Industry Challenges • i2O Water

We only have 12 years to save the earth!

Flash, I love you! But we only have 12 years to save the Earth! In the film of Flash Gordon, NASA scientists claim the unexpected eclipse and strange hot hail are nothing to worry about. Not so in our current reality. The most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report has warned that we […]

Summertime and the livin’ isn’t easy

The UK Climate Projections 2018 study says that summer temperatures could be 5.4C hotter by 2070. The chances of having a summer as warm as this year’s summer (2018) is currently 15-20%. That’s going to rise to 50%. In other words, as likely as not. The warmer summers will also be much drier, with average […]

Are water firms ready for extreme weather events?

Ofwat, the UK water regulator, is set to take a hard line with water companies this winter if bad weather strikes again. A spokesperson for the regulator says it expects all companies to ‘show they have learned lessons and are prepared for whatever the weather brings.’

Mind the gap

Ari Mahairas is the special agent in charge of the Special Operations and the Cyber Division at the F.B.I.’s New York field office. Peter J. Beshar is the general counsel of the Marsh & McLennan Companies, and has testified frequently before the US Congress on cybersecurity. The two have written an article in the New […]

Need a dam? Try crowdfunding

Water companies face many challenges. Increasing and urbanising population, more extreme weather events, ageing network infrastructure, an ageing workforce, and customers becoming more demanding. The problem is they don’t have more money to address these challenges.

Trunk mains

We often talk about ageing infrastructure as one of the challenges facing the water industry.

Feeling the heat

Temperature records have been broken around the world this year. The UK is enjoying a heatwave. At least most of us are. But the water companies are feeling the heat.

Can water companies handle big data?

In short, the answer is no. But not for the reason you might think. More monitoring devices, especially on the network, are yielding ever increasing volumes of potentially valuable data.

Let’s tow an iceberg

The situation in Cape Town was an obvious trigger for the revival of the ‘tow an iceberg’ answer. There’s a long history of iceberg lunacy. In 1825 it was suggested that they could be towed into the southern ocean to equalise the temperature of the earth.

NASA warns about water

Water shortages will be the key environmental challenge of the century according to NASA. New data from NASA’s Grace satellite has revealed the extent of the problem.

A dip in the gene pool

The water industry lacks customer focus and up-to-date IT systems. So says Perry Noble, partner in investment manager Hermes Infrastructure, according to Utility Week in an article that opens with – ‘Sticky’ workforce and limited ‘gene pool’ in senior management causing talent problems for water.’ Perry made the comments last year at the Water UK […]

Climate change and growing global population threaten water security says UN

The UN has published its 2018 World Water Development Report. It calculates that global water demand is growing at 1% per annum mainly because of population growth. They say that whilst agriculture will remain the largest user, industrial and domestic demand will increase much faster. And the vast majority of the growth in demand for […]