Clients & Testimonials

London Zoo

In response to the drought of 1995 and the concern for global water sustainability the Zoological Society of London http://www.zsl.org/ (“ZSL”) created the part time position of Water Management Lead (“WML”) so as to be at the forefront of water conservation in the United Kingdom. Having accepted the role my brief then was to come up with a clear strategy that encompassed operational planning, budgeting, and being able to measure the benefits of the initiatives put in place for both water supply and wastewater disposal.

The strategies and ideas that I developed in the position of WML and the implementation of these by the Zoo’s Energy Manager have saved over £1,063,000 on water since 1995. Moreover, the annual water charge today is only 5.9% higher than 12 years ago. This figure is more impactful when one considers that from 2002 to 2014 the mean cost per metre cubic m³ used had increased by 106.3% using figures derived from -the total billed -divided by water m³ supplied each year.

The initial step in streamlining water management in 1995 was to define the water usage and consumption patterns to enable me to define and target strategy along with initiating a monitoring process to ascertain success in the measures employed.

This was achieved with the introduction of Automatic Meter Reader (“AMR”), equipment that measures water flow, this led to the implementation of low cost, no cost water saving solutions for maximum impact on Water Utility Costs. From the data collected I analysed and prepared for management detailed reports in order to assess any anomalies of water usage which could then be investigated in order of impact vs cost and available budget. These reports even today have become the basis of accessing the success of the water initiatives implemented and the setting of future targets over a period of one to five years to reduce consumption.

As with the Water Utility Companies, managing an infrastructure against leakage is a number one priority and given that ZSL has over three thousand metres of cast iron Victorian water pipes covering an area of over thirty six acres, this initially required a boost in resources to get a handle of the extent of work required.

The decision was taken to draw on the experience of a leak detection company to survey the water mains to identify any potential losses. However, their success was limited, due to the expansive and complex nature of the site and the time and budget allocated. It became apparent that as an ongoing project it would not be financially viable to outsource total responsibility for leak detection and it was felt that the relatively high cost could impact progress. A new plan was therefore needed to attain better value whilst not compromising the need to identify and prioritise those areas within the zoo grounds that required the most attention. Another consideration was to reduce the impact of unsightly works to the visiting public.

Having mapped out the whole Zoo area into manageable zones using my now intimate knowledge of the site I was able to investigate the water use within a given area and as the site was on a ring main with multiple points of supply into one network, traditional methods such as step testing were employed, which helped with the complex nature of leak identification. Water profiles from the AMR data loggers could be cross-checked indicating possible areas of leakage. These were then double checked and confirmed over variable periods to encompass all situations of the facility being open and closed. The report and data identifying unexplained anomalies and location was then passed on to the leak detection company in order to pinpoint the exact point of the water loss, this method resulted in reducing external leak detection costs by 90% and improved detection rates.

In 2002 the leak detection strategy was enhanced by the investment in -advanced water correlation equipment, the payback of this investment was calculated to be 3 years based on historical costs. As well as no longer needing to contract in this service, I have been able to set up a remote monitoring program to effectively check any defined area for water dissipation anomalies. Indeed this has been of great comfort to the Zoo management team knowing that a leak will be detected almost immediately seven days per week even if not apparent from the surface-.

Since 1995 ZSL has embarked on a multitude of programs, all of them contributing in one way or another towards leakage reduction, financial accountability, and improved sustainability management in water. During this time over seven hundred metres of water mains has been methodically replaced where most needed. The combination of people and technology has proven to be the best approach, along with awareness campaigns, training, and the installation of sub-meters to individual buildings. All of this has made staff members conscious of their impact on water use and engaged with its preservation. The key lesson learnt is that by having the continuity of a WML, the work that was carried out has had a major cumulative effect over the years even though a full time resource could not be justified given budgetary constraints.

Programs such as the ‘Green Fund’, an internal ZSL project where staff make suggestions’ to save water and energy, have been recently introduced and are proving successful as new areas of savings are being highlighted. The historical data is a reminder for everyone of what has been achieved. However, the work carries on and the target for the next 5 years is a further reduction of 20% in billing.

The progress in water management made over many years by everybody at ZSL has culminated in being awarded a City of London Sustainable Award 2014. http://www.zsl.org/news/zsl-wins-two-sustainability-awards At ZSL Whipsnade Zoo considerable savings have been identified with proposals for new projects which are budgeted to save over £700,000 over the next ten years.