Leakage and Catchment Management from the Utility Perspective Water Resource Efficiency, Copenhagen Friday 17 June 2011 Dr Jim Marshall Policy and Business Adviser, Water UK Expert, Eureau Commission 1

22 Contents About Water UK and Eureau Making the link Catchment management Leakage Discussion points

33 3 Water UK Water UK is the industry association that represents UK statutory water and wastewater operators at national and European level. Bring people together to create better policies for the future of water Small team of 7 policy staff plus support

EUREAU European federation of national associations of drinking water suppliers and waste water services Provides sustainable water services to around 405 million European citizens Reflects the full diversity of the European water services sector

55 English Regulatory Structure DWI CC Water EA EA / Natural England Defra (lead govt dept) Sewerage Ofwat Abstraction / storage Distribution ALSO: Health Protection Agency Environmental Health Officers HSE Civil Contingencies

66 Making best use of scare resource Reducing the water we take from abstraction Increasing resources available for drinking water Sustainability is driving the water industry – range of tools to manage the water that we have and the water we will have in the future Better resource management will mean more water available for all users with less carbon impact

77 Catchment Management Working with local farmers and landowners to take actions to protect groundwater and surface waters Benefit in that less material enters raw waters results in less treatment / purification by water utilities About establishing better ways of working – show benefits to all users / financial incentives Requires new ways of working by all stakeholders and regulators

88 Catchment management and UK govt aspirations Recently launched Defra White Paper on the Natural Environment: Aims to set out a case for valuing the “public goods” that the environment provides – water, soil and air White Paper talks of paying for environmental services by beneficiaries Catchment management – work of water companies and farmers seen as exemplar

99 Regulatory issues still to be worked out Approach clearly supported by drinking water and environmental regulators 100+schemes funded in the current price setting period (£50m capital, £7.5m opex) Legally binding with monitoring and reporting requirements Proving effectiveness is key challenge – identifying benefits from catchment management v natural variation Key is working together – regulators / water companies – Catchment Management Forum

10

11 Example – Metaldehyde First detected in 2007 – applied by farmers in pellet form to control slugs and snails Metaldehyde Stewardship Group established ( Providing best practice and guidance – practical advise Sharing information, assessing effectiveness of control measures, working with all stakeholders Decrease in concentrations seen – result of best practice or just a result of poor climate conditions for slugs

12

13

14 Leakage – what is it? Leakage is water lost from pipes transporting water – either as a result of older pipes that crack or hole or as a result of failure at joints / fittings Water lost from system is not lost from the environment But maybe not where its needed, when its needed Management of leakage is therefore primarily economic rather than environmental Saving costs / carbon of lost water new resources

15 What is leakage ~2 Emotive issue Concept of Economic Level of Leakage – ie fixing leaks if the cost of doing so is less than the cost of the water lost Sustainable does not mean zero leakage but minimised leakage Not an absolute measure – based on assumptions and estimates Metering and smart metering may improve data

16 Methods of leakage control Speed and quality of repair Active Leakage Detection Pressure Management Infrastructure Renewal Leakage

17

18 Influences on Leakage

19 Holistic view of Supply/Demand Leakage Target Supply/Demand Balance Supply/Demand Balance Water Use Model Water Use Target Practical Achievement and Cost Leakage Model External Influence Water Abstracted External Influence External Influence External Influence Apparent Loss Target Apparent Loss Model ©Trow/Pearson Practical Achievement and Cost

20 Eureau on leakage Eureau developing a leakage position paper – hopefully agreed this summer About identifying that addressing leakage is a key part of sustainably managing supplies – just one of the tools to do this Leakage measurement should be based on international frameworks – taking account of environmental, social and economic factors - such as the IWA Water Balance model Leakage should be assessed locally at member state level taking account of regional factors

21 Discussion points Paying farmers to prevent pollution – where / who / how? WFD establishes a Polluter Pays Principle – is catchment management a pay the polluter or is it a pollution prevention? Can CAP help? Leakage reduction is just part of a reduction of wastage. Water efficiency and water re-use (domestic and commercial) have a role. But should leakage be assessed on economic terms alone – how far can economics go in determining the true cost of leakage to the environment and society? Innovation – catchment management is exemplar of innovation, leakage detection and reduction is innovative – what else can be done?

Example data Wessex Water Metaldehyde

Durleigh Reservoir Metaldehyde Intensive catchment visits (Wessex Water and EA) Monitoring Financial contributions to farmers switching to non- metaldehyde molluscicides (e.g. Sluxx)

What works best? Wessex / Wagrico / ADAS Wessex Water approach was of voluntary engagement 2005 – 2008 WAgriCo project – EA/NFU/ADAS/WW –Eight Wessex Water catchments –Payments to farmers to do different measures –Fertiliser spreading –Cover crops

Example data Severn Trent Water Nitrates

The Problem Winter peaks in 2000, 2003 and 2004 NO3 spike up to 90 mg/l in 2003/4 NO3 spike up to 50 mg/l in 2000

WHY Investigation showed the peaks to be cyclical, Related to the rearing of pigs in fields adjacent to the boreholes. Pigs managed in 4 blocks with pigs being in 1 block every 2 in 8 years. The fields around the BH make up 1 block Pigs were in the fields next to the BHs in 2000, 2001, 2004 and at their most intensive (weaners) High nitrates due to pigs in adjacent fields

WHAT was done… Initially a new nitrate treatment plant was installed, enabling STW to abide by Drinking Water Standards. Due to this being a costly solution, STW started looking into alternative solutions so that they could: – Cut operating cost – Reduce the need for replacement treatment plants in the future The solution chosen was based on Catchment Management… The STW Catchment Management team worked with Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) and Natural England to organise a meeting with the relevant farmer. Worked with the farmer to move pigs from adjacent fields. Farmer was compensated through EU agricultural environment land payment scheme. He has now entered into a 10 year HLS agreement to put fields to pasture with field buffer strips and management for bees and flowers.