Environmental specialists for water and wastewater companies
We work with water and wastewater companies to help them overcome some of their biggest challenges with their assets, from managing CSOs to keeping their water and sewage networks flowing.
Our full end-to-end solutions include consultative asset management, underground network surveying, sewer and wastewater network monitoring and management, drainage asset installation, maintenance, and remediation, and emergency incident response.
This turnkey approach ensures water companies can effectively manage their budget and asset cycles, while reducing risk to the environment, staying compliant, avoiding fines, operational downtime, and customer disruption, while operating at maximum efficiency and margin.
We are the market leader in asset management and maintenance because only we have a range of specialists and services in house to fully manage water and wastewater assets from end-to-end.
Tackling key challenges in the water utilities sector
Ageing infrastructure
OFWATs ambitions for AMP8 revolve around affordability issues; customer expectations on service, society, and the environment; and the requirements for climate change resilience and the drive to Net-Zero.
A better, more sustainable approach to asset maintenance and replacement will be key to overcoming the challenges that tackling climate change and population growth will put on our water and wastewater infrastructure now and in the future.
It is an industry wide issue which Sir James Bevan, former CEO of the Environment Agency, summed up in his statement: “too many parts of our sewage system are not fit for the 21st century and have not been upgraded since Victorian times.” The Environment Audit Committee puts it succinctly: “a step-change in regulatory action [and] water company investment…is urgently required.”
Achieving Net-Zero by 2030
In November 2020, water companies unveiled their ground-breaking plan to achieve Net-Zero by 2030.
Moving and treating water is an energy intensive process generating millions of tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions each year.
By achieving Net-Zero two decades ahead of the Governments 2050 target the water industry estimates it will save 10 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.
There is no one solution to achieving Net-Zero in isolation. Instead, it will take a broad combination of approaches and collaboration between water companies, policymakers, and the supply chain.
Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs)
With increased population, urban growth and climate change driving extreme weather events, the sewerage system is being overwhelmed.
The Storm Overflows Taskforce was created in 2020 to work on proposals to reduce the impact of sewage discharge from storm overflows.
The Environment Act 2021 also mandated specific storm overflow reduction targets:
- Water companies will only be permitted to discharge from a storm overflow where they can demonstrate that there is no local adverse ecological impact.
- By 2025, water companies will have reduced overflows discharges from 2020 levels by around 25%.
- Water companies must significantly reduce harmful pathogens from storm overflows discharging into and near designated bathing waters, by either: applying disinfection; or reducing the frequency of discharges to meet Environment Agency spill standards; and improve 75% of overflows discharging into high priority nature sites by 2035.
- Storm overflows will not be permitted to discharge above an average of 10 rainfall events per year by 2050.
- Water companies will be required to ensure all storm overflows have screening controls.
The Government expects water companies to ensure their infrastructure keeps pace with increasing external pressures, such as urban growth and climate change, without these pressures leading to greater numbers of discharges.
Related services
Strategic asset consultancy
Monitoring and telemetry
Water quality monitoring
Drainage surveys and diagnostics
Planned preventive maintenance
Emergency response
Energy transition
Accreditations, certifications and memberships
- Members of British Water
- Members of The Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM)
- Members of the International Society for Trenchless Technology
- We know that your supply chain is key to you achieving Net-Zero by 2030 so we have a range of initiatives to track, report and reduce our carbon emissions in the Group.
- Achilles / FPAL Registered
- ISO-14001 certified
Relevant training
- MSCC5 CCTV Surveyor trained
- Water Association - High Pressure Jetting
- Confined Space trained - Medium or High Risk
- Rescue Team Training
- Unit 2 and 10 Streetworks and road signs
- Cable Avoidance Trained
- Safe Contractor Certificate
- No PS 4253
- CompEx trained electricians
Key stats
- 01,000 km of drainage cleaned and maintained per year.
- 0840 waste tankering jobs to date.
- 087 spill responses attended and remediated.
“I am very pleased with the work that Aqua have delivered for Welsh Water which ranges from tactical to strategic asset management support. Aqua’s help with the development of our thinking for PR24 has been invaluable.”
Director of Asset Planning, Dwr Cymru Welsh Water
Key contacts
Mike Williamson MBE
Matthew Humphreys
Chris Morgan
Contact our experts
If you'd like to get in touch with a sector expert, please leave your details and a member of the team will be in touch.
Keep your business compliant and protect the environment while reducing the risk of operational downtime
Adler and Allan reduce your risk and support you on your journey to Net-Zero through the management and maintenance of assets.
