What now for Water?
As the dawn breaks on a new political era, it is interesting to reflect on the absence of Water in the electoral debate. Only the Liberal Democrats directly addressed the need to change how we manage our most valuable natural resource and even the Greens were conspicuously silent on the issues of leakage and pollution. One is left to conclude that the Water sector is either politically insignificant or that it is the elephant in the room, too big for either of the main parties to address.
Despite political indifference our sector faces major challenges that demand changes in approach and strategy:
· Climate change, increasing value of resource and posing threats to resilience.
· Demography, altering consumption patterns and increasing demands on infrastructure.
· Ageing assets, increasing vulnerability and risk of failure
· Funding, a broken model that undervalues water and imposes restrictions on investment.
· Regulation, inhibiting innovation and investment.
It is clear that the cumulative effect of these challenges will be to demand a new approach to Asset Management over the next five year period, Water Company Business Plans collectively call for more investment with three main outputs at the top of agendas:
· Leakage and resilience of supply
· Lead Replacement
· Pollution and refurbishment of wastewater infrastructure
Before the Final Determinations it is clear that the demand for investment in critical water infrastructure will exceed the outputs that can be achieved from traditional refurbishment and replacement technologies and that new trenchless technologies will need to be adopted as business as usual to meet the cost challenge and programme requirements.
Pipe Lining has a key role to play in AMP8 and independent research has shown that Trenchless rehabilitation can save up to 75% in costs and reduce CO2 emissions by up to 97% when compared to Open Cut replacement ( Appeldorn : based on 150mm diameter refurbishment).
Lining also delivers other operational benefits :
· Speed – lining requires minimal excavation allowing for greater efficiency with installations of upto 1.5km possible in a single shift.
· Total Installed Costs – lining reduces the need for infrastructure diversions, traffic management and logistics associated with open cut refurbishments.
· Societal Costs – lining reduces asset downtime ( meeting the new 3 hour target) and is generally less disruptive and safer than open cut.
Although lining has been used over several AMP periods the full benefits are yet to be realized and new technologies such as UV curing and Sanivar UK’s SaniTube pull through liner are game changing options that provide greater flexibility and efficiency than traditional CIPP systems that involve lengthy curing times and extensive pipe preparation.
SaniTube is a pressure pipe lining system suitable for operating pressures uti 24 bar. The flexible liner is winched through the existing pipe and then inflated with compressed air and held under pressure through bespoke end couplings. The liner has many benefits over conventional CIPP systems :
· Non cure methodology that maximises install efficiency and reduces costs associated with length cured systems
· Flexibility, with wall thicknesses of <5mm allowing for navigation of bends
· K efficiency (0.007) improving flow rates
· Condition tolerances, requires minimal pipe prepoaration and cleaning
· Rapid and efficient install at 6m per minute
The liner has already been used across Europe for 20 + years on water, sewage and gas networks. To date adoption in the UK has been restricted to use on Wastewater networks with Rising Mains being a key area of interest. Regulatory barriers and the inability of DWI to agree or provide a testing facility for this and other innovative technologies to achieve Reg 31 status enabling use on potable networks means that key outputs relating to water leakage 
cannot currently be addressed in UK.
It is ironic and disappointing that solutions that directly address the need for change are blocked by bureaucracy and regulatory incompetence. Perhaps more worrying is Labour’s promise to empower OFWAT to hold Water Companies to account for pollution incidents. Financial penalties only place further constraints on refurbishment budgets and also act as a red flag for institutional investors, factors that alongside ageing infrastructure will inevitably lead to more asset failures unless new techniques are adopted.
SaniTube offers a great solution for Rising Main refurbishments in AMP8 and it is hoped that it will be adopted as BAU on reactive programmes that deliver sustainable and cost effective solutions rather than the current practices of patching up networks on a reactive basis. Fitting a repair clamp is an admission of failure but exposing a main does provide an opportunity to assess condition and develop a proactive response that minimizes disruption and future proofs networks at a proportionally lower cost.