Pipe up: Jacob Tompkins, Waterwise

“Engineers are trained to develop optimal solutions, not optimal versions of a set of plans given to them by accountants.”

It sometimes seems that the water company default solution is, to paraphrase the Housemartins, let us build. Problems with sewerage in London? Build a super sewer. Drought in the South East? Build a massive transfer from the North West. Consumption predicted to rise? Build a huge reservoir.

This is because the water industry is great at civil engineering. Water companies can manage big projects on time and on budget and they will work.

However, water companies are also full of very clever engineers, and in my view they need to start thinking and challenging more. There are alternative solutions, and engineers are trained to develop optimal solutions, not optimal versions of a set of plans given to them by accountants. They need to start challenging the projects they are set and start asking what the bigger picture is.

It is time to start looking at distributed infrastructure solutions and to start working with customers rather than of in spite of them.

Could London sewerage issues have been addressed using Suds, such as a large-scale rollout of domestic rain gardens and the reinstatement of permeable gardens? This would have been more expensive on paper but costs could have been shared with councils and residents, which may have delivered a more sustainable solution.

Could water companies do more work with rivers, trusts and farmers groups to deliver water quality solutions? There is some work going on here but not enough, and the default is still concrete. A distributed solution would also help meet Water Framework Directive requirements and could draw on multiple funding streams. It’s time water companies got more involved in the management of the land their water comes from.

Current water company solutions are merely slightly more cost-effective versions of the same projects they have always done. Water companies are regional monopolies, they have a fixed customer base and a clear set of local stakeholders, and at the same time they have huge amount of expertise in their delivery staff, be they in call centres or engineering departments or undertaking streetworks. This give huge opportunities for collaborative distributed solutions. Water companies are all about money, so this isn’t going to happen anytime soon, but if it did water companies could deliver environmental, social and economic benefits for us all.