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www.bristolwater.co.uk
WINTER 2014
Community
involvement
Wildlife Tails
Bristol Water
Bond
Children’s Photography
Competition winner
– see pages 7-8
i
Welcome to this edition of WaterTalk.
As you can see from some of the articles in this newsletter, Bristol
Water has been very active in the community over the summer
months, by participating in a number of large events and some smaller
local events.
W
e want to engage more with customers and
stakeholders and encourage you to contact us if you
would like us to support your community initiatives or
would like us to organise educational water workshops which will
beneﬁt groups of children.
Bristol Water has also been very visible in the media following
the recent major emergency in Fisher Road, Kingswood when
one of our 30” strategic mains burst, causing severe ﬂooding to
households as well as causing interruptions to water supplies to
people living across north east Bristol.
Whilst we can never anticipate these emergencies occurring, we
do have contingency plans when they do happen and I was pleased
with the way that my staff handled the emergency. We can always
learn from our experiences and I met with the local Kingswood
MP, Chris Skidmore, who took the time to give us feedback on how
well we had handled this emergency and he also provided helpful
suggestions on how we might improve our approach to incidents of
this nature in the future.
Now that water supplies have successfully been restored to all our
consumers in that area, I would like to thank all the residents and
businesses affected by the burst water main for their patience and
understanding and also local people and businesses who rallied
around to help others during the emergency, and we thank them
for doing this.
I hope you enjoy reading this edition of WaterTalk.
Luis Garcia, Chief Executive
USEFUL CONTACT DETAILS
(Cut out and keep)
Water Supply Query
Tel:
0345 702 3797
(Minicom 0800 917 0737)
(Mon – Fri, 8am – 6pm. Emergency
service at all other times)
Email: [email protected]
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#HECKYOURINTERNALSTOPTAPISWORKING
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,EAVEYOURHEATINGONLOWIFYOUGOAWAY
Billing Query
If a pipe freezes you should:
Tel:
s 4URNTHEWATERSUPPLYOFFATTHESTOPTAP
s #HECKTOSEEIFTHEPIPEHASBURST
s 0ARTLYTURNONANYAFFECTEDTAPSWHILSTTHE
pipes thaw
s 'ENTLYWARMTHEAFFECTEDSECTIONOFPIPE
tap with a hot water bottle - don’t use
extreme heat
0345 600 3 600
(Mon – Fri, 8am – 6pm)
Email: [email protected]
Meter Option Leaﬂet Line
Tel:
0345 601 5983 (24 hours)
Leakline (Spot a leak – report it)
Tel:
0800 801 011
www.bristolwater.co.uk
1
To avoid serious plumbing
problems during the cold months
of winter, follow these steps:
Front cover image by Aaron Burford
If a pipe bursts you should:
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Open all taps to drain the system quickly
#ALLAQUALIlEDPLUMBER
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once pipework is repaired
to avoid further ﬂooding
4HREE,AKES#HALLENGE
In the last edition of WaterTalk we wrote about two of Bristol Water’s
Directors, Mick Axtell and Ben Newby who had challenged themselves to
raise money for WaterAid by running around and cycling between Bristol
Water’s three largest lakes – Cheddar, Blagdon and Chew.
What started with a goal to raise what they initially thought would be the challenging
amount of £2,000, ended with a staggering total of £9,001 (including gift aid) being
donated to WaterAid.
Interviewing Ben and Mick straight after they had completed their Challenge, they said
they were overwhelmed by the generous donations and tremendous support they
received from all the people who’d assisted them in their fundraising challenge.
As for the Challenge itself they said: “the scenery and wildlife made it a beautiful route.
We were so lucky to have access to the three lakes of Cheddar, Blagdon and Chew.
Unfortunately, it hurt us more than we expected it to! Both of us had some tough
stretches, the main bike ride over the highest point on the Mendips leaving our legs
tired for the 14.5 miles of running afterwards. The last mile was tough for both of us!”
(In total they ran 16 miles and cycled 16 miles).
WaterAid estimates that it costs £15 to bring life changing clean water to a single
person, meaning over 600 people will beneﬁt from the generosity shown from
EVERYONESUPPORTINGTHE4HREE,AKES#HALLENGE
2014 Price Review
Business Plan
2015-2020
On 29 August, Ofwat published details of its Draft
Determination on our business plan proposals for
the next ﬁve-year period from 2015 to 2020.
The industry regulator had advised us on 6 August that
it had concerns about the wholesale costs in our plan as
there was a signiﬁcant difference between our assessment
of these costs and Ofwat’s own assessment based upon its
cost model. The Draft Determination conﬁrmed this.
We’ve considered how best to respond to the Draft Determination and the
feedback from Ofwat; and we have applied further challenge to our cost assessments.
We have explained this in our response to them which we submitted on 3 October.
The document sent to Ofwat sets out the work we have done since 6 August. We
commissioned further independent reviews and carried out our own internal reviews.
As a result, our Board has agreed to take more risk and deliver greater efﬁciency. This
will beneﬁt customers by reducing average bills by 4.5%, £9 in real terms which is an
additional £5 reduction from the Business Plan proposals we submitted in June.
This means that we are proposing a £21m reduction in our total wholesale costs
from £562m to £541m. Our revised proposals will, however, still deliver the levels of
service and service improvements contained in our original plans.
We look forward to further constructive dialogue with the regulator between now
and its Final Determination, with a view to achieving the best possible outcome for
our customers.
Customer Care Plus
If you are elderly, have a disability or
are concerned about personal security
in your home, you may want to be
included in our register of customers
requiring special services to meet your
additional needs.
This free register helps us to meet your
needs on a daily basis and allows us to
keep in touch with you in the event of us
having to work on our water network in
an emergency or on planned work – so the
more information you are able to provide
us with relating to your speciﬁc needs, the
better service we can deliver.
If you would like to register your details with
us, please contact customer services on:
0345 600 3 600 (Monday – Friday, 8am –
6pm) or alternatively you can register via our
website:
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As part of our community engagement
programme Bristol Water has been ‘out and
about’ in the community delivering talks and
workshops and exhibiting at a number of small
and major events. As a responsible corporate
citizen we think it is important for us to engage
with our customers face-to-face.
Our events team has attended a number of large shows - the
Festival of Nature,VegFest, Bristol Harbourside Festival and the
International Bristol Balloon Fiesta, and we were able to answer
water related queries, promote the free water saving packs and
give away free packets of ‘swell gel’ - water retention crystals which
can be added to compost and used in the garden. We also ran
prize draws based on a water facts quiz, handed out hundreds of
children’s colouring cards displaying the water cycle, and provided
information leaﬂets on a wide range of topics, including metering,
leakage, water wise tips for gardening and offers on water butts.
We’ve also engaged with customers through our stands at small,
local events like village fairs, exhibitions at retail parks and at
Windmill Hill City Farm, a Bedminster-based charity.
(AJIRA+HUSHNOODOUR#OMMUNITY,IAISON/FlCERHASALSOCARRIED
out water workshops with scouts, brownies and school children
and given talks to a variety of groups like rotaries, probus clubs,
Women’s Institutes and local Historical Societies across our supply
area.
Additionally, our mobile
Customer Service Unit
(exhibition vehicle) has been
parked up in areas where we
are carrying out renovations
or repair and maintenance
works and we have spoken
to customers who have
dropped by to ﬁnd out more
information about the works we are undertaking.
Over 20 members of staff from various departments across the
company have volunteered to help at these events, and we also had
a student volunteer from a local school helping out at the Wellow
Flower Show and Country Fair.
We’re happy to support community events and provide free talks
and workshops to groups - so if you’re planning for the future don’t
forget to contact Hajira by emailing her on hajira.khushnood@
bristolwater.co.uk or by telephoning her on 0117 953 6470.
It is important for us to engage
3
with our customers face-to-face.
4
Your free online guide to
local wellbeing services
www.wellaware.org.uk
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information, they do not know where to look.
And when it comes to health and wellbeing
matters it is often when they or their family face
a crisis that they need help the most. That is
where Well Aware can help.
Well Aware is the free health and wellbeing information and
signposting website for Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset,
Somerset and South Gloucestershire. It has more than 5,500 entries
with categories ranging from ‘support around the home’ and
‘socialising’ to ‘getting around’ and ‘personal health services’
as well as a wealth of other useful information. Well Aware covers
virtually the whole of Bristol Water’s catchment area.
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information for a friend, a family member, a client or patient – or for
themselves. People visiting Well Aware can search for activities groups,
organisations or services close to their homes using maps as well as
postcodes.
Well Aware is particularly accessible. It is BrowseAloud enabled which
adds speech, reading and translation support to the website assisting
access and participation for those people with print disabilities,
dyslexia, low literacy, mild visual impairments and those with English
as a second language.
A member of the Well Aware team responding to a telephone
enquiry
With over 500,000 website views in the last year it has proved
successful with users. Carmen Arnaiz, Manager of Well Aware, says:
‘It is always great when people tell us that they found the service they
needed or that they have joined new groups after visiting Well Aware.
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meeting new people.’
For people without internet access there is a free telephone service
0808 808 5252 which operates from 9.00am – 5.00pm Monday to
Thursday and 9.00am – 4.30pm on Fridays.
An events calendar means that people can see what days of the
week activities or events are taking place and it is possible to create
personal lists of favourites that can be stored for future reference.
Members of the Well
Aware team are often
out and about so look
out for them at local
events. ‘We like visiting
local user groups and
organisations to tell them
about the website and
to demonstrate just how
useful and comprehensive
it is,’ says Carmen Arnaiz.
‘Just telephone us on
0808 808 5252. By the
way, if your group or
activity is not yet on Well
Aware, we’d love to hear
from you!’
Bogus callers often prey on elderly or vulnerable
people by pretending they work for a water
company to con their way into homes.
www.wellaware.org.uk
All our staff carry photographic identiﬁcation and we operate a password
system which anyone can register for. Call Customer Services on
0345 600 3 600 to register.
If you are in any doubt that someone asking for access to your
home is not a real Bristol Water employee then ask to see their identiﬁcation
badge, ring Bristol Water to double check and don’t let them in until you are
really sure.
5
Well Aware is run by The Care Forum (registered
charity no. 1053817) in partnership with the
Councils and NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups
in Bath & North East Somerset, Bristol and South
Gloucestershire and local Healthwatch projects.
Bristol Water is pleased to help promote Well Aware’s services.
“All hands on deck”
When faced with major emergencies, like the recent incident in
Kingswood, it’s certainly a case of ‘all hands on deck’.
Supplying water is a 24 hour, 365 days a year
operation with an average of 264 million
litres of water being supplied every day
across the Bristol Water supply area. With
140 treated water storage reservoirs, 16
water treatment works and 173 pumping
stations to manage, our operations room
staff continually manage the distribution of
water across our network of 6,770 km of
mains.
In these emergency situations an incident
room is set up with all actions and
communications being routed through
In many emergency situations, our
operations team is alerted through our
extensive telemetry systems, of any major
failures or unusual activities within the
network and we can send engineers to
these locations immediately.
On Thursday, 25 September at around
4.38 pm we were alerted to a major
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and it was certainly an ‘all hands on deck’
situation, with staff from all parts of the
business being diverted from their normal
work to assist on the emergency.
When our engineers arrived on site, the
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evacuate residents for safety reasons. Our
operations team isolated the main to reduce
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site was carried out in conjunction with the
Emergency Services and other utility service
providers. At the same time, our Emergency
Assistance team was on site to help those
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they are continuing to work with these
customers to restore their properties fully.
a central hub, so that an effective crisis
management approach can be adopted.
Whilst the repair work was taking place,
other staff were mobilised across the
affected area to distribute bottled water
to those people who are registered on our
vulnerable customer lists. Locations for
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were safe for our tankers and for customers
queuing and contact was made with site
landlords to agree these locations. Once
agreed, water tanks were delivered to
sites with their locations publicised via our
website and the local media. Staff were then
deployed to man these sites to provide as
much assistance as possible.
Throughout the duration of the incident our
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of calls, regular updates were issued by
our communications team and our web
news page received over 136,000 hits.
Our engineers worked through the night
preparing the site together with emergency
gas crews who stabilised their service
pipes allowing us to repair the burst water
main. Once the repair had been completed,
the recharging of water into our network
had to be managed in a controlled way to
minimise the risk of discoloured water or
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out and about in the area assisting with this
process. The whole incident required staff
to work together in order to resolve the
situation as quickly as possible and many
staff experienced a very different work
environment from their normal day-to-day
job.
We’d like to reiterate our apologies to
everyone inconvenienced by this emergency,
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We would also like to thank all the residents
and businesses for their patience and
understanding, whilst we worked to restore
the water supply, and we’re very grateful
to all the organisations and agencies which
assisted us during this emergency situation.
6
Children’s Photography
Competition
Winners
Aaron Burford, the
winner of the older
age category
Dylan Hird’s entry
was the best in the
younger age category
In the Spring edition of WaterTalk
young photographers living in our
supply area were challenged to take
photographs of our lakes (Chew,
Blagdon and Cheddar) – they could take
pictures of what’s happening on them,
in them, the ﬂower and fauna around
them or ‘selﬁes’ of them at the Lakes
and they certainly rose to the challenge.
There were two age categories – 10 years and under and 11 to 17
years and you can see from the images on these pages, that there are
some very talented photographers living in our supply area.
Nigel Milbourne, a local photographer who specialises in wildlife and
is a frequent visitor to our lakes judged the competition and was very
impressed by the standard of photographs submitted and didn’t ﬁnd his
role as judge an easy one. However after much deliberation, he decided
that Dylan Hird’s entry was the best in the younger age category and
Aaron Burford, the winner of the older age category.
$YLAN(IRDAGECAPTURED#HEW6ALLEY,AKELOOKINGACROSS
towards the water tower and the dam with resting ducks in the
foreground. His photograph was thought to be framed beautifully
with the eye being drawn to the water tower by the sweeping line
of the dam and the cloud formation.
Seventeen year old Aaron Burford’s winning image has been used
on the front cover of this magazine and was judged to be a well
framed picture of one of the bridges crossing part of the lake with
great depth of colour and good use of light and shade.
Both winners received High Street shopping vouchers and a family
ticket to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Exhibition which is
TAKINGPLACEAT"RISTOL-USEUM!RT'ALLERYFROM.OVEMBER
2014 - 22 February 2015.
You can see a number of the images on these pages, but all the
ENTRIESCANBEVIEWEDONOURWEBSITEWWWBRISTOLWATERCOUK
LAKEPICTURECOMP
7
Nigel Milbourne, a local photographer who specialises in wildlife
and is a frequent visitor to our lakes judged the competition and
was very impressed by the standard of photographs submitted
24 hour
photography
challenge
Bristol Water were pleased to sponsor the
‘waterways and wildlife’ category in the
recent 24 hour Bristol photo-marathon
competition where more than 200 amateur
and professional photographers spent the
weekend scouring Bristol in search of an
award-winning photo opportunity.
Over 900 images were submitted to
the competition and the three ﬁnalist’s
photographs in the Bristol Water
sponsored category are illustrated here.
To view all the entries go to:
www.24hoursinbristol.co.uk
8
FREE water meters for
household customers
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bedrooms than occupiers?
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s !REYOUWATEREFlCIENT
If you can answer ‘yes’ to any of these questions,
then you should consider having a FREE water
meter Àtted ² with a metered water supply you only
pay for the water you use and if you use less water
it could mean your bills will be lower and it also
makes environmental sense.
With so many household budgets feeling the squeeze, there’s never
EHHQDPRUHLPSRUWDQWWLPHWRÀQGZD\VWRVDYHPRQH\RQ\RXUZDWHU
bill. Just work out your water use by using our online calculator on our
website – www.bristolwater.co.uk/calculator then compare the results
with what you are currently paying to see if it would be worthwhile
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$OWHUQDWLYHO\MXVWFDOORXUKRXUDXWRPDWHG0HWHU2SWLRQOHDÁHWOLQH
RQWRUHTXHVWDOHDÁHWWRÀQGRXWPRUHDERXWKDYLQJD
metered water supply.
Once we receive your application form, we’ll carry out a survey and if we
FDQZH·OOÀWDPHWHUDWWKHVDPHWLPH,IZH·UHXQDEOHWRÀWDPHWHUDW
your property, then we’ll discuss what other options are available to you.
RV
250
RV
350
Your water and sewerage bill will be calculated on the meter readings
EXWLI\RXDUHQ·WVDYLQJPRQH\ZLWKLQWKHÀUVW\HDU\RXKDYHWKHULJKWWR
revert back to your old method of charging*.
1 cu.m. = 1000 litres
2 people living in a
property with an RV of
250 would pay approx.
aFORTHEIRWATER
sewerage service p.a. on a meter and using
115 cu.m.* of water p.a.
THEIRWATERSEWERAGEBILL
would be approximately
£469
3 people living in a
property with an RV of
350 would pay approx.
aFORTHEIRWATER
sewerage services p.a.
– on a meter and using
150 cu.m.* of water p.a.
THEIRWATERSEWERAGEBILL
would be approximately
£581
For more information about switching to a meter:
/og onto our website: www.bristolwater.co.ukmeterleaÁet
Request a leaÁet: hours
*Conditions apply
9
Bristol Neighbourhood Watch Network is an
association made up entirely of Neighbourhood
Watch volunteers, with committee members
drawn from the 14 Neighbourhood Partnership
areas across the city. For more information on
Neighbourhood Watch and how you can get
involved, including a contact form go to –
www.bristolnhwnetwork.org.uk
Bristol Neighbourhood Watch Network has produced a calendar
for 2015 featuring beautiful photographs of Bristol submitted by Neighbourhood Watch
members. The calendar is the Networks main funding source and helps support the 650+
Neighbourhood Watch schemes in Bristol with various projects. Bristol Water were pleased
to be the main sponsors of this calendar which features helpful security tips for each month
ANDAUNIQUE@3POTTHE,ANDMARKPRIZECOMPETITIONANDSELLSFORJUSTa
How to order your calendar
Complete the order form at the bottom of this page. Your order can be posted to
you but you will need to include a self-addressed, stamped A4 envelope (see postage
costs below). Alternatively you can collect it from one of the locations listed below
which will save on postage costs but you will need to phone in advance to agree a
convenient collection time. Order forms should be sent to your preferred collection
location. If you wish to collect your order from a Police Station, please specify which
Police Station you would like to collect it from on the order form and send your
ORDERFORMTO".(7.#OOMBE"RIDGE!VENUE3TOKE"ISHOP"RISTOL"3,3
Cheques should be made payable to Bristol NHW Network for the total amount due.
Calendar collection locations
North Bristol
Telephone No’s
4OM,OGAN/AKWOOD2OAD(ENLEAZE"3.4
0117 962 1669
,IZ+EW1UEENS$RIVE2EDLAND"3*2
07979 691884
Postage costs
7ENDY(ULL#OOMBE"RIDGE!VENUE3TOKE"ISHOP"3,3
07798 600822
Number of
calendars
1st class
£
2ndclass
£
1
1.24
1.17
2
1.65
1.48
3
1.65
1.48
4
2.38
2.01
5
2.38
2.01
South Bristol
,ES"OWEN3TONELEIGH#RESCENT+NOWLE"32&
0117 977 2812
"OB'ILES$URVILLE2OAD(EADLEY0ARK"304
0117 964 6809
East Bristol
3UE,OVELL"ERKELEY2OAD&ISHPONDS"3,8
0117 958 3124
2015 BNHW Network Calendar Order Form
Name:
Address:
Postcode:
Telephone No:
Email (please print clearly):
Number
Total Cost £
Number of calendars @ £2 each
(Cheques should be made payable to Bristol NHW Network)
Name of Police Station if collecting order:
0LEASESENDYOURORDERFORMTO".(7.#OOMBE"RIDGE!VENUE3TOKE"ISHOP"RISTOL"3,3UNLESSYOUARECOLLECTINGYOURORDER
from one of the collection points in which case you should send your order form direct to the collection point location and phone in advance
TOAGREEACONVENIENTCOLLECTIONDATETIME
Signed:
10
Rescued eels re-homed
in Chew Lake
Over 10 million eels rescued from West Country
estuaries earlier this year were re-homed in UK
rivers and lakes and at the end of September and in
partnership with the Environment Agency, 20,000
were released into our very own Chew Lake.
Having spent the summer being fed and rested at a customBUILTFACILITYIN'LOUCESTERANDSPECIALLYMARKEDTOMAKETHEM
easier to monitor in future, they were put into sites that are
wonderful eel habitats, but which have become incredibly
difﬁcult for eels to access because of man-made blockages.
In total more than 90 million baby eels (“glass eels”) were
rescued and re-homed across Europe this year following the
largest migration of the ﬁsh in 30 years. Eels spawn in the
Sargasso Sea and drift to Europe on currents before entering
inland waterways to grow and mature for 10 to 15 years. But
for a variety of reasons, including thousands of waterways
being blocked by man-made obstacles and barriers, the
number of glass eels arriving in Europe plummeted in the late
1980s and 90s with scientists classifying them as “critically
endangered”.
Spawn to be Wild
Spawn to be Wild is an exciting Bristol Water schools project
delivered in partnership with Avon Wildlife Trust which will
be running for a further year in 2015. Children in schools
in the Congresbury area just outside Bristol reared young
eels (elvers) in their classrooms, with a whole programme
of curriculum-linked learning activities all based around this
fascinating animal.
Children in Yatton Primary, St Andrews Primary and Wrington Primary
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Eels installed in their classrooms. They carefully nurtured the elvers over
ATERMBEFORERELEASINGTHEMINTO"LAGDON,AKEWHERETHEEELSWILLLIVE
until they return to sea to spawn. Whilst their elvers were growing the
children learnt about the eels' fascinating lives, the challenges they have to
overcome to make it up our rivers and into the lakes and what they, and
all their classmates, can do to help save the eel.
11
Meet our new Environmental
Programme Delivery Manager
Q: Your job will also help with the work we're doing to
protect eels - can you tell us more about that?
A:
With all the necessary statutory and regulatory
environmental requirements placed on water companies
to maintain their environmental assets and land
holdings, Bristol Water has just appointed Matt Pitts as
Environmental Programme Delivery Manager. WaterTalk
took Matt away from his job for a short time so that we
could ﬁnd out exactly what his job entails.
Eel populations in Europe have dropped by about 95% over
the past few years. Bristol Water will remove obstructions (to
eel migration) and install screens to prevent eels and other ﬁsh
being drawn into abstraction systems. Through the catchment
management projects we’ll create and enhance habitats, including
those that might beneﬁt eels. We have already started an eel
restocking programme at our lakes, and have a trap and transfer
system in partnership with the Environment Agency, to safely
transfer migrating elvers into the lake.
Q: You're the new National Environmental Programme
Delivery Manager, so what exactly will you be delivering?
Q: Lots of people visit our lakes and all of these are SSSIs –
does this restrict what we can do with our land holdings?
A:
A:
I’ll be working to improve the quality of raw water stored in
OURRESERVOIRSLIKE#HEW6ALLEYAND"LAGDON,AKESTHROUGH
catchment management programmes. To do this I’ll be working
with farmers to reduce inputs of substances like nutrients (from
fertilizers and manure), pesticides and soils that can eventually
ﬁnd their way into the reservoirs. This will reduce treatment
costs, and we can use some of this saving to support farmers to
make the changes, particularly those which help not only water
quality but perhaps biodiversity, ﬂood risk and even carbon
sequestration (long-term storage of CO2). The hope is that the
changes will provide wider beneﬁts to the environment and the
people who enjoy it.
Q: Are there other organisations involved in this too,
or is it just Bristol Water?
A:
These projects will be collaborative, drawing on the expertise of
FARMERSANDOTHERBODIESLIKETHE7ILDLIFE4RUSTS&7!'.ATURAL
England and AONB. We will work alongside similar initiatives
such as the Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) Initiative run by
Natural England and the Environment Agency. We will also be
working with Wessex Water for some of the projects as their
sewerage assets can also affect water quality.
Sites of Special Scientiﬁc Interest (SSSIs) are protected under law,
and any works we undertake that could affect a SSSI would need
to be approved by Natural England. Most of the catchment work
we’ll be supporting will be outside the boundaries of the SSSIs
and will actually help to maintain and improve the condition of
them.
Q: What attracted you to this job?
A:
It’s an opportunity to work across some amazing countryside,
and hopefully help to make a tangible difference to the
environmental quality across our catchments. The job promises
to be a great mix of designing and undertaking practical
environmental investigations, and working with others to make a
lasting environmental improvement.
Eel populations in Europe have
dropped by about 95% over the
past few years.
12
4(%"2)34/,7!4%2BOND
We aim to give good service at all times, dealing with
you promptly and fairly and our Bond sets out the levels
of service we aim to achieve and is our commitment to
serving you, our domestic customers.
We believe that Bristol Water has the trust of its customers and of the
communities it serves and we would never intentionally do anything
to break that trust. We are required by law to make certain minimum
service commitments but where possible, we go further - our service level
commitments are detailed here.
WATER
15!,)49
1.
If we have to impose ‘boil water’
precautions, give ‘do not use’ advice
or suspend supplies for water quality
reasons we will pay £10 compensation.
2.
We always try to resolve water quality
enquiries immediately but will phone
you back within 4 hours (on a normal
working day) with any additional water
quality information you reasonably
require. If your call is health related
we will phone back within 4 hours
regardless of the time or day. We will
also sample your water if we agree it
would be helpful.
3.
We will phone you with the results
of a sample taken because of a health
complaint no later than 2 working
days after the results become available.
Within 5 working days of all results
being available, we will, if you request,
conﬁrm them to you in writing.
WATER
3500,9
4.
We will give you notice of a planned
cut off of your water supply and an
expected restoration time. If we plan
to cut off your water supply for more
than 4 hours and we have not given you
48 hours prior written notice we will
pay you compensation.
5.
After planned maintenance work, we
will restore supplies within the time
speciﬁed in the warning notice. *
6.
We will restore supplies interrupted by
an emergency within 48 hours of our
BECOMINGAWAREOFABURSTLEAKONA
strategic main or within 12 hours in any
other circumstance. *
7.
We aim to provide you with a good
ﬂow at your tap. *
8.
The ﬁrst person to report an
unidentiﬁed leak from our pipes which
is not repaired within 10 working days
will be paid £30 (unless we have to give
extended notice to the local Highway
Authority or third parties).
9.
Our main objective is
to provide you with a
safe and reliable supply
of water at all times
On the ﬁrst occasion a leak is found
on a domestic customer’s external
underground supply pipe (up to the
external wall of the house) we will
usually repair it free of charge.
10. Metered domestic customers will be
given a leakage allowance (100% of
the higher consumption for the ﬁrst
leak and 50% for the second leak) if
a leak causes water use to be higher
than normal. You must advise us of the
problem and carry out repairs promptly.
Allowances for business customers are
different.
11. We will help you undertake a water
usage audit if requested.
13
12. We will carry out a survey and ﬁt a
meter as quickly as possible (where
it is feasible to ﬁt one) and certainly
within 40 working days of receiving
your signed application form other than
during promotional campaigns. This
period is extended to 50 working days
for applications received in the period
March to June. If we do not install the
meter by the end of the speciﬁed time
period we will not charge for water
services until the meter is ﬁtted.
13. We will replace your meter within 20
working days of it being discovered to
be faulty.
14. When we install or change your water
meter we will provide written details
including the date, the meter serial
number and its reading.
15. If your supply is metered and we agree
you need to run water to ﬂush the
supply, we will make an allowance of £5.
16. We will carry out a survey within
10 working days of your request for
the relocation of a water meter. This
service is chargeable.
17. We will provide you with a connection
to our mains within 10 working days of
our ﬁnal inspection and receipt of your
connection charge (unless we have
to give extended notice to the local
Highway Authority or third parties).
18. If you have replaced your lead or
galvanised iron supply pipe, we will
replace ours and connect to your new
one within 10 working days of our ﬁnal
inspection of your completed work and
payment of charges (unless we have
to give extended notice to the local
Highway Authority or third parties).
CUSTOMER
SERVICE
19. We will respond to your written
complaint within 10 working days of
receipt. *
20. We will offer you an appointment
within a 2 hour time band (either
morning or afternoon) if you request
to meet us or we need to enter your
home and our representative will
arrive within the agreed time period.
We will give you at least 24 hours
notice of the need to rearrange an
appointment. *
21. If you are registered for our
Customer Care Plus scheme we
will communicate with you in a
specially requested way - send a bill
or an item of literature in an agreed
format e.g. Braille, large print. We will
process completed applications to
join the scheme within 10 working
days of receipt.
22. If your property is damaged or
ﬂooded because of a burst or leak
from a water main, we will offer
to clean up and arrange for our
appointed loss adjuster to assess
your needs and claim.
23. We will recompense you for clothes
stained during washing if it is our
fault.
24. Company employees and those
working on behalf of the Company
will treat you courteously.
25. If we fail to pay compensation due
by certain deadlines, we will pay you
additional compensation. *
"),,).'
PAYMENTS
26. We will respond to your enquiry
concerning the accuracy of a bill we
have sent you within 5 working days of
receipt or 10 working days if a site visit is
required. *
27. We will rebate an unmetered domestic
charge after being notiﬁed that a
property is unoccupied but furnished as
a result of the householder going into
hospital or residential care or living with
a relative.
28. If you have given us 5 working days notice
of when you are moving, we will send
a ﬁnal bill within 5 working days of you
leaving.
29. We will issue a replacement bill within
10 working days of your request being
received.
30. We will respond within 5 working days if
you request a change in payment method
that we cannot meet or accept. *
31. If we take a direct debit payment in error,
we will pay your costs and any related
bank charges and will correct the error
within one working day.
32. If you overpay us as a result of our error,
we will repay you together with interest
on the overpayment as soon as we are
aware of the problem.
33. If you request a receipt for a payment we
will send one within 5 working days.
34. If we refer your debt to a debt
collection agency they will act properly
in accordance with the Credit Industry
Code of Practice.
35. If we incorrectly issue a county court
claim against you for a debt for which
you are not liable and for which you have
previously informed us that you are not
liable, we will correct the situation and
withdraw the fees and costs from your
account and give you £100.
* These commitments are required by law, all the others are our additional discretionary commitments.
7(!4(!00%.3)&7%'%4)472/.'
We believe our commitments reﬂect excellent service but if things go wrong, we will do
our best to get things back to normal as quickly as possible. If it is our fault we will pay
you compensation of £30 (unless shown differently above). If we identify you have been
affected and the failure is covered by legislation (see Note) we will pay you automatically,
otherwise you should make a claim in writing no later than three months after the incident.
Compensation will be at least at the level laid down by legislation but usually it will be
MORE!SMOSTOFOURCUSTOMERSAREJOINTLYBILLEDBY"RISTOL7ESSEX"ILLING3ERVICES,TD
for water from Bristol Water and sewerage services from Wessex Water, you will only
receive one compensation payment per incident relating to billing or payment matters.
This is a general guide to the commitments we offer and doesn’t fully set out all our legal
obligations to you, nor the circumstances when we will not provide compensation – these
can be found in a comprehensive booklet covering the terms and conditions of the Bristol
Water Bond available from our website www.bristolwater.co.uk or by phoning 0117 966
5881. There’s a separate leaﬂet outlining our commitments to business customers and this
is also available on our website or by phoning us. Our commitments don’t apply if we are
prevented from meeting our standards as a result of third party actions, severe weather,
industrial action or exceptional circumstances preventing your supply being restored
14
within the relevant period.
Bristol Water and
'REEN#APITAL
)N"RISTOLBECOMES'REEN#APITALOF%UROPE"RISTOLWILLLEARN
more about how to be a truly sustainable city, then share this with
THERESTOFTHEWORLD"RISTOL7ATERHASBEENAKEYPARTNERIN'REEN
Capital from the start and we were part of the successful bid team in
Brussels last year.
Bristol City Council launched its “Warm up Bristol” campaign
in October, and we’ll be working on a special water efﬁciency
programme with residents in the pilot area. With 2015 getting closer,
THINGSARESTEPPINGUPANDTHE'REEN#APITALTEAMHASACTIONGROUPS
on food, health, transport and - of course - water. Our Environment
Manager Patric Bulmer chairs the Water group, which is working on
exciting projects such as new drinking fountains, a hydro turbine in
central Bristol, education about ﬁsh, eels and the water environment.
It’s going to be a great 2015!
SAVE WATER
SAVE ENERGY
SAVE MONEY
-AYOR'EORGE&ERGUSONWITH$%##MINISTER!MBER2UDDAND
members of the Warm up Bristol Team at the launch event
Shower Saver
A
regulates the ﬂow
from your showerhead
to reduce the water
you need for a good
shower.
B
Shower Timer
Save £160 p.a.
with a FREE Water
Efﬁciency Pack
If you have a water meter you can
save over £160 a year* with our free
water efﬁciency equipment - and
even non-metered homes can save up
to £50 a year* thanks to the savings
made on water heating.
To get your FREE products
complete this form or visit our
website www.bristolwater.co.uk
C Save-a-ﬂush
goes in the toilet cistern
to reduce the amount
of water used with each
ﬂush.
D
special inserts which
regulate the ﬂow to
reduce water wastage.
E
Water Audit
Leaﬂet
* For full calculations visit www.bristolwater.co.uk.
Shower Saver not suitable for electric showers or
showers with multiple jets. Save-a-ﬂush suitable
for single ﬂush toilets over 7.5 litres. Tap inserts
suitable for taps with threaded inserts only. Offer
subject to availability. One pack per household.
to help you audit your
own water usage and
show you how to save
water.
Name:
Address
Postcode
Tick as required (see above for details)
ALL
A
B
C
D
Over the years we have promoted water efﬁciency
to customers primarily through promotional articles
and the distribution of free water saving devices
which householders can ﬁt in their homes to help
reduce the amount of water they use.
4OCOINCIDEWITH%UROPEAN'REEN#APITALWE
have decided to encourage customers to submit
their water saving tips and we’ll publish the best ones
in future editions of WaterTalk with the winner of
the best tip winning £50 worth of shopping vouchers.
lets you see how long
you’re in the shower.
Tap Inserts
Share your water saving
tips and win £50
E
So let us know the water saving tips you apply in and
around your home by 31 December 2014 and you
could be a winner.
Email your tips to: [email protected]
or post them to Janice Saunders, WaterTalk – Tips,
Bristol Water plc, PO Box 218, Bridgwater Road,
Bristol. BS99 7AU
Schools beneﬁt from
free water audit
Over the past couple of years, we have carried out
over 150 water audits in schools across our supply
area with an average saving of between 10 – 15% on
their annual bill if they ﬁt the free devices that we
offer them.
At our ﬁrst visit, we install a logger on the meter
which will identify consumption ﬂows and if there
are any unusual activities, like leaks on their premises.
At the water audit visit our engineer uses this data
and looks at all areas using water – kitchens, toilets,
showers, changing rooms, laboratories, outside taps,
sports grounds - to see if there are any devices that
we can provide the school with, which will help them
become more water efﬁcient.
A report is then produced detailing suggested actions
they can implement.
0LEASERETURNTHISFORMTO&2%%0/3423+9#,#!!!55&REE7ATER3AVING
Kit, Bristol Water plc, PO Box 218, Bridgwater Road, Bristol, BS99 7AU
15
These audits are free so if you know of a school
THATMIGHTBENElTFROMTHISTYPEOFAUDITCONTACT,IZ
Ogunbunmi on 0117 934 1172.