CONTENTS 23.02.12
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New Civil Engineer
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lst Floor,GreaterLondonHouse HampsteadRoad,LondonNWl lEJ EDITORIALENQUIRIES Email: [email protected] EDITOR1Antony Oliver (020) 7728 4541antony.oliver DEPUTYEDiTOR1MarkHansford (020) 7728 4543 mark.hansford
CHIEF SUS EDITOR1Andy Bolton (020)77284537 andy.bolton NEWS EDITOR1AlexandraWynne (020)77284540 alexandra.wynne DESIGNER1James McCarthy (020)7728 4536james.mccarthy REPORTER1DeclanLynch (020)77284546 declan.lynch
ADVERTISING
DlSPLAYADVERTISING1FrancisBarham (020)7728 4525
RECRUITMENT1JonathanSnowden (020)77283829
CUSTOMERENQUIRIES Struan Rae
(020)77284651 struan.rae
www.nce.co.uk 1 23.02.12 NEWCIVILENGINEER
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05
NEWS
Tubesavings plan
Failed bidders to share cost sav- ings if tender innovations used
14
(O'VERSTORY Emergency surgery
RepairingHammersmith flyover in rime for Olympietraffic
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36
PLANT JCa
Manufacturer showcases new products in bid for global growth
Aisoin this issue
06 News
Row over Hinkley Point C planning application costs
07 News
London council to clamp clown on basements
10 Analysis
Why we need to gel to grips with climate change now
12 letters
Prince Charles, BIM, Felbptowe, sea defences
MW"
New approach to programme management
31
40 ICI:
Coackley in Hong Kong, pass lists
Comment
Antony Oliver
TOCELEBRATENCE'S40THANNIVERSARY OFINFORMING,INSPIRINGAND CHALLENCINCCIVILENCINEERS,WE ARELOOKINGATTHEKEYEVENTSTHAT
HAVESHAPEDTHELAST40 YEARS.
SEEWWW.NCE.CO.UK
"Without a waler Meier 1have no way of knowing, and no incentive to find out, when 1 might be using more or less"
Il is about lime our water ~illsreflected amouRts used
Thames Water's chief exeeutive Martin Baggs made me a veIl happy man lastweekwith a surprise gUt, out of the bIne, of myvery own water meter.
The gUt (uninstalled by the wall) was the result of our frequent conversations about how little the gener81 public appreciates the water it uses or in fact how much their water supply actually costs.
And to rus constant despair, in line with the majority of the UK public, my domesticwater consumption remains unmetered. The Oliver family simply pays the bill each month and uses the resource with abandon.
Weil Hot exactly "with abandon". l know that the average person uses around 160 litres a clay.l have fitted water-saving cistem b81loons and changed a few tap heads and have banned running the tap while brushing teeth.
But as this week's govemment-sponsored drought summit highlights, such consumption and such sm81l measures ta eut clown usage are increasingly not enough- particularly ifyou
rive in the South East, which as of this week, was officially added to the Anglia regian as being "in drought" with accompanyingwater restrictions set to foilow.
A frozen water pipe recently forced me to live for a daywithoutwaterin my laps, relying instead on bottled water and buckets of thawed snow. Frankly it was expensive, pretty inconve- nient and Hot something that l waHl to rive with regularly.
But the re81ity is that unless the problem of low rainfall is managed properly, a huge swathe of the nation is set to surfer such inconvenience on a regular basis unless we tackle the situation.
Hence this week's summit. However, envi- ronment secretary Caroline Spelman's headline conclusion that the simplestway to tackle the problem is for all of us to simply use less must be questioned.
As Baggs wauld point out, without a meter in my house (one that's fitted) there remains no direct correlation between what l use and what l actu81ly par. Without a me ter l have no way of
knowing, and no incentive ta find out, when l might be using more or less.
So the solution is surely obvions - tackle this issue and m81œthe fitting ofwater meters compulsory in every property. Bill customers forwhat they actually use each claythen couple this with a charging structme that actually incentivises a changed behaviour- for example by making this precious resomce more expensive.
Certainly, it is good to see a summit reinforce the need forwater companies to fulfill their regulated dulies regardingwater losses and leakage detection and to boost communication with customers.
But the reality is that under.the current regulatory regime, the only way to allow water companies ta invest in ultimately tackling the problem with new storage facilities,upgrades to leaking pipes or new interconnectaIs is to
actually allow them to charge eustomers more for something that is currentlyvery cheap iii AntonyOliveris NCEs editor
