THE MAGAZINE FOR THE DRAINAGE, WATER & WASTEWATER INDUSTRIES
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targets and trajectories for optimised planning.
As the leading membership organisation for the water industry supplier community, British Water members’ views and expectations were never far from discussions. Delegates expressed their concern that regulation was slowing down innovation and there was little confidence that there would be a smooth transition for the supply chain between the 2020-25 asset management plans (AMP7) and AMP8.
During a panel on optimising solution delivery, speakers from the supply chain stressed the importance of creating minimum asset standards for solutions deployed across multiple water companies. By finding areas where common standards would work and being led by outcomes rather than bespoke specifications, greater innovation and efficiencies could be achieved.
There was reiteration of the need for procurement time reduction and more transparency and long-term visibility of AMP8 work programmes instead of an ad-hoc model.
The day ended with a lively panel exploring whether there should be a collective communications response to the sector’s challenges and the need to engage with customers and communities. Mark Wiltsher, senior director of communications at Ofwat, said that he was not convinced that the apologies from all of the water companies on combined sewer overflows had been great.
“That is what we’re hearing from consumers,” he said, “and it is not helping. Delivering will speak louder, and people’s perceptions of the water sector will change when they notice the difference.”
All agreed that changing public perception of the water sector cannot fall on the shoulders of the water companies alone, and Karma Loveday, founder and editor of the Water Report, asked the panel how the whole sector could take advantage of the massive PR24 investment opportunity to leverage and strengthen communications.
linkedin.com/company/draintrader
One suggestion was for companies in the sector to ensure investment is used to leverage communications and make sure there are strategies in place for delivering messages to the public to build an overall understanding of the sector.
Reflecting on the day, Lila Thompson said, “I was very pleased to hear the strength of feeling from all stakeholders in the water industry around the need to drive a change in culture and behaviour. This is how a collective vision can be developed that can be
communicated to customers.
“It is time for an end to the often adversarial and hierarchical nature of relationships between the regulators, water companies, suppliers, environmental organisations, and wider society – I am hoping that Sir Jon Cunliffe’s review will help set a collective, strategic, vision which prioritises actions for the sector. This will then help the sector deliver for the environment and customers in advance of the third British Water Annual Conference in 2025.”
LeakNavigator delivers 80% conversion rate
for Southern Water Southern Water is working towards a 15% leakage reduction by 2025, writes Tony Gwynne, leakage solutions director, Ovarro
The water company’s Water Resources Management Plan 2024 sets out long- term plans to more than halve leakage by 2050 through a combination of new technologies and enhanced monitoring, using tools such as acoustic sensors and digitalised management systems.
In November 2020, Southern Water began a project with technology company Ovarro to undertake targeted leakage reduction in approximately 40 district metered areas (DMAs) across its region of Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
Fully-managed fixed network
As part of its commitment to use new technology to find leaks, Southern Water became one of the first utilities to deploy Ovarro’s LeakNavigator, the UK’s first fully- managed, fixed network leakage service.
The LeakNavigator package comprises acoustic dataloggers from Ovarro’s Enigma range, a cloud-based analytics platform and the company’s in-house leakage expertise. Ovarro analysts plan out a fixed network of acoustic loggers on
behalf of water companies, support the installation process, analyse the data to pinpoint leaks, raise points of interest (POIs) and assign them directly to technicians.
To start the process, Ovarro’s analysts undertake a pre-assessment of each targeted DMA, establishing the most suitable logger type and install locations. Logger installations are typically carried by the utility’s leakage contractor, although Ovarro can manage the process if required.
Once the loggers are in operation, data is fed into the LeakNavigator analytics platform, LeakInsight, which will generate POIs based on the overnight correlations. Filters can be applied so the platform removes noise such as electrical interference, pressure reducing valves and mechanical water meters. High priority ‘hot spots’ can also be flagged up.
Ovarro’s analysts review each POI that has been generated, checking for consistencies in the data. If the data indicates the strong likelihood of a leak, analysts will assign the POI to leakage
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