology
Yarra Valley Water is leveraging the benefits of trenchless technology to lessen impacts on the Upper Darebin Creek branch sewer project.
The project consists of building a 2.7km sewer pipe …
Jul 05, 2024
News
SprayWall: Reinforcing Underground Infrastructure with Unmatched Strength
In the trenchless technology industry, finding a rehabilitation solution that offers ease of installation and exceptional structural integrity is paramount.
For three decades, …
Jul 01, 2024
News
“Don’t let stereotypes hold you back”
Trenchless Australasia sat down with Rob Carr project manager Marie Piette to discuss her career and work at the microtunnelling contracting company.
From Norway to Cambodia and now Perth, Western Australia, …
Jun 28, 2024
News
Transforming Wastewater: Towards Climate-Neutral Sewage Treatment
Baden-Württemberg’s Minister President Winfried Kretschmann recently toured the Büsnau Training and Research Sewage Treatment Plant, where a pioneering project led by researchers …
Jun 26, 2024
News
Bothar advances with significant new contracts
Having commenced work on the Fitzroy to Gladstone Pipeline earlier this year, Bothar Boring and Tunnelling has announced the award of further contracts as part of its ongoing collaboration with …
Contact
Isle Utilities
Louise Elliott
Camelford House | 87-90 Albert Embankment
SE1 7TW London
United Kingdom
Phone:
+44 7714 489 232