WRc Waste Doctors raising funds for Reuse Network through their RWM24 Pledge Book
Published on: 11 Sep 2024
Read moreDay 1 and 2 at the WRc sponsored Lining up Value sprint have been all about hopes and fears: hopes for the bright future of the technology and fears that it is not well enough known, but really ought to be! (Spoiler alert: this sprint is going to focus on getting the message out about this 21st
century technology!)
What’s this sprint all about?
The distribution network is aging, and companies are struggling to finance the rate of replacement required to keep pipes healthy. This is impacting on burst and leakage rates, and water quality. Structural relining is an alternative to mains replacement and allows the asset life of viable pipes to be extended by 30 or more years at much lower unit costs. With the expected pressure on base cost allowances in the current Price Review, the need for cost efficiency has never been more apparent.
Lining up Value was focused on exploring how to improve the market value of water mains spray lining to keep pipes healthy in the face of an ageing distribution network. Read on to find out why the focus of the spring has shifted, which is what sprints are great for, being flexible and responsive.
WRc’s Steve Webber brought alive the history of the technology and then shifted the conversion to this decade and the fantastic technologies we’ve got now, today in 2024… quite a different to what was available in the 1980s.
Attendees at the sprint have an impressive 20 to 40 years’ experience and all are keen to find a way to move this technology from the 80s to the far more effective version of it 21st century self.
Day 1 was all about hopes and fears. With loads of experts in the room, the sprint really niched down into spray lining, pulling out some of the lessons learned during the attendees’ careers. Day 1 identified the big frustration: those in the industry know the problem - the ageing network, especially the pipes – and they know there is a super-viable product to use, it’s just not being seen or used.
Today, Day 3, everyone here at the Lining up Value sprint, has arrived at the point where the problem they thought they would explore isn’t the one they were originally focused on. Instead, they’ve got something else to explore, and that’s how to make the technology more viable and visible and a prime choice of the water companies.
Overcoming the blocks
There are a few recognised blockages in the way to achieving that tech-adoption goal, including the sharing of information. People don’t know it’s feasible and viable. They go past it because historically it’s been piloted in the wrong way. This was a hot topic of discussion on Day 2, that pilots aren’t fit for purpose. Often, they choose the wrong stretch of main to do the spray lining. Yet when it’s used on a real job the results are fantastic. On Day 2 David Lilley of Yorkshire Water came in to talk about how YW are getting around the 3-hour cutoff, which was fascinating. The attendees had so many questions. Yorkshire Water has refined and defined their process and now have a protocol, which they are open about sharing. Dave explained that they have different technologies that they bring in a different stage, including showing the train of trucks lined up along a street and what each one’s task is.
On Day 2 the sprinters also explored what water companies can be doing during the three-hour shut down. If it was extended, what other problems could be fixed at the same time? What other benefits could be passed on to the customer? What other added value could this bring while the network is shut down?
Day 3 is all about how to put a case forward to the water companies to get them to look properly at the technology instead of looking past it. The sprint has two speakers coming joining today: Robert Bates from Designer Liner and WRc’s Shaun Mason. Rob Bates will talk about the Yorkshire Water-led Ofwat Innovation Fund project that’s looking to deliver a lining solution fit for a 21st century clean water network, and Shaun will talk about the pre-planning stage and how to get it right early doors to avoid problems further down the line.
Attendees will also have a chance to look at old pipework that can transition from almost blocked with deposits to an almost new-looking and lined pipe.
The sprint has proved how agile and productive they can be, with its switch in focus from selling the tech to asking, “What’s the real blocker that’s stopping the water companies from using this technology?”
“This sprint has been very techie. Everyone has been ‘geeking out’ on it. It’s been fantastic,” says sprint facilitator Chris Cook. “I’m looking forward to the next two days.
If anyone already at the Festival wants to come along to help us throw a spot light on the amazing new technology now available, please come along to Tent 35 and join us.