TECHNICAL FEATURES
Why it’s smart to increase your
sewer network monitoring by DaveWalker BSc (Hons), BA, co-founder of Detectronic
Effectively managing hundreds of thousands of miles of sewer network is not an enviable task. And with ever changing industry regulation, stricter statutory targets, additional compliance and a growing abundance of technology, that task could easily be regarded as insurmountable. How can you ever know exactly what’s going on throughout your entire network? It’s impossible. Or is it?
Expert supplier support and solutions are now widely available to enable every water company to achieve the goal of a smart sewer network and it all starts with the decision to increase existing sewer network monitoring. The aim is to always be one step ahead and, ultimately, be in position where you actually understand the entire DNA of your sewer network.
PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE
As defined by the Water Industry Act, 1991, the duties of a water and sewage company (WASC) in relation to wastewater services are:
To provide, improve and extend a system of public sewers, and to cleanse and maintain them to ensure its area is effectively drained; and to make provision for emptying its sewers and the treatment of sewage.
Having had three decades to get to grips with these duties, several WASCs have forged ahead after realising they can effectively meet their duties AND comply with stringent regulatory measures and targets by creating smart sewer networks. Having strategic monitoring and predictive analytics in place is enabling them to identify any issues before they arise. The old adage – “prevention is better than cure” – is now broadly accepted by the UK water industry.
But there is, as always, room for improvement! And, when we take into account the constantly evolving regulatory and compliance landscape, continual improvement is ‘de rigeur’. It is one of the reasons, alongside the constant need to achieve cost-savings, that we have been encouraging water companies to increase their sewer network monitoring for many years.
MEETING REGULATORY AND INDUSTRY COMPLIANCE
Established in 1989 following the privatisation of the water and sewage industry in the UK, Ofwat is the non-ministerial organisation tasked with regulating the water sector. One focus of Ofwat is the long-term stewardship of the environment, assets and relationships with customers. As such, along with Government statutes and mandates, Ofwat sets specific regulations, measures and targets that water companies must adhere to and meet in order to avoid financial penalties and, as a consequence, commercial and reputational damage.
As you would expect, these regulations, measures and targets are under constant scrutiny and are subject to regular review with revisions and new regulation being introduced
all the time. For example, back in March, the Government introduced legal measures to reduce sewage discharges from storm overflows in a bid to reduce the harm they can cause to waterways and wildlife.
Storm overflows play a key role in preventing the sewer network from becoming overburdened with sewage and rainfall in the event of wet weather. They provide a release for diluted wastewater in rivers. Unfortunately, the reliance on storm overflows has increased in the last few years as a result of an increased number of annual rainfall events and a wastewater infrastructure that is being overwhelmed by an escalating population.
Forming part of a wider agenda to build a greener environment following the pandemic, these measures demand that water companies reduce their dependence on storm overflows. As such, the Government hopes this will translate in a dramatic reduction in the levels of sewage in UK waterways over the long-term.
Part of the measures place a clear duty on WASCs to publish data on their annual storm overflow operations. They must also work closely with the Storm Overflows Taskforce which was established in September 2020 to bring key stakeholders together to ensure
46 | March 2022 |
www.draintraderltd.com
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 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84
