THE MAGAZINE FOR THE DRAINAGE, WATER & WASTEWATER INDUSTRIES
MAIN FEATURE
technologies can also be developed in the next decade to spread the increasingly enormous load on electricity. Doesn’t having all our eggs in one basket make you very nervous?
What are the latest developments in electric technology? And can they really be practical in hard to get at places unconnected to the National Grid – or even to mains water? Electric and other alternatives to heavy duty equipment seem to be few and far between and still in the early development stages. With those deadlines looming ever closer for the end of diesel and petrol engines, we could really be in a bit of bother before long.
We are all being asked to ‘do our bit’ in terms of reducing our carbon footprint and trying to use renewable forms of energy, rather than fossil fuels. But battery technology for commercial electric vehicles is quite a way behind that of the car and most engineers in this industry have diesel-powered vans and larger vehicles that need a fair bit of power, whether through jetting, suction, basic off-road capability or other operations. The irony of it all is that the drainage engineer’s work – and the ongoing need for high powered equipment – is likely to be in increasing demand as the global weather extremes of heat and flooding continue and indeed increase. So, how can this industry make itself greener?
put out assurances that it can cope with the huge expected increase in electricity demand, let’s hope some other
There are some remarkably excellent examples of more efficient methods already in use, such as waste vacuum tankers that are also water recyclers, thereby reducing journeys and fuel and returning filtered water back to the point of origin, for example. But what else is
out there? Let’s take a look.
How are drainage operators and manufacturers improving their green footprint?
David Johnson, marketing and business development manager at Pump Technology, said that as a company they were doing lots of things to be greener: from changing their packaging so that 90 per cent is recycled and recyclable again too, to looking closely at the materials used in the construction of their pumps. This currently equates to around 80 per cent of the metals, plastics and elastomers for seals and copper windings all being recyclable at the end of life. Every floor mounted box is now made from polyethylene and for every box sold Pump Technology gives money to the Rainforest Trust. They even produce a Cinderella incinerating toilet.
David said: “Our customers want things to be greener so ultimately it will apply to the drainage industry, even if the raw material going down the drains isn’t. Successfully getting our sewerage out of a building and into a public sewer is one thing, but the subsequent treatment of that is another issue entirely and there have been a number of instances of water companies pumping outflows and examples of sewerage discharges. Here in Cornwall they don’t seem to like rainfall!”
David is a keen sea swimmer and kayaker and so has a vested interest in what happens to our sewerage once it leaves our homes and businesses. He was behind the company recently sponsoring Surfers Against Sewage and says SAS do reports on sewerage pumping discharges.
Pump Technology DrainMajor
FOLLOW US
October 2023 |
5
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 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88
