Water Neutrality in the Severn Trent Region - Research Paper Example

Achieving water neutrality in the Severn Trent region The paper is based on Severn Trent water project. The theme of the project as discussed in the paper is achieving water neutrality in Severn Trent region. The essay begins by elaborating the concept of water neutrality and its importance. This is the basic goal of the Severn water project. The extend of the Severn Water project is discussed, with a clear elaboration on their new project of achieving the water neutrality in the region. A clear link is brought forth between the case study and its relation to the new government policy, which aims at a quicker growth in housing keeping a target of over 3 million new houses by 2020. The link between the government vision and policy on housing and the Severn Trent water project is clearly elaborated. The essay is elaborated as a resource material from a consultant water engineer. In the paper, the various procedures and processes that the Severn Trent water project can put under consideration in order to attain their goal towards water neutrality in the region are stated in the paper. The required resources for the Severn Trent water project are stated in the paper. The outcomes of the water neutrality project in the Severn Trent region. The paper gives the outcome and the benefits of the project to the involved parties, which come out clearly in the conclusion paper. Introduction Water resource management is a key concept that any water-supplying project should consider in their operation. Under the water resource management, the concept of water neutrality stands as its foundation. Water neutrality refers to the concept or a project in water management which targets to make sure that there is enough water to support any development without requiring additional water resources. The concept of water neutrality targets at sustaining the increasing water demands and the progressive developments with the same water resources that are existing. In an elaborate view, the particular water project will struggle to achieve the increasing water demand due to the new developments without addition of any water resource in their project. In our case, we are taking Severn Trent water project, and the process that they should follow in order to achieve water neutrality taking in consideration the new government policy on increasing housing to over 3 million new houses by 2020. This technical research shows how the Severn Water Project should work out to ensure adequate water supply to the whole region, inclusive of the development involving the new housing. The project takes in consideration the use of the already existing water resources to meet the increasing water demands in the region. Research content The Severn Trent Water is a water company that supplies water to over 7.4 million people in England. The company also provide sewerage services to 8.5 million people. The geographical coverage of the Severn Trent Water project is over an area of 21,000 square kilometers in central England and mid-Wales. Over that geographical coverage, the Severn Trent Water project has 181 water treatment plants in operation and 1,017 sewage treatment plants. Among other plants of the company is the 46,000 km of water mains and 54,000 km of sewers all over the region. The company supplies an estimate of 1,900 million liters of water on daily basis and treats around 2,500 million liters of wastewater in its treatment plants. The Severn Trent Water project is among the major water companies in England, whose water is directed to the housings and industries. The company also supplies water for agricultural farming to various firms (Severn Trent Water 1989). The government’s 2007 Green Paper contains a policy that aims at expanding the housing of the nation. The policy aims at a quicker growth in housing, keeping a target of over 3 million new houses by 2020. The plan to achieve this growth depends upon existing water management plans and the growth point and eco-towns. This calls in for incorporation of the water neutrality in the Severn Trent Region, which is a project of the Severn Water Project. In order for the government to attain the housing expansion project effectively, water management has to be employed. At the same situation, the Severn Water Project will be required to supply water to the project during the construction process and even after the construction, to the residents of the area. In order to attain their goal of water neutrality in the area, the Severn Water Project needs to employ some measures. These measures will work towards reduction of the water consumption rate and water wastage, maintaining the same water resource of the company to supply water to the increasing consumers without any case of deficiency. The project needs a definitive assessment of what aspects of water supply and demand should be considered in the assessment of water neutrality. Attaining water neutrality in the Severn Trent Region will begin at the management of the public water supply. The management of the water under the aspect of water neutrality takes inconsideration the reduction of water consumption rate in households and other buildings. Various water abstractions like industrial or agricultural also needs to be taken in to account, with water neutrality calculations at the water supply plant, The Severn Water project for our case in order to avoid cases of water leakage. The water neutrality in Severn Trent Region water neutrality focuses on offsetting new demand by making existing buildings more water efficient. As a water engineer, the first step towards this project will be the focusing on the structure of the buildings. The Severn Trent Water project should begin by utilizing the new structures to come up with a domestic system of water harvesting. This concept is known as the grey water, and will ensure adequate supply of water to the new households without majorly depending on the companies’ water. This will be a double advantage towards attaining the water neutrality. The housings will make use of the rainwater for their domestic purpose. Rainwater collected at the household or water recycled from domestic baths, showers and hand-basins will be used for non-potable purposes to minimize the demand for new potable water supplies. The used water from the households will be channeled back to the Severn water treatment plants. This will be additional supply of the wastewater, which the company will use to treat. Upon treatment, the water can be directed to other uses that are not sensitive to human health such as agriculture. This will in a way ensure that the Severn Water Project has met the new water demand with the same water resources that they were initially using (Kemlo & Lawson 2009). The aspect of leakage and unmetered water use is another concept that should be considered in achieving water neutrality. Severn Water Project supplies water to metered and unmeasured households and no households. In order to attain water neutrality and offset the new water demands effectively, the company needs to manage and closely monitor its supplies. The unmetered water supply is majorly to the industries and the agricultural firms. The company needs to monitor the trend of metered supply and the unmetered supply. In any case, the unmetered water supply should not interfere with the metered water supplies in the households. This can be ensured through separate water supply systems. The unmetered supplies made to the irrigation and other agricultural firms should be made from the treated wastewater. This will in a way minimize the excess usage of domestic water in other sectors like farming, providing adequate water to the new households. As argued in the Great Britain (2009) publication, water leakage is an aspect that can affect the supply. The piping system needs a keen frequent checkup to ensure that there is no leakage in the supply channel. Leakage in the supply system is a default that creates a great variation between the amount of water supplied from the water plant and the amount of water delivered to the customers. Water leakage creates a lot of loss to the water project and in a way lowers the general income from the water sells. The water loss through leakage also inconveniences the customers, who expect a certain amount but gets very little supply from the water plant. For any company to achieve water neutrality, a keen checkup should be paid on the piping system. Cases of water leakage can make a company not to meet the water neutrality goals. Proper water management should be taken in account to achieve water neutrality in the Severn Trent region. The water management will involve monitoring of the available water from the sources and the water supply system to the households and other users who depend on the water plant. The management process should also major on the piping system. Proper piping of the Severn Water project minimizes cases of water loss. Proper checkup and repair in the piping system ensures that the amount of water obtained from the source is the same amount channeled to the customers through the piping system. This will enable the management of the Severn Water project to come up with clear documentation of the water supply. A failure in the piping system through leakages can be identified from the variation of quantities in these records. Proper piping in the new housing system will also enable the Severn Water Project to meet their goal towards water neutrality. Analysis of the supply–demand balance in the water project is another step to water neutrality. For the Severn Water Project to attain the neutrality goal, the supply–demand balance in their previous supply market should not be diverse. The past water supply records should show customer satisfaction without any cases of water deficiency. Effective water neutrality can be best achieved in a case where the past water supply from the Severn Water Project meets the demand of their current customers with an implication of surplus. This will create an implication that some little restrictions on the supply system will add on the surplus in the water system can create an assurance that the water system will be in position to offset the new demand without additional water sources (Ashton & Marshallsay 2009). As a water engineer, I would advise the Severn Water Project to monitor the water supplies in order to ensure adequate water to the new households. There should be a balance between the surface and ground water resources. The Severn water project can also invest on their water storage systems. This will involve acquisition of more water storage facilities such as tanks and other water reservoirs. The stored water will make the Severn Water project to curb the many cases of uncertainties. The aspect of water availability in the region is not steady. At times, there is little water supply from the sources due to climatic change and environmental factors. The Severn water project needs to carry an intensive research on the environmental trend and seasonality. This will enable the management to come up with a better water storage system that will enable the company to meet the water demand of the old and the new households even during the season of low water availability. Managing the use of the water by the households among other users of the Severn Water will also enable the company to meet its goal towards water neutrality. The water supplied to the users should be used effectively without wastage. This will enable the company to avail the saved water to other users. A water control system will enable the company to monitor its uses. This can be achieved through water delivery to the household at a controlled schedule, where the water is available to the users at specific time and hours. This control system will reduce the cases of excessive use of the water in households and even cases of water wastage through running taps. There is a tendency that when water is availed in excess to the customers, they will not use it effectively.in a case where the water is controlled, the customers will adapt to the system through minimizing the water usage, hence reducing the general water wastage. In order to offset the needs of the additional households, it is essential for the company to mitigate the abstractors. This can be achieved through reduction of water supplies to big consumers such as irrigation firms and industries. This reduction will make the company to save a drop and hence meet the needs of the new households. The consumption factor in the irrigation firms can also be controlled by restricting the consumers of the water to use irrigation methods that enhance use of little water. These may include drip irrigation systems. Other abstractions in the water distribution channel include the use of water by water companies other than for distribution input, for example in effluent dilution, hydraulic testing and other operational activities. The company should also minimize these uses in order to attain the water neutrality. Water abstracted for public water supply is not a major abstraction. Typically, the wastewater from the households will be returned to the water resource system at wastewater treatment works remote from the abstraction point – hence retaining a consumptive factor of 1.0. Discussion From the above research and techniques discussed, the aspect of water neutrality stands out to be an essential project that should be considered in any development that may involve water consumption (Ashton & Marshallsay 2009). The aspect of water neutrality takes in consideration offsetting the new customer demands with the existing water resources. The project of water neutrality should therefore major much on the balance of supply and demand in the water system. The level of supply should be relatively equal to the level of demand to avoid inadequacy and lack of customer satisfaction. This can be met through observation of major factors like the water supply channel, usage by the customers, abstractions and taking in to account the environmental aspects. A combination of all these elements monitored closely will enable the water project meet its goals towards water neutrality. Minimizing abstractions such as excessive industrial and agricultural water supply is in a way achieving water neutrality. Minimizing water leakage and the excessive use of water in households will avail more water to the new housing developments in England. Keen observation on the environmental factors will enable the Severn Trent project to manage water storage and overcome unforeseen contingencies such as inadequate water during the dry season. Conclusion In conclusion, water neutrality is a tied up process that does not only rely on the management of the utilization process. In general, it requires much study on the supply and demand balance, environmental factors, the water-piping project, nature of the water consumers and the abstractors (Butler & Herrington 2007). Mitigation of the water wastage, leakages and abstractors like agricultural firms and industrial use is a very essential strategy that the Severn water project can embark on in order to attain their goal towards water neutrality. A keen study on the environmental and seasonality pattern will give the water project a clear basis to invest and establish sufficient water storage systems that will ensure offsetting of the demands of the new households even during the low water seasons. Investing on rainwater is another strategy that the Severn water project can make use of to attain their goals of offsetting the new water demands. The treating of grey water will also add on the water supply of the project. In general, attaining water neutrality is basically dependent on proper water management. Bibliography Ashton, V., & Marshallsay, D. (2009). Delivering water neutrality: measures and funding strategies. Bristol, Environment Agency. Butler, D., & Herrington, P. (2007). Towards water neutrality in the Thames Gateway: peer reviews of science report SC060100/SR1. Bristol, Environment Agency. GREAT BRITAIN. (2009). Water neutrality: an economic assessment for the Thames Gateway development. Bristol, Environment Agency. KEMLO, A., & LAWSON, R. (2009). Water neutrality: an improved and expanded water resources management definition. Bristol, Environment Agency. SEVERN TRENT WATER. (1989). Severn Trent Water: we make it work. Birmingham [England], Severn Trent Water. SEVERN TRENT WATER AUTHORITY. (1900). Water quality. [Birmingham, Eng.], Severn-Trent Water Authority, Water Quality Advisory Panel. Read More