Please note - this publication is an interactive PDF, provided on a CD - no printed report is provided.

A significant number of water companies have started using Trunk Main Flow Monitoring Zones (also known as Water Balance Zones) to locate areas with leakage or unaccounted for water on trunk mains. Data from these zones help direct leakage detection and consumption recovery efforts.

While some companies are at the maturity stage in their use of Trunk Main Flow Monitoring Zones (FMZs) others are just starting on the journey. There has been no best practice or standard for the development or use of FMZs to date. Creating and maintaining a successful FMZ requires a high amount of effort, investment, time and energy. With future industry’s challenge to reduce leakage and UKWIR’s big question on zero leakage by 2050, a best practice guide for FMZs is needed and gaps in the knowledge and technology for managing trunk mains should be identified.

This interactive pdf provides a quick and easy guide to establishing the approach and the factors which should be considered. It is an overview and anyone who requires more detail should consult the full report (20/WM/08/74).

The Chemical Investigations Programme (CIP) was established by UKWIR in response to emerging legislation on surface water quality. The first phase provided an overview of the occurrence, behaviour and management of trace contaminants in wastewater. This second phase aims to identify sites at which action might need to be taken and to act as a basis for proposed solutions that are effective, proportional to the Water Industry contribution to contamination, and demonstrably justifiable down to a detailed local level. The outputs are published in four volumes (available separately) as follows:

• Volume 1 Part 2 (2015-2020) Monitoring of Sewage Effluents, Surface Waters and Sewage Sludge - Review of Programme Results and Conclusions. This volume replaces the interim (Part 1) monitoring report which was published in 2018 (Report Ref. No. 18/EQ/01/12). A copy of the Part 1 report will be provided with the Part 2 report.

• Volume 2 Monitoring of Substances of Emerging Concern, Report Ref. No. 18/EQ/01/13

• Volume 3 Wastewater Treatment Technology Trials, Report Ref. No. 18/EQ/01/14  

• Volume 4 Catchment Investigations, Report Ref. No. 18/EQ/01/15

These publications document CIP findings and will form the basis of future policy on the control of chemicals in the water environment

A significant number of water companies have started using Trunk Main Flow Monitoring Zones (also known as Water Balance Zones) to locate areas with leakage or unaccounted for water on trunk mains. Data from these zones help direct leakage detection and consumption recovery efforts.

While some companies are at the maturity stage in their use of Trunk Main Flow Monitoring Zones (FMZs) others are just starting on the journey. There has been no best practice or standard for the development or use of FMZs to date. Creating and maintaining a successful FMZ requires a high amount of effort, investment, time and energy. With future industry’s challenge to reduce leakage and UKWIR’s big question on zero leakage by 2050, a best practice guide for FMZs is needed and gaps in the knowledge and technology for managing trunk mains should be identified.

The document builds on the UKWIR project: 15/WM/08/55 Leakage Upstream of District Meters, where FMZ’s are mentioned, but details on operational management of them is not and provides a detailed review of the approach as well as detailed guidance on how to establish them.

UKWIR has developed a standardised workbook for estimating operational GHG emissions, the Carbon Accounting Workbook (CAW), to bring consistency and accuracy to the reporting process across the water industry. The workbook has been in place for over ten years and is updated annually to reflect the needs of the industry, including changes in carbon accounting practices.

This update of the CAW (version 14) has rebuilt the tool to change the data input sheets from an account-oriented layout to an activity-oriented layout with a sheet for fuels, a sheet for electricity and sheets for transport, refrigerants, waste and waste treatment.

Calculations have been simplified throughout the tool so that equations are an amount multiplied by an emission factor, moving unit conversions and the calculation of emission factors themselves to separate sheets where explanations are provided.

The UKWIR research project “Deriving a best value Water Resources Management Plan” was commissioned to provide a comprehensive framework and guidance incorporating technical, economic, environmental and legal perspectives to allow organisations to derive a best value strategic water resources plan (WRP) in the UK and Ireland.  The project has developed a best value WRP framework which includes support guidance on environmental regulations, regulator engagement, stakeholder engagement and customer engagement.  The generic approach within the framework is based on multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) and sets out the steps that planners can follow to develop their best value WRP.  The framework provides a definition of a best value WRP and identifies principles of best value planning.  The deliverables include a final report and a practitioner’s guide.  This project ensures that companies and regional groups have a framework they can use for best value planning.