“Investment in the water system is essential to ensure the security of water supply in the future”

Please tell us briefly about your career path and your current role at Severn Trent.

I started at Severn Trent on the graduate programme.  I then moved into a project management role delivering a number of change and IT project implementations.  After that I had several managerial roles centred on fleet and maintenance, before progressing to Transport manager. 

I then moved into a brand new role as Head of Supply Chain, managing a number of large operational and support teams.  This was very much a transformation role and I set up a range of new teams from scratch such as a new hire team and an internal supply chain organisation.  This included insourcing key elements of our materials supply chain, establishing three new Regional Distribution Centres and delivering significant financial savings and service improvements. 

I then moved into the role of Programme Director for Green Recovery with the exciting job of mobilising and delivering on our ambitious projects within this.  I have just taken on a new role as Head of Strategic Capital Programmes that includes Green Recovery and a number of other key strategic programmes.

Could you give us an update on the Witches Oak Water Treatment Works project, and explain its significance?

We want to make sure we all have plenty of our wonderful water - today, tomorrow and in the years to come.  With a growing population and climate change, it has never been more important to provide a secure and resilient water supply for the future.  This would normally mean using more energy, but we want to do this in a more sustainable and carbon friendly way. 

This is why we’re investing millions across the East Midlands to produce up to an extra 89 million litres of water every day to our network - enough to supply a city the size of Derby and that’s where we’re getting a helping hand from nature, as it turns out that cleaning water is something that it does really well.

In what is believed to be one of the first in the UK, the Witches Oak project will use floating wetlands as a nature-based pre-treatment

As well as building a brand-new water treatment works, we’ve created new floating wetlands that will act as natural filters to clean the water before it reaches the new works. This means we will need to use less energy, with lower carbon emissions and fewer chemicals to treat and clean the water.

Our work in creating the new treatment works has been going really well and we’re on track to deliver the programme in an amazing half of the time it would normally take to deliver a project of this size.

What innovations would you highlight from this project, both in terms of technologies and in terms of nature-based solutions?

The new water treatment works will use innovative approaches to the key water treatment process.  One example would be the UV disinfection system - this will be the first we’ve used a UV system of this scale on a surface water treatment works. To make the most of this opportunity, our engineers worked together with suppliers to write a new design standard on UV, which is now shared across our internal knowledge base for the benefit of future projects.

We are trialling ceramic membranes as a key part of the treatment process, which is a first for us, to further reduce the use of chemicals

In what is believed to be one of the first in the UK, this project will use the floating wetlands as a nature-based pre-treatment solution to work in harmony with the new treatment works, providing a more sustainable carbon friendly treatment, while improving biodiversity. We believe this could help change how the industry looks to be carbon friendly when it comes to water treatment.

Our floating wetlands are anchored in a series of three gravel beds connected to the River Trent, rising and falling with the river level. These are low carbon in production and use extensive planting of reeds which further absorb carbon and increase biodiversity by providing additional habitat for wildlife.

We have now installed all 33 floating wetlands on site. We hold regular meetings to discuss the biodiversity improvements being made to the site. Our consultant, ARUP, has developed a biodiversity plan for the site and we are engaging with Derbyshire Wildlife Trust directly for the construction of any biodiversity improvements – to maximise the benefit of the site to wildlife.

We are also trialling ceramic membranes as a key part of the treatment process, which is a first for us. This further reduces the use of chemicals as part of the end-to-end treatment process.

We have six innovative programmes within this including:

• Building a brand new water treatment works, trialling new environmentally friendly technologies.
• Changing thousands of our customers’ old lead supply pipes free of charge.
• Moving two stretches of river towards bathing quality, including real-time reporting of river water quality including the trial of new ozone technology at three sites.
• Trialling the scale deployment of sustainable urban drainage systems in Mansfield in order to improve flooding resilience.
• Pulling forward a series of environmental improvements as part of our WINEP programme, helping to clean up rivers faster and trial innovative new solutions such as reactive media reedbeds.
• Installing thousands of new smart water meters to help our customers understand their consumption and ways they can save water.

Can you tell us about the Green Recovery Programme’s progress?

We have made some truly fantastic progress so far. The entire programme was set up from a standing start so we have recruited a brand new team of brilliant people to help deliver our plans and got off to a flying start. 

Our three major capital programmes are progressing at lightning speed and in some cases are ahead of our original ambitious timescales. We have finalised and are in the process of building many of the innovative green solutions that we wanted to trial with some very promising initial results on their performance.  We have already built and deployed our 33 floating wetlands that will be used to pre-treat water that will go through our new treatment works.  On Bathing Rivers we’ve done a broad range of engagement with river users and deployed a range of river quality monitors.  Our Ozone treatment design is progressing well and will shortly begin to build.  On our environmental programme, we have already started work at six sites and have identified two sites for trial of innovative new reactive media reedbeds.

We gained a huge depth of learning already and are actively sharing the results of this with our wider industry and regulators. It’s also been hugely helpful in informing our next 5-year plan.

What are Severn Trent’s investment priorities for the coming years? How do you envision these investments will shape the company's operations and services in the next few years?

Back in October, we announced a £12.9 billion investment in our water and sewage network, as part of ambitious plans submitted to water regulator Ofwat. The multibillion-pound programme is set to create 7,000 new jobs between 2025 and 2030, which will have a positive lasting impact for decades to come. It also means that for every household, we will invest £2,400 back into the region, transforming the way more than four million customers are served across the Midlands.  

The major announcement came after 68,000 customers helped to shape the plan so that it delivers the outcomes our customers care about most - it will guarantee a secure water supply for generations to come; storm overflows will cause no harm to rivers and customers will receive sector leading service, with a promise that customers will not pay for anything twice.

We plan an almost £7 billion investment in our wastewater treatment, including plans to go faster to improve storm overflows    

Investment in the water system is essential to ensure the security of water supply in the future and the plan will deliver significant improvements in our region’s water and sewerage system. The plan is underpinned by a £550 million financial support package, which means financial support for around 700,000 people to help pay their bills - more customers than ever.

Some of the highlights of the 2,000-page plan include a focus on climate change and population growth – which is set to grow by 12% to nine million in the Midlands by 2050. We will lay new water mains almost the length of Lands’ End to John O’Groats twice over and provide an extra 100 million litres a day from new water sources. In addition, we plan an almost £7 billion investment in our wastewater treatment, including plans to go faster to improve storm overflows – three a week, every week, meaning spills will be stopped five years ahead of Government targets.