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Wastewater treatment: Reducing emissions while adding value

The water sector must find ways to cut the emissions from its most energy intensive activity – wastewater treatment. Industry experts discussed how this could be done and what challenges stand in the way of creating a circular economy to benefit from what has previously been considered waste.

By ruth williams

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Latest articles

Yorkshire plans smart sewer network pilots
Yorkshire Water has announced three smart wastewater network pilots aimed at improving understanding of assets as well as reducing sewer flooding and pollution.
News
Developing a success framework for digital twins
Utilities are increasingly looking to digital twins as a way of tackling many of the customer, net zero, regulatory and operational challenges they face. What lessons can be learnt from sectors that are already using this technology?
Opinion
Entries now open for Utility Week Awards
The Utility Week Awards are returning to London’s Grosvenor Hotel this December. See a full list of categories and find out how to enter here.
News

Editor’s picks

Introducing Utility Week Innovate WWT
WWT now has a new home, with the launch of Utility Week Innovate (UW Innovate), a new hub designed to champion and facilitate collaborative innovation.
News
Field forces get digital
Asset-heavy utilities are equipping their remote workers with the technology, skills and support to transform their operational efficiency. Denise Chevin reports.
Analysis
Uniting water’s voices ahead of COP26
British Water’s chief executive talks about the collective action needed for water to have a seat at the table for the UN’s climate conference in Glasgow.
Opinion

Assets

Leaders fear data shortfalls will hinder net zero transitions
Over three quarters of senior utilities leaders have concerns that a lack of robust data about the sustainability of internal and supply chain operations will hamper delivery of net zero transition goals, according to new research conducted by Utility Week.
News
Fifteen RAPID schemes submitted to move water to driest areas
Submissions for 15 strategic water resource schemes have been put forward to Regulators’ Alliance for Progressing Infrastructure Development (RAPID) as part of resilience plans, with the intention of being shovel ready by the start of AMP8
News

Field operations

Leaders fear data shortfalls will hinder net zero transitions
Over three quarters of senior utilities leaders have concerns that a lack of robust data about the sustainability of internal and supply chain operations will hamper delivery of net zero transition goals, according to new research conducted by Utility Week.
News
Saving costs and carbon with data-driven network asset management
Data-driven maintenance and asset management will improve both the customer experience and long-term sustainability. But collecting and managing data comes with costs that can be hard to swallow. Panelists at Utility Week Live Summit, and participants in the workshop session, looked at different use cases and the best way to build a business case.
Analysis
New app lets data flow from standpipes and hydrants
Contractors often need to connect to water company hydrants as part of essential operations, including sewer and drain cleaning, gulley emptying and street sweeping. A new app helps water companies and contractors maintain accurate records of hydrant use, protecting contractors from expensive errors and offering water companies valuable data.
News

Heat

Ofwat names innovation competition winners
Water companies from across the UK as well as supply partners, NGOs and academic groups have been awarded funding for 11 projects from the Ofwat Innovation Fund to tackle shared problems faced by the sector. See the full list as well as the thoughts of Ofwat's John Russell.
News
Thames embarks on home heating sewage scheme
Thames Water and Kingston Council are embarking on a project to capture heat from effluent at a wastewater treatment site and supply it to new housing estate via a district heating network. The network will eventually be expanded to serve public and commercial buildings in Kingston town centre.
News

Smart water networks

Improving safety from the skies: how Damsat is protecting Bristol’s dams
Bristol Water is an early adopter of a new satellite-based safety monitoring system to protect its 15 dams. But how exactly does the Damsat system work, and what can it achieve? Chris Goff, technical director of HR Wallingford, the engineering group behind it, answers UW Innovate’s questions.
Interviews
Optimising performance across the water cycle – by harnessing data to predict and act
Water companies in the UK are facing new legislation to deal with the sewage discharge problem, plus continued regulatory pressure on leaks and water quality. But tech solutions, such as virtual modelling via a ‘digital twin’, are bringing results to water companies in Germany, Sweden and the UK, as Andrew Welsh, sales director for global water technology company Xylem reports.
Comment
Yorkshire Water uses AI to filter out false leak alarms
A trial by Yorkshire, Siemens and Artesia has trained artificial intelligence to learn to distinguish the sound of a leak on Yorkshire's network from other background noises. This 60 per cent improvement lets the company focus its activities on attending and repairing true leaks.
News

Wastewater treatment

Severn Trent tackles tripping outages with AVC power stabiliser
Power quality issues such as voltage sags and surges were the root cause of unexplained outages at a Severn Trent water treatment works (WTW) near Melbourne, Derbyshire. Stuart Dealing, ABB’s product marketing manager, looks at how installing active voltage conditioners (AVCs) resolved the issues.
Analysis
Water Industry Awards 2021: winners revealed
The winners of the this year’s Water Industry Awards have now been unveiled, recognising the best and brightest projects and people the industry has to offer.
News
Route map for water sector collaborative innovation set out
Collaborative innovation within the water sector is currently high on the agenda, thanks to the Ofwat Innovation Fund. A team from the University of Sheffield has distilled its work on how best to build partnering relationships that lead to viable innovations into a new downloadable guide for the sector.
Opinion

Water quality

Optimising performance across the water cycle – by harnessing data to predict and act
Water companies in the UK are facing new legislation to deal with the sewage discharge problem, plus continued regulatory pressure on leaks and water quality. But tech solutions, such as virtual modelling via a ‘digital twin’, are bringing results to water companies in Germany, Sweden and the UK, as Andrew Welsh, sales director for global water technology company Xylem reports.
Comment
Fifteen RAPID schemes submitted to move water to driest areas
Submissions for 15 strategic water resource schemes have been put forward to Regulators’ Alliance for Progressing Infrastructure Development (RAPID) as part of resilience plans, with the intention of being shovel ready by the start of AMP8
News
New app lets data flow from standpipes and hydrants
Contractors often need to connect to water company hydrants as part of essential operations, including sewer and drain cleaning, gulley emptying and street sweeping. A new app helps water companies and contractors maintain accurate records of hydrant use, protecting contractors from expensive errors and offering water companies valuable data.
News
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