Bristol Water will apply its Biodiversity Index to its biggest AMP6 scheme - the £27 million Southern Resilience Scheme.
The score will be used to try and improve biodiversity at sites from Backwell to Brockley to Banwell, Axbridge and Cheddar.
The water company’s innovative Biodiversity Index essentially involves creating an overall numeric score for an area by combining ecological walkover results with habitat value assessments.
The baseline can be applied during construction works to identify biodiversity features lost and quantify the amount of environmental enhancement required at a site to offset this. With two awards under its belt already, the
The Index has already won two awards - the new approach was trialled on the the creation of a new reservoir at Millmarsh, near Frome last year, and the project went on to achieve a Green Apple Award for environmental best practice. Last week the Biodiversity Index was awarded second place in the Institute of Water’s South West Innovation Awards.
Commenting on its use on the Southern Resilience Scheme, Sophie Edwards, Environment Strategy Manager at Bristol Water said:
“This is our biggest challenge yet, improving biodiversity not just on company sites, but on sites not company owned. The project team is certainly up for the challenge, and we are looking to engage stakeholders throughout the scheme to create meaningful environmental enhancement. The Biodiversity Index will be used to ensure we create an overall improvement”
Construction work on the Southern Resilience Scheme will be starting in September 2016 at the earliest.
Mark Taylor, Freshwater and Pollution Advisor in the Somerset, Avon and Wiltshire team of Natural England added:
“Natural England strongly supports Bristol Water’s plans to use a Biodiversity Index to help ensure that the protection, enhancement and creation of valuable wildlife habitats is central to the Company’s activities. We look forward to working with the Company to help develop guidance and a quality assurance process to be used in the implementation of the index.”
Sulzer has launched a new global Center of Excellence (CoE) for Water Treatment Solutions - the CoE consolidates Sulzer’s wastewater treatment expertise in a unified and global manner.
“SAS (Surplus Activated Sludge) is a bit weird and 
Owen Mace has taken over as Director of the British Plastics Federation (BPF) Plastic Pipes Group on the retirement of Caroline Ayres. He was previously Standards and Technical Manager for the group.
PureTec Separations, the Ledbury-based water treatment engineering firm, has appointed Dan Norman as its new Sales Manager – Water Process Systems, supporting the company’s continued growth in the UK and international markets.
Hear how Scottish Water has completed its £235 million Ayrshire Glasgow Resilience Project - customers across Greater Glasgow, Ayrshire and East Renfrewshire will now benefit from a more secure and resilient water supply.
Hear how United Utilities is accelerating its investment to reduce spills from storm overflows across the Northwest.
Find out more about the remarkable career opportunities on offer at WSP - scroll down to watch the inspirational video.