No 171: It was all going well until the calamari arrived…

The ancient city of Carthage, on the northern coast of Tunisia, has been a centre for trade and innovation for centuries. In Roman times it pioneered a unique water cooling method to enable chariots to run that little bit faster (I don’t know the detail but I assume it involved squirting water at the horses). Today it remains a city striving to be at the heart of innovation. ONAS is the national wastewater company, responsible for providing the 12million or so Tunisians with reliable sanitation. As with everywhere in the world, what the public want is to flush and forget. Our meeting today was to discuss innovative approaches and technologies which might ensure that ONAS continues to provide this important service. The format was quickly established: working through a translator I would introduce a technology; after a few minutes a vibrant conversation would commence, in a glorious mix of French, Arabic and English; eventually the ensuing hubbub would reach its natural climax and we would move onto the next technology on my list. Repeat until list complete.

As we worked our way down my list I was struck by how many challenges are common to wastewater utilities the world over (aeration costs, energy production). There are still some location specific issues but even these are merely isolated points in history. For example, back in the 1980s the challenge in the UK was how to remove the heavy metals from our sewage sludges. This is the same challenge Tunisia faces today. In the UK we solved the problem by systematically shutting down our manufacturing industry. The picky Tunisians seem to want a more forward thinking and sustainable solution.

Another reason for my visit to Tunisia was to engage with the TEAM initiative. TEAM stands for Training and Education in Africa and Middle East, and it involves the establishment of an training centre in Tunisia that could serve the wider region. Its formation will enable African operators to be trained locally, without the barriers of language, culture and expense which cloud normal international training programmes. The logic behind TEAM is quite simple: if the operators are better trained then more finance will flow into the African water sector (since investors will get a better return from better run assets). More investment means more people get improved sanitation services.  It is a beautiful model for institutional strengthening, and one that goes right to the heart of the issue.

The man behind TEAM is Fethi Merchi. Fethi is a quietly spoken man, but with the passion and vision to make TEAM a reality. Without Fethi TEAM would be nothing but a loose concept. I met Fethi for the first time yesterday, at a dinner in a local fish restaurant. All was going well until the calamari arrived. We had been talking, as one does, about our families and careers, finding common ground and shared experiences. It was at this point that Fethi commented that I looked ‘pretty good for my age’.

Initially I was flattered. I am acutely aware that the past few months have taken their toll. Having been on the road for 54 of the last 80 days my jet lag has reached such epic proportions that my body no longer knows when it should eat, sleep or empty its bowels (TMI?). I have vainly told myself that the wrinkles that recently appeared around my eyes are laughter lines, although deep down I know they are signs of wear and tear. Fathi’s comment that I looked young for my age was a welcome boost to my flagging ego.

Until it became apparent that he actually thought I was 62.

Sixty Two!

I am 48.

Somewhere I have lost a whole decade.

Upon realising his mistake there was an embarrassed silence, much akin to the moment one congratulates a large woman on being pregnant only to discover she is not. No matter what you say next you can’t recover.

Of course, it wouldn’t be quite so bad if Fethi, who already overflows with grace, charm and generosity didn’t look like he was in his late 30s.

He is 57. I am not jealous. 

No 170: Woolly thinking?

Ever agreed to something and then realised, just a little too late, that you shouldn’t have got involved?

A few weeks ago I was asked by my (former) good friend Andrew Walker if I would participate in a social experiment at the EIP Water Conference in Porto. Andrew was the compere for the 2 day event, which is always good value, especially for people interested in new water-related innovations. I was intrigued by the invite so happily agreed. After all, I thought, Andrew hasn’t ever steered me wrong in the past. I also took comfort from the fact that Frederico Fernandes, President of Aguas do Porto and Associate Professor Uta Wehn from the Delft Institute were also involved. Frederico is the boss of the local water company. Uta is a wonderfully respected individual, working on innovative forms of ICT-based governance.  

The experiment was being organised by Maria Freitas, from the Portuguese National Laboratory for Civil Engineering. As we stepped onto the stage it was clear that neither Uta nor Frederico were any more informed than I as to what was about to transpire. Maria explained that she was going to undertake an experiment to showcase innovative thinking. Balls of wool were handed out to members of the audience and they were told to hold onto one end of the wool and to throw the ball as far as they could. It took a couple of minutes for the audience to embrace their inner child but once a few keen individuals got the idea it soon caught on. 5 minutes of chaos ensued as 25 brightly coloured balls of wool flew around the room in gay abandon.

Uta, Frederico and I sat on the stage wondering what our role was. it was only when a ball of wool smacked into my shiny bald head and ricocheted off in a new direction that I realised how exposed we were. (You will note from the attached photo that my chair for some unknown reason seemed to be a foot lower than the others. I sense this was all part of Andrew’s campaign to ridicule me).

Once the balls were fully unwound and the room resembled a web made from rainbows by spiders high on acid Maria called everyone to order. Having utterly disrupted the staid, professional air in the room, she now wanted everyone to work together to unravel the wool and recreate the balls. The look of shock and awe on the face of the audience was a wonder to behold. After the initial astonishment at the scale of the task had sunk in, some people stepped forward and started pitching ideas for how this could be achieved. Others worked together in little teams to unravel their own local bit of crochet. Some sat stony faced refusing to engage (see the lady in the bottom right hand corner of the attached photo).

It soon became apparent that the role Uta, Frederico and I were to play was to try and interpret the mayhem and draw some conclusions. It was, of course, a lovely metaphor for how good innovation works. I babbled inconclusively about how good innovation first needs a problem to solve and then it takes a team, working together, to unravel the mess. Not everyone joins in, but those that do usually get a sense of satisfaction.

Uta took it a step further, referring to the work that she has done as part of Ground Truth 2.0 (see gt20.eu), she commented that the exercise had shown how for good innovation to work the interactions between the parties need to be ‘honest’. Everyone needs to understand the conditions and the scope of the problem, only then they can mobilise around it. Too often, she said, we have solutions which are looking for problems to solve. Once you have the problem (‘I am covered in wool and need to be unknotted’) you can design a solution, which is often much more local in nature than one might immediately assume. She also noted, with a wry smile, that it was clear from where we sat on the podium that most of the people who threw the balls were male, whereas most of those who stepped forward to sort out the resulting mess were female. She is a clever lady that Uta.

Looking back, maybe I can forgive Andrew for walking me into this. I learnt something new.  

No 169: The Bravest Water Utility in the World

Nestled in the South-West corner of the state of Victoria, at the bottom of Australia, 200miles from Melbourne, is the town of Portland. Settled in 1800 by James Grant it provided the only sheltered deep water port between Adelaide and Melbourne and therefore offered safe haven for passing ships. Today Portland is a beautiful town with 10,000 residents and a thriving fishing and tourism industry. It is, apparently, the place to go if you want to see whales and koalas (which I assume means either the local whales have learnt to climb trees or that the koalas can now swim). It is a bustling hub of Australian life.

For me however, the region is famous for just one thing. It is served by the world’s bravest water utility: Wannon Water.

Wannon Water serves 42,000 customers and they draw water from 14 different sources across their region. They are something of a regional peculiarity in that three of their raw water sources are drawn from large, deep underground reservoirs which date back millennia. Unlike many utilities and councils in Australia, Wannon Water does not suffer water shortages. Their water is wholesome and healthy and in copious supply. Unfortunately, however, the water from the groundwater sources just doesn’t taste that nice. It has a mineral-rich, salty sort of taste, no doubt reflecting its long history percolating through the ground.  

Sharing this news at a state-wide event (the always brilliant annual VicWater conference) takes a significant amount of bravado and self-confidence. Ian Bail (GM for Service Delivery), and Kellie King (GM Community and Corporate Services), supported by key members of their board and executive team who were in the audience, bravely and humbly shared how they first realised the true extent of the taste issue. It was when a local hospital manager (in Port Fairy….best named place on earth) was quoted in the press stating that they were removing sugary drinks and cordials as part of a health drive, but that they would look for suitable alternatives to address the poor water taste. This was a wake-up call for Wannon.

Wannon already provided safe clean water but some of their customers simply didn’t like the taste. Rather than using the tap, customers were buying sugary soft drinks. Rates of obesity and tooth decay in the region were abnormally high. Something had to be done. Their first approach, not surprisingly, was to propose building a nice spankingly new RO facility which would remove the taste issues. Not cheap, but a practical solution. Unsurprisingly when they tested this proposal with the public they got a clear ‘no thanks’ response. People were happy with their soft drink alternatives.

Long story short, Wannon have embarked on a number of high profile ‘Great Tasting Water’ projects, working with the local hospital and even daring to extend their reach beyond the water meter to provide point of use solutions. There is much more to do of course, but the work at Wannon has highlighted the challenge the water industry has of ensuring that the water we provide is both wholesome and tasty. Wannon’s work has demonstrated that if we get this wrong all sorts of wider societal problems (such as obesity and dental decay) become rife. The challenge isn’t just about taste, it is about mobilising all the organisations in the region so that they appreciate the benefits, and perhaps even share the costs, associated with getting it right.

There are very few water companies that would be prepared to enter into such an honest and open public debate. Their stance has legitimised a community wide discussion around public health and well-being that reaches far beyond just the taste of the tap water.  Wannon Water: Bravest water utility in the world.

No 168: How to make a $million

I first met George Theo back in 2012 in a greasy spoon café in a grey drizzling London. Back then I was working at Thames Water and George was the recently appointed CEO for Unitywater, a newly formed water utility in South East Queensland, Australia.  Unitywater had been created through the merging of 6 council water businesses, each with their own systems and culture (no challenges there then!). George, bless him, was visiting London to see if there were any lessons he could take from Thames Water. Obviously I was no help at all. Thames Water is the Mary Poppins of the water sector and is practically perfect in every way. She has clearly never been even remotely dysfunctional or complex to navigate.

Despite my inability to help, I distinctly recall that we had a great fried breakfast, and that I was blown away by George’s fervent Aussie spirit of optimism.

I met George again yesterday, this time in his home city of Brisbane, which was distinctly sunnier and cleaner than London, and rather than a cholesterol-imbibed breakfast I instead sipped a healthy fruit smoothie. Five years on and we are both a looking a little bit older, balder, fatter but our collective passion for the water sector is unchanged. The last 5 years for George have been a roller coaster. If Thames is Mary Poppins then Unitywater is Bert Dawes (the Dick van Dyke character that played opposite Julie Andrews in the film). Unitywater is an organisation that has that a cheeky, optimistic, unrepentant, take-no-prisoners approach to life, where everything is possible if you just throw enough attention and energy behind it. I just love Australians.

Unitywater serves about 750,000 people in South East Queensland, stretching from Noosa in the north to Moreton Bay in the south.  It might not be the biggest water utility in the world, but it makes a big noise. They have a style and approach that is fundamentally different. They don’t try and excel at everything, but instead they adopt a laser-like focus on a few key areas where anything less than perfection is unacceptable. Water quality, for example. This focus of resources has created a culture and ethos that breeds further success, even on stuff that might seem peripheral.

For example, I was in awe when George told me their 60+ day debt was less than 1%. This is unbelievable. Water companies (even the perfect Thames) usually have no end of trouble getting pubs and nightclubs to pay their bills. 6 years is a good payment schedule, let alone 60 days. When I asked how they achieved this George explained that one of their initiatives is to deliberately not charge their maximum allowable revenue,  because to do so would make cash recovery more difficult and ‘why try and get an extra $2m revenue if we then have to spend as much building a debt recovery team’. The logic here is so obvious it is embarrassing. Play fair with your customers and they will play fair with you.

My favourite story however is how George and his team managed to persuade a massive chunk of their customers to switch from expensive quarterly paper bills (costing about $10 a household) to an online service. A simple campaign was launched inviting people to switch, with the only incentive being their entry into a  quarterly draw where the prize was free water for a year (capped at $1500). A $6k investment delivered a $1m/year saving. Beautiful.

We were joined by Ray Aspey, one of Georges senior managers. Ray is responsible for delivering some of the non-regulated aspects of Unitywater. He is a  glorious cross between an enthusiastic Labrador and a Great White Shark. He has boundless energy and eagerly embraces new ideas with an infectious, almost child-like enthusiasm, yet he is also scarily hard-nosed and has a commercially savviness that would make Gordon Gekko look like a pussy cat. Ray is developing plans to provide a new service to their industrial customers that will revolutionise their offering. The next few years are going to be fun in in South East Queensland. I fancy the best is yet to come!

No 167: One Problem. Two Cities

Over the years I have been to enough conferences to know that when an important government minister takes to the podium the audience is in for a fairly dull 20 minutes. No one is going to learn very much, although everyone will be respectful and clap at the end as the minister scuttles from the room with the feeble excuse of having another pressing engagement (while everyone actually knows their hasty departure is to avoid answering difficult questions). Somewhat depressingly, it is a universal truth that the more senior the minister,  the less informed they will be, and the faster they will scuttle.  

As I sat at the PUB Spotlight event in Singapore earlier today and heard the chairman announce grandly that ‘His Excellency Ek Soon Chan, Secretary of State for the Ministry of Energy in Cambodia’ was going to speak my little heart sank. I reached for my iPad with every intention of spending the session quietly clearing my email backlog.

Within seconds it was clear that this was not going to be a typical ministerial pontification. This session was going to be uniquely informative and entertaining. His topic was how they have managed to steadily reduce leakage in Phnom Penh from 76% in 1993 to less than 10% in 2017. To be brutally honest, the activities they undertook to achieve this result  were not rocket science, or indeed any different from those that would be adopted in any major city anywhere in the world (namely: identify the key ‘burst risk’ locations, repair and replace aging pipes, install meters, establish robust maintenance schedules). What stood out was the passion and personal experience with which the Minister spoke.

I think my favourite anecdote was how, while rolling out a metering programme, one of the local residents who didn’t like proposed meter installation plan, put a gun to the Ministers head and threatened to pull the trigger. In a ballsy response the Minister simply arranged for the water to the whole street to be turned off. His reasoning was simple: You want water, you pay for it.

His talk was followed by Mr Kawagoe from the Bureau of Waterworks in Tokyo. They serve 13 million people and, if I understood the interpreter correctly, they have enough water mains to go around the circumference of the earth, twice. Despite this enormous asset base, Tokyo has been able to reduced leakage from 80% in 1945 (wars have a tendency to mess with pipe integrity) to just 2% in 2012.  Rather humbly they stated that this was ‘probably’ world class. Probably.

Mr Kawagoe went on to say, with just a little bit of shame, that last year the leakage level had crept up to 3.2%. Ignoring the fact that a 1.2% shift must surely be within the margins of error I can think of numerous water utilities who would give their right arm to have leakage levels 5 times this. Leaving arguments aside as to whether this level of leakage control is financially astute (the cost of maintaining it will surely far exceed the cost of allowing some leaks to persist, especially in a city like Tokyo where any street works will be disruptive), this is a staggering achievement. I waited with baited breath to hear how this had been achieved. Mr Kawagoe talked about they utilize some clever widgets to find leaks, and an intensive training programme so their staff know what to do. As with the Cambodian Secretary of State, nothing he said was rocket science. There was one thing however that might just explain their stellar performance: Since Tokyo is in an earthquake zone they install thicker pipes than usual, and they have special earthquake resistant ‘flexi’ joints that move when the earth tremors (how cool is that?). Perhaps that’s the secret. We just need to build better pipes. Who would have thought.

I am also pleased to report that neither speaker scuttled. Indeed, my new Cambodian Ministerial hero stayed for the whole day and participated fully in all the debates and group discussions. A politician who knows what they are talking about and shows respect to his audience. Whatever next? It will never catch on.   

No 166: Poster Boy

My face has been used fairly widely over the past few weeks to advertise Utility Week. I have lost track of the number of times people have come up to me and said that my grinning mug has appeared on their internet feed. I can only assume that earlier this year someone in a dark basement at the publishing firm Faversham House decided that my face was the perfect image to epitomise the water sector: a balding, middle aged, male looking ever-so-slightly smug. That, they no doubt confidently told themselves, that is the face of the UK water industry today.

I am of course delighted to be the Utility Week poster boy. It is a great event, and was held at Birmingham NEC earlier this week, in a space about the size of 10 football pitches. I estimate 10,000 people attended. The real game changer that made Utility Week 2017 stand head and shoulders above others were the multiple parallel conference sessions, all held on the main expo floor. This made it incredibly easy for the delegates to flex between different sessions/the expo, enhancing the whole experience for both attendees and presenters. To avoid unnecessary noise the delegates had headphones which meant they could lock into the conference speaker of their choice.

Aside from the fact that most of the attendees were over 35 and dressed in suits, it gave the conference the feel of a headphone disco at an open air festival after the noise curfew. (When I was presenting I definitely saw some of my audience rocking back and forth in their chairs.)

Perhaps the strangest person to comment on my image appearing in their internet feed was a friend at my local church. He works in the prison sector and has nothing to do with water. Upon learning that my friend had been targeted I wondered if Mr Google had got a sneaky insight into my religious beliefs and had decided to target similarly minded individuals. Realising this was unlikely I wondered instead if my recent driving ban (one month to go now!) had put me on an HMRC watch list.

I finally realised that the more likely explanation was that he was targeted because we had emailed in the past and Google never forgets a link. I am now hoping I will get adverts to attend exciting conferences in the prison sector. If they are going to use our data then this really should be a two way street.  

Once you get past the fact that I look like I am supressing flatulence it is actually quite a nice photo. My wife likes it,  but that is possibly because I don’t normally supress wind in her presence. She is used to the full, glorious, unedited Piers experience. Lucky lady. 

No 165: Wet, Windy and Wild: The secret of a good corporate retreat

It is not unusual for big companies to invest significant time and money bringing their senior teams together once or twice a year so they can bond and discuss company strategy. Isle Group (www.isleutilities.com ), the company for which I am Chairman, is no different. Our senior team is spread across the world from Australia to California, Abu Dhabi to London. Being relatively small (at just 50 people) we lack the budget some companies might have for this exercise, but I like to think we more than make up for it in imagination. We can’t afford 3 days in a posh hotel in a prime holiday location. For us it is 3 days bundled together, sharing rooms and toilets and all our associated personal functions, in a big house in the English coastal town of Southwold. Situated on the Suffolk coastline, with the foreboding North Sea and the chill east winds, I like to think the team bond through shared adversity. Forget luxury. Hardship is the glue that truly binds.

Throughout this week the President of ‘Isle America’, Cristina Ahmadpour, who is used to the sandy beaches of San Diego and the pristine, gloriously warm waters of the Pacific has resolutely refused to even dip her toe in the freezing grey North Sea. Yesterday evening however, following a mix of coaxing and cajoling from myself and our CFO we persuaded her to give it a go. I think the offer to bump up her flight back home from a seat at the very back of the plane to one that was near the very back of the plane was probably the deciding factor.

The rule was she had to fully immerse. See attached 30 second video link. I particularly like Cristina’s impressive face plant and her accompanying Californian squeal. Note also the perfect synchronization as Ryan (our CFO) and I enter the water. We were channelling Tom Daley and Daniel Goodfellow, Ryan especially so with his exceptionally small budgie smugglers.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-kNR9H2w43gOHpYWXM2UWFxTGc/view?usp=sharing

Why do something one once, when there is the perfect opportunity to do it twice? Especially if you can bring in all your friends. As the evening progressed and the wine flowed, the team bonded and at midnight a second dip, this time without the protection of a wet suit, seemed a good idea. Midnight is clearly not the best time for decision making in the Isle family.

It is only now, as I look at the photos, that I see that our MD for Europe, Dutchman Dr Ignaz Worm, appears to have been so whipped up by the enthusiasm that he didn’t let the fact he lacked swimming trunks deter him. Underpants are just as functional. Now that’s impressive team bonding. Beat that IBM and Google!

Fun fact: Someone in the Isle senior team has the copyright symbol, ©, tattooed on the upper cheek of their left buttock. It looks like they have been stamped for the Congestion Charge. Bless.

Cristina - BEFORE THE SWIM

Cristina - AFTER THE SWIM

BEFORE THE MIDNIGHT DIP

AFTER THE MIDNIGHT DIP

No 164: My Ego is like a Tom Cat

Sometimes it sits quietly purring in a corner of my life. Sometimes it endearingly rubs itself up on the legs of people I encounter in a valiant attempt to get stroked. Sometimes it voraciously demands to be fed, meowing incessantly. It is therefore rather wondrous when someone bolsters ones ego without any provocation. It is the equivalent to a kindly old lady stopping on her way to the shops to give 2 minutes of unwarranted love to the smelly Tom Cat sitting on a neighbours garden wall. The cat can’t believe his luck, but he laps up all the love as if he actually had done something to deserve it (he never has).

I had such a moment earlier this week. I received a call from an engineering student at Leeds University, Josh Maillings. Josh had been recommended to speak to me in my capacity as a ‘water expert’. My inner Tom Cat positively bristled with pride. Josh is writing a dissertation on the effects of Brexit on innovation in the UK water sector. Years of being a professional consultant have taught me that for every technical question there are always three responses and I wasn’t about to deviate from this universal truth. I dug deep and gave my three responses.  

•          Firstly, the weakening of the £ was likely to mean costs will rise since a significant proportion of the water supply chain is procured from overseas. This is good for innovation since increased pressure to reduce costs inevitably moves an organisation’s risk appetite upwards. Upon reflection I now realise that this answer is not particularly helpful. I didn’t actually answer the question. The weakening of the £ may be partly due to Brexit, but it is probably more influenced by activities in the US. For failing to answer the exam question I deserve a mere 2/10 for my response. [Interestingly, the smart money (apparently) says that if Mr Trump follows through on his infrastructure investment promises by, for example, building a 100ft high garden wall to keep out the neighbours, then the £ will drop even further. Alternatively if he decides to start WWIII then the whole topic is mute since we will have other more pressing things to worry about than a bit of FX loss.]
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•         Secondly, Brexit is likely to lead to the rejection (or at least the watering down) of various EU environmental legislation. This will remove one of the key drivers behind many environmental ‘technology advancement’ programmes. This is obviously bad for innovation. Unfortunately I now realise I may be wrong with this conclusion also. Perhaps the UK will use Brexit to adopt even more stringent levels of environmental protection. This appears unlikely, but I do remain optimistically hopeful that, irrespective of the legislative changes, water companies will not weaken in their resolve to make the right decisions about protecting and preserving their local environment. Call me naïve but I believe we are still an industry dominated by good people who care deeply about preserving our natural resources. Mostly.  
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•          Thirdly, no discussion around Brexit can avoid the topic of immigration. The water sector relies significantly on overseas workers, in particular for blue/grey collar activities (plumbers, leakage technicians).  As we tighten our immigration rules, this resource pool will reduce, increased demand will push up salaries, which in turn will drive a desire for increased automation. This is good for innovation. Yet again on reflection I realise this conclusion is oversimplified and probably wrong. Our dependence on overseas workers is not just restricted to the blue/grey collar activities. I struggle to think of a single strong competent technical team, in particular in R&D, that does not rely upon a diverse multinational team. Some of those overseas brains are startlingly good. Without them we will have lost something rather special.

Regular readers of this blog (both of them) can attest to the insatiable nature of my ego, and therefore will appreciate my desire to reach out for more informed perspectives on the whole Brexit/Water/Innovation conundrum. I will share any responses to this blog with Josh, taking just a little bit of credit for having provided the communication channel. See it as a friendly scratching of my feline ego chin. Or if the fancy takes you, see it as a chance to let your own personal Tom Cat get some satisfaction, while at the same time helping a hard working student in Leeds.

Just remember though, Tom Cats can be difficult to manage. They roam unrestrained over territories that are not their own, they are astonishing indiscriminate in their hunt for gratification, and every now and then they do something that requires someone else to do the cleaning up. Tom Cats are not ideal pets. Treat yours carefully.

 This blog, and previous editions, can be found at http://notesfrompiers.blogspot.co.uk/

No 163: Euthanize the Old, Brainwash the Young

Last Tuesday I attended a meeting in the Philippines hosted by Metropac Water and Maynilad (one of the Philippine’s major water suppliers). Also attending were a number of senior managers from a variety of rural Philippine Water Districts.

For some attendees it was the first time they had met. As an ice-breaker we were all invited to share something that our colleagues didn’t know. All was going smoothly (‘I like to dance’, ‘I have a pet hamster’) until a lovely lady with a larger-than-usual body shape stood up and said with heart-breaking melancholy  ‘One of the things my colleagues don’t know about me is that I used to be sexy’.

This jaw-dropping confession was then followed by a man who stood up and declared ‘Some of my colleagues think I am a homosexual. I am not. ….. Just kidding. Yes I am!’.

My confession that I grow asparagus in my spare time felt rather lame.

The aim of the meeting was to discuss how they could better identify and adopt new technology. It is a problem common to all utilities irrespective of size, location or wealth. Two of my favourite suggestions were that we should Euthanize the Old, and Brainwash the Young. As innovation adoption strategies go, these are more edgy than usual.

The euthanization suggestion was actually made by the eldest person in the room (I don’t think he was volunteering) as a tongue-in-cheek alternative to the problem all utilities experience of having operators who are so set in their ways that they actively resist new innovations. The brainwashing suggestion was another tongue-in-cheek proposal that came out of a discussion about the importance of educating children on how water is treated and cleaned. I also learnt about a newly created organisation called the Philippine Young Water Professionals. This was formed by 5 very engaging (and very engaged) young people in Manila who decided that the best way to make things better was get on and do it themselves. It is a very impressive, and very Philippine, approach.

Also worth noting that within 2 minutes of the official meeting ending there was karaoke playing loudly, with words on the overhead projector and microphones in the hands of enthusiastic (and talented) singers.

For the record, this confess-at-the-start-and-sing-for-joy-at-the-end approach is not how meetings tend to go in London. I like the Philippine style more.

No 162: The most fun you can have with two bananas

When I was young a ‘Blue Wave’ was a particular type of old ladies hair style. Perhaps it was more common in the 1980’s but elderly ladies in the twilight of their years would add (quite literally) a bit of colour to their lives by transforming their greying locks into something more vibrant and eye-catching. Quite why they would select a shade of blue that made them look as if they had been dunked headfirst into a public urinal was always a point of fascination for me. However, that was then, this is now. Today a Blue Wave describes one of the most exciting, game-changing and altruistic ventures in the water sector.

It is the brainchild of George Hawkins, the General Manager for DC Water and Sewer Authority based in Washington DC. George is well-known in the water sector, being something of a visionary. I confess to having just a little professional man-crush. His premise is simple: there are two types of water agency and there is a divide between them that needs to be closed. First there are the large entities, such as DC Water. These entities typically serve cities and employ diverse teams of engineers, operators, scientists and hydrogeologists. These organisations have a depth of professional capability which enables them to identify, scope and deliver the constant stream of projects which a modern utility needs to undertake if they are to provide a safe and reliable service to their customers.  At the other extreme there are the smaller municipalities. These entities might only serve a small town or village, they employ equally committed and passionate staff but these staff are in a constant battle just to stand still. Some of these entities employ just one person, who does everything from operations to billing. Money is tight for both the large and small entities, but the small entities are doubly constrained because they lack the resources necessary to identify and develop improvement projects. The staff in these smaller entities are running so hard just to stand still that they will never access the exciting new technological advances that could break the cycle of madness. While the bigger organisations power forward, embracing new technology and achieving enhanced efficiencies, the smaller entities just drop further and further behind.

What makes this challenge particularly pertinent is that the number of these smaller entities far, far outweighs the larger. Of the 56,000 municipalities in the US, probably 55,000 fall into this latter category. And this is not a US-specific problem. Many countries face a similar challenge. There are literally millions of people around the world who are disadvantaged due to their local water utility’s inability to embrace new tech.

Blue Wave will address this problem. Using new digital advances it will provide a mechanism that helps the smaller entities claw their way out of their endless cycle of running to stand still. To work effectively Blue Wave will require some of the larger utilities to share their knowledge and experience, but the appetite to do so appears to be growing. The Blue Wave initiative was a key topic for discussion at an invite-only event held yesterday in Las Vegas for a small intimate group of US water leaders. I attended as the token foreigner, coming from one of the few countries that has not yet been blacklisted by the kindly and diplomatic new tenants in in Pennsylvania Avenue.

The event was organised by the water-focused private equity fund XPV and sponsored by Wells Fargo. Their thinking was to put some of the nation’s most experienced and informed leaders in a room, throw in a few sector-scale challenges, and then sit back and see what happens. Based on yesterday’s meeting, Blue Wave is what happens. In a world where intolerance and self-protection is on a relentless and seemingly unstoppable rise it is reassuring that something like Blue Wave is getting traction. The water sector needs this. The world needs this.

And the reference to bananas in this blog title? Well, after a hard day putting the world to rights the delegates at yesterday’s event were invited to attend the One Night for One Drop Cirque du Soleil show. This is an annual charity event held in aid of water and sanitation initiatives and is a 3 hour extravaganza showcasing feats so awe-inspiring they beggar belief. It was a collection of acts that ranged from the terrifyingly dangerous (e.g. trapeze artists 100ft above the stage with nothing to stop their fall other than a rope held between their teeth) to the astonishingly bizarre (William Shatner closed the show with an environmental rights song so jaw-droppingly awful I can only assume it was ironic….but does Las Vegas do irony?).

My hands-down favourite act of the night however was a husband and wife comedy duo which involved nothing more than 2 bananas. Like all good Las Vegas shows it managed to be shocking, hilarious, repulsive, mesmerising and nutritious all at the same time. It even involved an exchange of bodily fluids (between performers and a member of the audience) which is something not often seen live on stage, even in Las Vegas. Best of all it was just the sort of thing any loving couple could happily do in the comfort of their own home, if they were so minded.

Sadly I no longer have space to share further details on this incredible act.  And anyway, to share the details here would be to break a golden rule: What happens in Vegas…

This blog and past entries can be found at http://notesfrompiers.blogspot.co.uk/

No 161: I have a new hero

Actually I have three. They are all women. Two are Haitian. Readers of last week’s blog will recall that I have been in Haiti for the past few days, participating in the annual ‘Swim for Haiti’ event. My new heroes are all a product of this glorious event.

First there is Naomy Grand’Pierre. Naomy is 19. She is a feisty, self-assured young lady who positively exudes good-will and charm. She also happens to be 50% of the 2016 Haitian Olympic Swimming team. Seldom does one get to meet people who can instantly fill a room with just their natural charisma. Naomy is one such lady. Watch for her as the years pass, she will be outstanding. She is the whole package: gracious, funny, intelligent, focused, hardworking. She has a certain celebrity cache in Haiti and watching her give access to her fans, without ego or reluctance, was a wonder.

Naomy was one of the 20 or so swimmers who did the 10km sea-swim (another 40 did a 1.5km event). Her usual event is the 50m freestyle sprint. Clearly a 10km swim is a very different beast, requiring a different set of muscles and a very different mind-set. A gruelling sea swim marathon requires a unique mix of pig-headed resilience and old-man stamina, both attributes that I happen to possess. She may be a race horse, but this is an event where the plodding donkey should come up trumps. Such was my confidence that I would beat her that I confess before the swim I toyed with a title for this blog being ‘I beat an Olympian’. I could not have been more wrong. She completed it over an hour faster than me, coming in at 3 hours 20min. While I struggled on, praying for death continually for the last 2 km, she skimmed through the water like a dolphin. She even found time to stop and take selfies with her waterproof camera phone. The woman is a superhero. I feel an urge to go to Tokyo in 2020 just to cheer her on.

My second hero is a lady called Dominique. It would be ungallant to share her age, suffice to say that in the UK she would be drawing a pension. Dominique is a classical Haitian matriarch. When she speaks, you listen. It was she who corralled many of the local sponsors to support the event. It was she who got the beaches cleaned. It was she who went swimmer-by-swimmer before we set off, speaking in Creole to each of our fishermen (each swimmer had a dedicated fisherman who canoed alongside us). She explaining crisply and clearly to the fisherman exactly what each swimmers personal preferences were with regards positioning. This might sound trivial but it was vitally important. In a sea swim there is nothing worse than finding your fisher-companion is on the wrong side of you (or is behind you!). You have to keep stopping to re-calibrate your line of sight. It saps your energy. She had observed this from last year’s event and she wasn’t going to let any of the swimmers suffer the same fate this year.

Best of all however was watching her complete the swim. She was the last one out of the water and an enthusiastic crowd welcomed her home. I swear that everyone who had completed the swim watched her in awe, unable to fully process just how she had managed to keep on going. She spent 6 hours in the water, resolutely powering on. Some young bucks joined her for her last few hundred metres, providing emotional support for those last few pulls. It was a beautiful moment as we welcomed to shore this magnificent, generous lady. I can but aspire to have her gracious attitude and glorious resilience. 

And so we come to my third hero: Shaunna Cubberley. If you read last week’s blog you will know her story. Shaunna completed the swim and raised an impressive $7k for Watering Minds, the charity programme that provides water to schools in Haiti. Her donation alone will enable over 1000 children to have a clean safe supply of water for the coming school year. This might seem strange to those of us who need only turn a tap to get hydrated, but in Haiti that luxury is simply not available. Most schools in Haiti have no water supply. It has been shown that lack of water at schools can be a key driver for truancy, and that well-hydrated children work harder and play harder. They stay at school. They get educated. They achieve better grades. Society improves. The ripples that come from putting water into a school are far reaching.

To those of you who supported Shaunna, thank you. You have made a difference.

This blog, and previous entries can be found at: http://notesfrompiers.blogspot.co.uk/

No 160: Save your admiration/pity (delete as appropriate) for Shaunna…

On Sunday 19^th Feb I am doing a 10km sea-swim in Haiti. Long-time followers of this blog will recall that this is an annual event in my calendar. This year the swim is worryingly 3km longer than previous years. It is organised by Jim Chu, one of the most inspirational, hard-working and socially-minded entrepreneurs on the planet. Jim is the CEO for dlo Haiti Inc, a water kiosk business that provides water to the rural population in Haiti. Isle proudly supports dlo Haiti through REEF, the Isle ‘foundation’ which offers financial assistance to water-sector entrepreneurs in developing countries.

In previous years I have been joined in this swim by both colleagues from Isle and my sons. Indeed, last year Tim Day, MD for Isle Australia, led the pack, completing the 7km swim in an impressive 2hrs 47 minutes. I came 4^th (8 minutes after Tim), pleased simply to have avoided the jellyfish that blighted the previous years’ event, nor attracted interest from the local shark population. It is always good to get out of the water with both arms and legs still intact. 

It is well known that at a certain age many men go through a period of madness. Fast cars and affairs are not my thing so I have opted instead to ‘do something physically extreme’ in the vain hope it will prove my fading masculinity isn’t really fading, and might even give my life purpose. When this years’ event was announced I reached out to my colleagues and family to invite them to participate. There was the initial rush of enthusiasm. Buoyed by great intentions we quickly had a party of 7 joining me in my own personal mid-life tragedy. However, steadily the enthusiasm dissolved away and now the Isle representation has shrunk to just myself and Shaunna Cubberley, the marketing manager in Isle’s London office. 

Shaunna is not doing this to prove her physical resilience. Her motivation is pure and righteous. She is raising funds for the local charity Watering Minds, which provides clean, safe water to local schools. Neither is she is a sporting fanatic. Indeed, shortly after she committed to participate she visited her local swimming baths for a training session. Somewhat cruelly her teacher informed her she swam like a chicken. I have checked my sources: chickens don’t swim. 

I exaggerate of course. What her teacher actually said was that one of her arms was ‘like a chicken wing’, unable to fully extend. The odds on her swimming in a series of ever decreasing circles are surprisingly high. 

So please don’t feel either sympathy or admiration for me. I don’t deserve it. However please give Shaunna the support she deserves. She could have joined her other Isle colleagues and found an excuse to drop out. While they gradually melted away she stuck to it, resolutely and bravely determined to see it through, chicken wing or not. Drop her an email to wish her well (shaunna.cubberley@isleutilities.com). Or even better, contribute to her masterful fund-raising efforts here.  (https://www.generosity.com/medical-fundraising/watering-minds-a-water-for-schools-programme)

To redeem my own wretched, inexcusable failure to set up a sponsoring page I will joyfully match the first £2k of contributions made to her. Go on, contribute. You know she deserves it.

No 159: The Meryl Streep/Brad Pitt of the Water Industry

‘A list’ actors are those who are so successful that simply having their name associated with a film guarantees a box office hit. Think Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep, Brad Pitt. B-list actors are those who seldom headline, or only headline when they have notable supporting stars. Wikipedia tells me that Pierce Brosnan and Nicholas Cage are now both B listers, which seems wrong but the internet never lies. C-listers are those actors you recognise but can’t immediately name. D-listers are those that appear on game shows. Z-listers go on Big Brother.

This week I have been at the Abu Dhabi International Water Summit. Isle has been running a series of Innovation Competitions throughout the week. These Innovation competitions showcase the best of the best in the world of water technology. Three separate competitions over three separate days, covering Municipal, Industrial and Real Estate innovations respectively. I like to think of it as a smorgasbord of ‘A list’ technologies, with possibly the odd B-lister included (to make the A listers look even better).

It would be impossible to do justice to all the technologies here, suffice to say that I spent my days bouncing in wonderment from one mind-blower to another. There was the aeration process that ‘super oxygenates’ water, enabling not only a step change in wastewater treatment but also, somewhat bizarrely, a 15% saving in carbon when the super-oxygenated water is used to cure concrete (www.oxifiniti.com). Or the low-water-usage shower developed out of the NASA ‘Mission to Mars’ space programme (www.orbital-systems.com).  Or how about the holistic microcosm treatment process that wraps a whole ecosystem into a space not much bigger than a stamp (slight exaggeration on my part) (www.carexofsweden.com). Or the water conditioner that has no moving parts and uses no chemicals and has a payback of months. The amount of energy this simple device could save is truly ground breaking (www.halcyanwater.com).

These technologies, along with all the others too numerous to mention here, are all of course winners in their own right, in their own fields. Yet our guest judges had to select our metaphorical Streeps and Pitts. The Municipal award was taken by New Sky Energy (www.newskyenergy.com) for their gas sweetening technology that will revolutionise the treatment of hydrogen sulphide (a gas that smells so bad even my teenage student sons would complain if exposed to it). The Industrial winner was Saltech B.V (www.salttech.nl), a Dutch technology that can treat high salinity water in a low energy, single step process (ok…to a layman that might not sound like a big thing, but trust me it is). And the Real Estate winner was the WaterBlade, an astonishingly simple water saving device that uses 10% of the water from a conventional tap yet gives a gloriously luxurious handwashing experience (think Airblade hand dryers but with water) (www.waterblade.co.uk). Well done all.

Other highlights from this week include the intimate evening I spent at the Swedish Ambassador’s residence, schmoozing with innovators whose blood still pumps with Viking passion. Over my career I have been lucky enough to work with innovation ‘hubs’ from around the world but it was at this event that I met my first Arctic Innovation Hub. It must surely be the only one in the Arctic Circle. Apparently its popular with car manufacturers as a testing zone. They take cars to the point of destruction, testing their physical robustness and speed. Bearing in mind my recent driving challenges perhaps, just perhaps, a move to North Sweden is on the cards for the Clark family.

Final thought, the Abu Dhabi International Water Summit was opened by a spray of global world leaders and local dignitaries. These included the Presidents from Costa Rica, Kazakhstan and Montenegro. I guess somewhere there is an ‘A – Z List of World Leaders’ and they must all be acutely aware of where they sit on this list, jostling for position at each international pow-wow.

Following Theresa May’s recent comments re the UKs ‘hard Brexit’ I assume she is now awaiting the call to join the Big Brother house. 

For previous editions of these Notes please visit http://notesfrompiers.blogspot.co.uk/

No 158: When it comes to court appearances, how often is too often?

My first appearance in court was back in the late 1980s. I had been driving for about a year and was involved in a car accident. The case was dismissed within minutes, not because I was wholly innocent (it had been one of those situations where neither party was paying enough attention), but because the other party started making statements that were patently untrue. My then girlfriend (who is now my wife) appeared in court beside me, partly as moral support, partly as a character reference, and partly because she had witnessed the event in question. I went into the courtroom fearing I would be banned, I walked out acquitted.

My second appearance was about 10 years later. Speeding cameras were still a relatively new phenomenon and following a spate of poor choices on my part I had accumulated more points on my license than is wise. I pleaded guilty. My time in court was mercifully brief. I went into the courtroom expecting to be banned, I walked out with a hefty fine and a slap on the wrists, but with my license still valid.  

My third appearance was earlier today. It may have been over 15 years since my last visit but little had changed. Except this time my wife was not with me to provide character support/shoulder to cry on (sensibly she had better things to do). I was charged with speeding, having been caught on camera driving at 69mph on the motorway in a 50mph zone. I pleaded guilty. I went into the courtroom knowing I would be banned. I walked out not at all surprised.

The judge was rather nice about it all, and we had a little to-and-fro banter about the challenges of modern driving. Don’t press so hard on the accelerator might be the obvious advice to someone like me. Or perhaps: pay more attention to the variable speed signs. Either way, as the judge said with a little conciliatory shrug, ‘speeding is speeding’. When invited to give a statement I wisely chose to reject the pearls of wisdom that friends have encouraged me to use. I did not, for example, say that I was sorry….Sorry that the police were not spending more time chasing real criminals.  Neither did I point out that the speed awareness courses clearly don’t work, otherwise I would not have been appearing in court today. In particular I chose to reject my loving brothers advice that I base my appeal on the fact that I pay so much in parking fines that local authorities across the UK would be harshly hit without my regular contributions. No, I simply said I was sorry and I took my punishment (a 6 month ban). Clearly I have not yet learnt my lesson.

On the plus side this will help with one of my New Year Resolutions. I vowed to tread more softly on the planet and this will help. Now all I have to do is find a way to get banned from flying too and I will be able to really reduce my carbon footprint.

For previous versions of this blog visit http://notesfrompiers.blogspot.co.uk/