WATER INDUSTRY ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS
Pioneering programme scoops prize A pioneering postgraduate programme delivered by five major academic centres of excellence in water science and engineering scooped the People Initiative of the Year prize. The STREAM programme, an Industrial Doctoral Centre (IDC) for the Water Sector funded through
Less Mess! wins FOG award
Prof Simon Parsons and the Cranfield team
the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council and with project sponsorship from companies in the water sector, is the first example of a multi-university collaboration at PhD or EngD level in the sector. The programme enables talented researchers to develop their skills and careers, while obtaining an Engineering Doctorate (EngD) degree. Professor Simon Parsons, STREAM centre director at Cranfield University, tweeted that he was “over the moon” with the award. “STREAM is a ‘people’ initiative in the broadest sense of the term,” he said. “This achievement further exemplifies the dedication of both the collaborating institutions and those enrolled as research engineers to deliver a quality programme that develops the water sector’s next generation of leaders.”
Nomenca shows health and safety initiative Contractor’s Nomenca’s Positive Interventions policy on health and safety has won the company this year’s H&S Water Industry Achievement Award. The behavioural campaign has been about proactive workforce involvement. Nomenca introduced full time safety coaches promoting safe working practices and robust ‘near miss’ reporting. This significantly contributed to mitigating minor accidents through the use of pre-paid postcards on site and entering online onto our intranet system. Analysis of the near miss incidents raised resulted in interventions such as an all-site glove policy, a re-examination of personal protective clothing and the provision of additional training.
A Nomenca health & safety coach displays the company’s new slogan
Wales gets SUDS message Dŵr Cymru and MWH’s development and
implementation of a Surface Water Management Strategy for the whole of Wales won them the title for SUDS & Flood Management Inititative. This strategy involved postitive stakeholder engagement to change
It was her own experience of the cost of clearing a drain blocked with fats oils and grease (FOG) that prompted entrepreneur Tina Pearce to design,
Tina Pearce of Less Mess! pictured with compère Paul Tonkinson and WWT editor Natasha Wiseman; the Fat Trap (above, left)
develop and introduce her Fat Trap product to the market. Without any commercial experience of the water industry itself, her approach was from the consumer perspective and involved encouraging domestic cooks to change their kitchen habits by making FOG disposal easier.
The product itself is a simple 500ml screw top jar, but by liaising with social housing providers and the utilities themselves, Pearce has succeeded in rolling out Fat Traps country wide. Councils, social housing providers and utilities have all reaped the benefits of the Fat Trap. By offering Fat Traps to customers, companies like Anglian Water have started to educate and address the issue at source.
Southern ‘better’ on customer service Southern Water turned around an appalling record on customer complaints with its Help Us Get Better tours to win Customer Satisfaction Initiative of the Year. The utility invited customers who had sent a written complaint to visit one of its treatment works and meet customer service and operational staff.
Listening to the customers: the Southern Water team
Southern says the tours are an innovation in customer care not only for Southern, but throughout the utilities industry. Customers’ comments are captured and used to drive improvements. Southern saw an improvement of 74% in its complaint levels in 2009-2010 and is now moving in the right direction on the Ofwat Customer Complaints Table.
Thames partners are cooking on gas The winner of Partnership Initiative of the Year was the first UK bio-methane or green gas-to-grid project in the UK. The initiative was to take biogas produced from anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge at
Sustainable drainage systems (SUDS) are usually attractive features in the landscape providing aesthetic value
people’s attitudes in managing surface water; direct intervention to reduce flows and developing showcase sites of sustainable urban drainage (SUDS) to show people examples of the systems available using urban ponds and wet land areas to retain water rather than discharge into the sewer system.
Didcot sewage treatment works
Didcot sewage treatment works, condition it to meet the specification of UK gas distribution requirements and inject it into the gas network. The partners each had a common interest and desire to prove the concept of bio-methane and overcome the technical and regulatory hurdles of injecting such gas into the UK distribution system. Thames Water wanted to better use bio-gas from its digesters; Scotia Gas Networks wanted sources of gas developed for the gas network and British Gas wanted sources of gas to meet demand for bio-methane.
April 2011 Water & Wastewater Treatment 37
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48