Surely no decade was quite a great as the 1980s. The music
was better (Squeeze, Madness), films were happier (Ferris Bueller, Back to the
Future) and Supermodels really were Super. Yes, I am talking about you Cindy
Crawford (she follows this blog, I just know she does). We even lived through
the Chernobyl crisis: I remember vividly being advised by the government that
we should all stay at home for a week while the radioactive cloud
blew over. A week contained in your house with only your family for company!
How would we cope?!
This brings us rather neatly to the ongoing Cov19 epidemic.
Hopefully dear reader you are safe, well and sane.
Seven weeks ago I, through the company I work for (Isle
Ltd), launched a WhatsApp group for water utilities to share their Cov19
experiences. To be honest, I thought this group might attract a dozen or so
like-minded organisations. At the time Italy was 2 weeks into their lockdown
and the UK was just about to start. There was a brief window I thought where
those who were already deep in the pandemic could help those who were just
entering. Within 72 hours over 80 utilities had signed up (from Bogota,
Colombia to Hobart, Tasmania). 3 weeks on there was just short of 300 utilities
involved (we have had to create subgroups as WhatsApp only allows 256 people
per chat). Nothing I have ever done previously, including writing 186 of these
damned blogs, has ever caught the zeitgeist like this. It seemed cruelly ironic
that this simple Whatsapp platform would be the thing that ‘goes viral’.
I have been blown away by the openness with which utilities
have shared. Through the telling of honest stories other organisations have
undoubtedly avoided repeating mistakes. Lives will inevitably have been saved.
At a time when the world feels quite gloomy this is truly worth celebrating.
Some things have been quite simply fascinating: for example,
the morning peak in water demand has shifted from 7 – 8am to 10 – 11am. Clearly
when isolated at home people – irrespective of culture colour or creed - like
to sleep in (although the Germans are, characteristically, a little more
precise; their peak is now at 940am). Furthermore, the domestic water demand
has increased by about 20%, whereas industrial usage has dropped by up to 50%.
The impact varies for each water utility depending on their customer mix,
however those utilities with limited domestic water meters find themselves in
the extremely uncomfortable position of providing more water for less income.
My favourite fact however is that at 8pm each Thursday in
parts of Spain there is a 10% reduction
in water usage due to people going onto the streets to clap, sing and cheer
their thanks for local health workers. Now that is something worth smiling
about.
Unfortunately however it is becoming increasingly clear that
Cov19 is likely to be with us for many years, at least until we have a vaccine
AND >3bn+ people have been inoculated. The initial hopes of herd immunity
and seasonality appear to have fallen through, unsupported by the empiric
evidence. Bearing this in mind, it is increasingly likely countries will be
forced to adopt repetitive cycles of lockdown, responding as the virus takes
hold, dies down and then resurges again (just as we are seeing right now in
Singapore). If this is the New Normal, what can the water sector do to help?
Well, one very exciting area of research has opened up. Over
the last few weeks it has been confirmed that the inactive (ie non contagious)
part of the Cov19 virus can be detected in wastewater. This potentially offers
the possibility of an early warning system for identifying when the virus is
present in a local community. The dream is that samples from the sewer network
could provide governments with the ability to deliver a precise, local
programme of lockdowns, rather than the current approach of a blunt ‘whole
nation/state’ lockdown.
Lots of clever people are working hard to make this dream a
reality. If you want to know more then you are welcome to join my weekly
webinar (I attempt to summarise in 15 minutes the previous weeks WhatsApp
discussion). It is held on Thursdays at 730am British Summer Time and repeated
at 430pm. Email Charlotte.dewitte@Isleutilities.com
if you want to join. As an added benefit you will get to see me in my
3-months-since-a-haircut state. I am sure we all have our own little
hair-dilemmas, however take pity on me. The few hairs I have left on the top of
my head stopped growing many years ago, yet the ones at the side and back seem
to have the growth virility of a teenager.
Yes, I am growing that quintessential 1980s hair style: a
Mullet.
Or if you are bald, a Skullet.
