Will Wizard work magic in AMP7?

Sarco Stopper is an SME based near Edinburgh that designs and manufactures flow-stopping and bypass systems for distribution mains in gas, water, oil and other pipeline applications.

“Bagging-off” technology for under-pressure applications was first developed in the UK gas sector by British Gas back in the mid-1970s and has remained the standard practice for repair and maintenance activities.

Sarco and partner WASK pioneered bagging-off ­technology in the water sector with the development of “Aquastop” for water mains in 2000, and in 2007 the “Wizard” system for removing hydrants and lower pressure flow-stopping also became available.

These systems enable work on mains and hydrant risers to be done under pressure, ­minimising the disruption to supplies, and avoiding depressurising and repressurising the main, with all the potential for knock-on leaks and other issues this can cause.

Over the past 15 years the systems have become mature. They have delivered on their key objectives and demonstrate that very significant financial savings can be achieved compared with the costs of turning off control valves and supplies to customers, not to mention avoiding ever-increasing regulatory penalties.

Several water companies have invested significantly in Sarco equipment, with some adopting high-profile in-house delivery teams who report increased leakage repairs undertaken with fewer customers disrupted – and Ofwat penalties avoided. Yet after 12 or 18 months, when it should have become established practice, the equipment is increasingly left in store, with a return to shutting off valves and customer supply and using expensive specialist line-stopping companies.

Other companies designing innovative inspection and repair techniques have had similar frustrations and low utilisation factors that just don’t give justifiable returns on the time and costs of design, development and implementation support activities.

The availability of new “through bore” hydrants, which provide clear access through the hydrant into the riser and main below with minimal dig access, enable many of these techniques to be deployed, but are not always being selected because there is approximately a £20 difference in cost over the traditional design, and this surely is a lost opportunity for future repair and maintenance activities.

In our experience, the sale of our water systems to export markets delivers greater and ongoing utilisation compared with our experience in the UK, and those clients benefit from ongoing financial savings and higher customer approval ratings – enhancing their brand image and also demonstrating water conservation commitments.

We have guarded optimism that the approach of Ofwat chair Jonson Cox, and his past experience within the water company sector, will finally see the new AMP7 challenges utilising the now available innovative techniques to address the well reported high levels of continued water leakage and customer interruptions and respect the serious warnings for meeting future water supply demands and the impacts on the environment.

For more information visit: www.sarcostopper.com