Water & Wastewater Treatment

www.wwtonline.co.uk | WWT | SEPTEMBER 2014 | 13 Comment L ong time readers of WWT may have been surprised to find a picture of a floppy-haired, Simon-Cowell-styled, boy band enfant terrible Harry Styles in the news pages of this issue. These aren't the gossip pages of a red-top daily, nor has WWT morphed into an X-Factor fanzine, yet there he is in all his carefully dishevelled glory. The reason? The same as a lot of the column inches he gets, his night-time antics. However, in a break from the gossip pages and the red tops, we aren't concerned with what he gets up to in the bedroom – it's the bathroom that we're far more concerned with. A seemingly innocuous video clip of the star brushing his teeth, posted for his global army of fans, appears to show that Harry, while media savvy, is not water wise. Harry, it turns out, is Harry ever a er not a tap-turner-offer. As United Utilities was quick to point out, the water in the clip is head- ing in 'one direction' and that's down the plughole. So, aside from providing a rap across the tattooed knuckles of Mr Styles, why is this important? Well, it's all about scale. At the time of going to press, the clip, which lasts mere seconds, had been viewed close to 1.5 million times. A clip of someone brushing their teeth. No words, no upbeat song about finding the right girl, no sound at all in fact. Just a young man, brushing his teeth and running the tap. Engaging with the customer base to reduce water usage (and wastage) is core to longer term water security. Changing behaviours and habits around water is a very real challenge for water companies. Now, I'm not suggesting that Harry's lapse at the bathroom sink will cause all of his fans to leave taps running in adora- tion; to wilfully waste water as proof of devotion to their favourite band. The clip doesn't present Harry's be- haviour as any kind of endorsement or recommendation to brush your teeth in a certain way. WILL PARSONS MANAGING EDITOR wwtedit@fav-house.com @WWTWEETING However, what if it had been? Let's pretend, for a moment, that a global superstar with the kind of social media following (21.7 million twitter follow- ers), influence and traction of Styles and his One Direction bandmates have, did make a recommendation about how fans should brush their teeth. And, let's assume that recom- mendation was to turn off the tap while you brush. Based on the recom- mended two minutes minimum brush- ing twice a day, and a running tap wasting six litres of water per minute; and taking into account multiple views of the same video, viewers who have a more academic interest in watching popstars brush their teeth and those so intransigent that even a plea from their favourite celebrity won't get them to change their oral hygiene routine, and you're still looking at more than 10 million litres of water saved every day. That's enough to supply a city the size of Belfast. So in an age of celebrity, it seems water reduction might just boil down to getting the right person to say the right thing. Of course that's only one direction to go in, but it seems like the right direction to me. Industry view sponsored by Keith Hayward, National sales and marketing manager Hydro International UK Wastewater Division What is the biggest challenge facing the UK water industry? Competition? Regulatory reform? Boom and bust in the supply chain?– they would all get plenty of votes from WWT readers. But according to the outgoing chairman of the Environment Agency, Lord Chris Smith, there's only one undeniable answer: It's climate change. The developing impact of changing weather patterns will shape everything in water policy for the next 30 to 40 years, he believes. Our first hand experience of swings between drought and floods seem to confirm that climate change is with us to stay – but the effects can be catastrophic. According to a report The water challenge that waits for no man published earlier this year by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), disasters caused by weather-, climate- and water-related hazards are on the rise worldwide. Flooding poses the greatest risks of all. For wastewater operators, climate change presents a particularly uncomfortable 'double whammy': On the one hand, adapting sewerage and treatment plant assets to be resilient to increasing weather pressures requires upgrading of equipment. On the other hand, building new plant to cope with increased flows is likely to increase energy usage and carbon footprint, contributing to the very greenhouse gases that made the new processes necessary: A vicious circle. In a country where a reputed climate change skeptic can still get to be (albeit briefly) Secretary of State for the Environment, surely we need to have a more determined and revolutionary approach to adaptation measures? Operators will need to monitor more closely what effect changing weather patterns have on operating efficiency and energy usage. That means more awareness of how key processes in wastewater treatment, like grit removal for example, are affected by the likely greater variation in flows. As we move into AMP6, we need open minds to innovation and complete commitment to Totex approaches, prioritising energy-saving solutions – like processes that use gravity rather than power for example. There must also be a much greater focus on positive and pro-active maintenance regimes and condition monitoring, to optimise equipment efficiency and minimise electricity consumption. Wastewater treatment also has to be galvanized into a process for energy recovery, rather than waste to be dealt with, as part of a truly integrated water management strategy. Not much to ask for, but there's no denying it's a necessity. For more information from Hydro International's UK Wastewater Division please call 01353 645700, email enquiries@hydro-int.com or visit www.hydro-int.com.

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