Welsh Water has announced that it will make available an additional £32 million for projects that benefit its customers, as the not-for-profit company revealed its results today. The £32 million sum is the equivalent of the dividends that are paid to shareholders in other companies, but because of Welsh Water’s ownership model, this surplus is ploughed back into expenditure that will benefit customers. The money will be used to provide additional financial support for customers struggling to pay their bills; to invest further in renewable energy generation schemes, target improvements for areas suffering repeat problems with their water supply, and to part-fund a new visitor centre at the Llys y Frân reservoir in Pembrokeshire. This £32 million comes in addition to the company’s £1.7 billion capital investment programme for the 2015-20 period, and follows a positive set of results for the utility. Overall, Welsh Water made an underlying profit of £18 million during the year; its operating costs were £297 million with capital expenditure of £279 million. Welsh Water chairman Robert Ayling said: “I am glad and proud to report that after 15 years of our ownership, Welsh Water is in very good shape both operationally and financially. Our sole purpose is to achieve the highest standards for customers at the lowest possible cost. We have shown that our non-shareholder model of ownership can deliver that.” Chief executive Chris Jones said: “Our unique ownership model allows us to use, for the benefit of our customers, money that in other companies would be paid to shareholders. This will help cut our costs – and therefore customers’ bills – by generating more energy on our own sites; by improving the service in areas where we’re having repeat problems; providing additional support for customers struggling to pay; and to help build a new environmental visitor attraction in Pembrokeshire.” “Customers have indicated that they want to see us strike the right balance between keeping bills low today, improving performance where it isn’t to the standard they expect, and investing now to cut the cost for future customers. The additional £32 million of funding announced today will help us strike that balance and our research shows that customers support this package by four to one. “We also believe it is important that customers have a voice in how the value generated by our not-for-profit model is used in the future. We will shortly launch a consultation over the summer months inviting our customers to have their say on this most vital of public services.” Welsh Water’s environmental performance was reflected in the increase in Blue Flags awarded to Welsh beaches in 2016 (47, up from 42 in 2015) – as well as a reduction in pollution incidents during the year (112, down from 122) and internal sewer flooding incidents (222, down from 265 in 2014). Welsh Water’s customer consultation on how surpluses could be used in future years will be launched on 11 July. A version of this article first appeared on wwtonline Source link

Worker’s death ‘an important reminder of health and safety’ Published:  16 May, 2016 The death of a worker following his fall from the roof of a five-storey building has provided employers with an important reminder about the importance of implementing sufficient health and safety measures in the workplace. H20 Plumbing Services, a Birmingham maintenance company, was contracted to carry out repairs on two motor rooms situated on the roof of a building on the Hagley Road, Birmingham. Due to a lack of space, two workers set up a mixing station outside of a protected area, consisting of tarpaulin sheet placed on top of the roof with a plasterer’s bath placed on top. The corners of the tarpaulin sheet were weighted down with bags of rubble, however, while cleaning up at the end of the day wind caused the sheet to blow open and land over the edge of the building. When one of the workers tried to retrieve the sheet he stepped off the side of the building, falling 14 metres and suffering fatal injuries. Graeme Dryden, technical manager at APHC, said: “This case serves as an important reminder to employees about the vital role health and safety procedures play in helping to prevent workplace incidents. Employers have a responsibility to protect the welfare of their staff and, as evidenced by the incident with H20 Plumbing, the penalties of not taking care to do so can be severe.” An investigation carried out by Health & Safety Executive (HSE) into the incident found that H20 Plumbing Services had failed to ensure the safety of its employees during the external repair work. The company pleaded guilty to breaching section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined £100,000, with costs to pay of £25,000. HSE Inspector Amy Kalay said: “This incident was obviously foreseeable. The employees of H20 working at the site were effectively left to their own devices with equipment and a system that was not wholly suited to the task at hand. A suitable and sufficient assessment of the risk, suitable planning, implementation of suitable control measures and adequate and effective site supervision would have prevented this incident from occurring.”   Source link

Creating more resilient drainage systems will require a new level of collaboration between water companies, local authorities and community stakeholders, Water UK’s 21st Century Drainage report has said. The communication document of the multi-faceted programme seeks to be the ‘start of a conversation’ between stakeholders about how these groups can work together to reduce flood risk in sewers and urban infrastructure. It calls on organisations to put aside traditional silos to address shared challenges such as promoting the use of sustainable drainage systems (SuDS), reducing infiltration of sewers, preventing plumbing misconnections, educating the public on what they should put into the sewerage system, replacing ageing infrastructure and reducing pollution from combined sewer overflows (CSOs). The 21st Century Drainage programme, led by a board chaired by Welsh Water’s director of environment Tony Harrington, contains seven distinct workstreams, for which working groups have been formed and project work in underway. These are: communications and engagement; defining and managing drainage capacity; addressing overflows that operate frequently; tackling sewer misuse; groundwater inundation of drainage systems; enablers to progress; and drainage infrastructure deterioration. “The water industry has invested billions of pounds over the last few decades on behalf of customers,” Tony Harrington, chair of the Water UK 21st Century Drainage Programme Board, said in the report’s foreword. “Working in partnership with the UK’s governments, regulators and community groups, we have rivers and streams that are now abundant with life. “There is much still to do, but we have seen the benefits of that investment. However, there are very real external pressures that we have to prepare for now, to ensure our children and grandchildren can build on this success. More people, bigger towns and cities and the effects of climate change will mean a greater demand for water when it’s hot and dry, fewer green spaces to absorb the rain when it’s wet, and more unpredictable weather.” “Everyone in the water sector realises the scale of the challenge, and that is why more than 40 organisations from across the UK – governments, regulators, local authorities, environmental charities, academics and community groups – have joined Water UK for this 21st Century Drainage Programme,” wrote Harrington. “Since the programme started, the political landscape has changed significantly. Those involved in the programme believe it is the right thing to do, irrespective of whether we are subject to wider European legislation, which is why we are seeking to identify the major risks for drainage in the future, and to provide options for policy makers based on sound research and evidence.” The programme is inviting views from all interested parties on how the sector can ‘increase the pace of collaborative action’ across communities, stakeholder and those investing in infrastructure. Views are invited by e-mail at comms@water.org.uk or on Twitter using the hashtag #21CDrainage. View the full report here: http://www.water.org.uk/policy/improving-resilience/21st-century-drainage This article first appeared on wwtonline Source link