In my role of Institute of Water Rising Star for the East Area, I had the opportunity to attend and participate in the Institute of Water Annual Conference 2020. Over 150 people attended, showing that despite the new virtual nature of events, there is still an appetite for events such as these.
Here is my account of what I learned during the event (or click here for the short version).
Direct COVID Impacts in the Water Sector
In the first lockdown, lessons were learned about resilience in this sector. Just some of the examples of the changes we encountered included: disruption in capital investment, regulatory impacts, an increase in per capita use and customers finding themselves unable to pay their bills.
One impact of COVID discussed by Lee Dance (South East Water) was the impact on water usage. Lee noted that the increase of people staycationing this summer resulted in an increase in demand of around 10% in his area. The water industry has had to adapt to these demand changes.
People drinking the tap water also faced difficulties at this time. Christine McGourty (Chief Executive, Water UK) mentioned how the industry provided for customers in a variety of schemes to help make water affordable. There were grants, social tariffs, trusts and assessment schemes all available to help.
To rise to the challenge, the water sector used collaboration and innovation to find solutions. Ben Tam (Managing Director, Isle Utilities UK) mentioned how important the ability to wash your hands is, especially today, but that it is a necessity often taken for granted. There are people in the world who may not be able to afford water. But the world financial institutions came together early to try to solve this. Just one example of an initiative used to progress in this area was HappyTap, a tap designed to encourage children to wash their hands.
Overall, as David Elliot (Director, Indepen) said, this virus has resulted in disruption to individuals, communities, companies and local economies, causing a lot of uncertainties. But this could either be interpreted as a risk or an opportunity.
The Impact of COVID to Water Sector Employees
It is not just the water industry that has had to adapt to new change, but also the people within it.
Employee lives have changed. As Mike McNicholas (UK Board Director, Atkins) said, within 4 weeks all but 1% of their workforce transitioned to working from home. Han-Rui Chiew (Senior Project Manager, Arup) asked a poll during the conference. Of the conference attendees who replied, 66% of people worked from home 0 days a week before lockdown but following lockdown 44% of people would like to work from home 3 times a week. It really looks as though lockdown has changed how people would like to work in future and that the new working from home system may be interpreted as a positive change.
Mel Karam (CEO, Bristol Water) also spoke about the importance of water company employees, especially those who continued to take risks during lockdown to continue to take samples, ensure leaks were fixed and keep the tap running. It can be argued that the resilience and successes that occurred in the water sector during this time of challenge did not occur because of assets or regulations, but because of the skills and resilience of the employees. That these are the people who should be at the forefront of strategies in future.
Peter Simpson (CEO Anglian Water) asked what can water companies do to protect and support their employees, to get the best from them. One thing employers can do to help their employees during this time of challenge is to have a good understanding of staff needs to make sure they can work effectively (said by Jane Austin, HR Director, Wave Utilities). Kay Penney (HR Director, Northumbrian Water) also said that managers can help maintain the work/life balance of their employees by remembering the importance of not invading people’s space when they are working from home. Rachel Morris (Paralympic Athlete) spoke about how we can learn from people who are normally unable to leave their homes and apply what they have learned into this new working life.
There have been impacts of the virus on water sector employees, in the form of working from home, but also in the form of key workers who have to continue to work on the frontline to keep the taps running. Employers have to keep questioning to find new and better ways of working, to make sure employees are safe, both from the virus and in terms of mental wellbeing.
Wider COVID Impacts in the Water Sector
The challenges brought on by the virus were not limited to how customers were using their water or how life changed for the people producing it, there were also wider sector impacts.
One such impact was that of regulations. For instance, the inability to enter customer houses to sample at this time. Marcus Rink (Chief Inspector, DWI) spoke about for customers to maintain confidence in their water supply, regulation, supply and evidence are all needed, involving collaboration between the regulators, the companies and the customers. As Paul Hickey (Managing Director, RAPID) mentioned, it has to be ensured that regulations support collaboration and do not stand in the way. Regulators had the communicate efficiently, think of pragmatic approaches and provide evidence that water is safe to drink to be able to get customers to continue to have trust in their water.
Innovation was also discussed. Dr Frederic Been (KWR, The Netherlands) spoke about wastewater epidemiology in the Netherlands- using data in new ways and learning from the experiences of others. This innovation goes beyond the virus too. Richard Benwell (CEO, Wildlife and Countryside) said that this time of public scrutiny, is the perfect time to be heard, for the water sector to be advocating for the environment. Rachel Fletcher (CEO, Ofwat) emphasised that the pandemic showed what companies can do. That by combining collaboration and an open-minded approach, water companies can use this time as a stepping stone for the sustainability vision of the future
Wider sector impacts of COVID have included regulations as well as innovation. For both of these areas, one thing that really came across was the importance of collaboration, both during today’s challenge and in future.
Conclusion
This conference showed me that right now we are in an environment of ever-changing policy. We have had direct impacts on the water sector, as well as on employees in this field and in the wider industry in general. Covid-19 is a threat but it shines a light on what we do as a sector. We need to learn from it and that’s what this conference was about, sharing knowledge.
Mike McNicholas (UK Board Director, Atkins) may have summarised it best when he said that as an industry we are highly prepared for a second wave. When we went into this pandemic, we were prepared for a new ice age. Now we see a second lockdown, not as an ice age but as a cold winter.
