WATER WATER EVERYWHERE….

BUT NOT A DROP TO DRINK

Anyone thinking that they were in for a quiet life when working for The Jersey New Waterworks Company had better think again. At least that was the case for several years during the late eighties when the company’s reservoirs were regularly searched as likely places for the final resting places of the late Elizabeth and Nicholas Newall – Jersey residents who went missing in what proved to be one of the great murder mysteries of the decade. Only later did it emerge that neither the island’s Queen’s Valley Reservoir nor the Handois Water Treatment works held any great secrets – but rather the couple’s own son’s Roderick Newall -who was subsequently convicted of double murder in an acted up unprecedented ferocity and brutality.

"I joined the Jersey Public Services back in 1989 as a civil engineer", says Mancunian Jonathan Howard, who together with his boss Howard Snowden is responsible for overseeing the smooth running of the Jersey Waterworks Company. "It’s a relatively small company, with just over 100 staff – but a very forward looking company nevertheless." Then, if you did as I do, it’s time to fasten your seatbelts and embark upon a lightening tour of one of the most picturesque places in the British Isles. And just stone’s throw, of course, from France.

The Jersey New Waterworks Company was formed towards the end of the nineteenth century – its proud boast that it is the oldest registered Company on the island. But almost exactly one century after its formation the States of Jersey (the Island’s governing body which maintains a fierce independence from the British Crown) obtained a major shareholding in order to guarantee that the supply of water to the Island will be for the benefit of the people it serves. Natural water resources are predominantly surface caught – accounting for 97% of total water resources. The Company has constructed a number of raw water impounding reservoirs, of varying age, type and capacity (see box)

Reservoir Capacity (M litres) Date of completion

Millbrook 43.2 1895

Dannemarche 94.5 1909

Handois 187.5 1932

Grands Vaux 229.6 1953

Val de la Mare 938.7 1960

Queens Valley 1193.4 1991

The company operates two water treatment works, located at Handois and Augres. The method of treatment at both treatment works is a two-stage process, comprising chemically assisted sedimentation and rapid gravity filtration followed by sterilisation using chlorine and ammonia to form a chloramine. In addition to this, super-chlorination facilities are provided for use as water quality dictates. The chemically assisted sedimentation process is carried out using a flat-bottom type clarifiers using Aluminium Sulphate as the coagulant with the additional of an anionic polyelectrolyste to aid flocculation. The raw water is then depressed to a pH value of between 6.4 and 6.7 to give optimal clarification results.

The main point of interest, however, in Jersey – certainly in so far as the islanders themselves are concerned, has been focused on whether or not it might be possible to take advantage of sea water resources. (See box)

"It’s true that there has been some criticism in the local press about the expense of this project", Jonathan Howard admits, "but no doubt there would be less come a drought. It’s just that at the moment we are in a relatively good position for raw water as things stand now. Which means that the plant is in preservation at the present time. That’s because it’s a standby emergency resource." So is it a case of water water everywhere – but not a drop to drink? In the best tradition of Omar Kayam? Well, not exactly…

The company’s Reverse Osmosis Desalination Plant at La Rosière was only officially opened on July 9^th of this year, whereupon it was immediately shut down. The RO plant was the culmination of a project conceived almost three decades earlier, when the company commissioned the first desalination plant in the British Isles. The plant used a thermal multi-stage flash (MSF) distillation process, which burned heavy grade oil and produced 6,000 m3 of fresh water per day. The plant produced a total of 6,5000,000 m3 of water since commissioning – and did indeed play a vital role during the serious drought years of ’76, ’89 and ’90 – when the plant’s operation obviated the need for severe water restrictions, in contrast to many other areas of the UK. However, after 28 years of service, the MSF plant had reached the end of its operational life and the company decided to replace it with the RO desalination plant. Shortly before the Christmas of 1997, therefore, the contract to construct a 6,000 m3 per day RO desalination plant was let to Weir Westgarth Ltd of Glasgow. By the spring of 1999 the RO plant was substantially completed and formal-commissioning trials began a few weeks later. The RO plant comprises four independent units; each fitted with 156 spiral wound type membrane elements. The whole of the plant is operated from the mains electricity system, consuming 1,750 kW of power at full-load. Filtered seawater is applied to the membranes at a nominal pressure of 65 bar (gauge).

A deep intake shaft constructed in the rocky foreshore houses two submersible pump sets, allowing sea water to be pumped at all states of the tide. The seawater is discharged into the quarry pool adjacent to the pre-treatment plant. The quarry pool acts as a feed tank for the pre-treatment filters and the retention time permits some settlement of suspended matter.

The seawater is pumped out of the quarry pool to the pre-treatment filters. These filters are downward flow type pressure filters, with a dual filter media of sand and anthracite. Membranes then remove all suspended solids (salt), bacteria, viruses and other particles on a molecular level. The membranes convert 45% of the seawater into fresh water; the remaining water is rejected as brine, which is returned to the sea. The fresh water produced is discharged into a small holding tank, from where it is pumped to Val de la Mare Reservoir. From there it is re-pumped to treatment where it is blended with other natural waters.

"My background is civil engineering – but I am also qualified in mechanical and environmental engineering too", Howard explains. "I moved to Jersey 10 years ago – but despite being a senior engineer here I still can’t buy a house here on the island – there are extremely tight housing laws. The company is profitable, fortunately, although investment is expensive with much of our profits being returned to the States of Jersey Treasury, as they are the key shareholder. At the moment we are out to tender to fit a denitrification plant into the existing Handois works…because our nitrate levels are occasionally higher than EU limits. This is entirely voluntary, I should add, because, as you know, we are not part of the EU as such. People often ask me if I drink the water in confidence over here to which I reply ‘you bet!’

The Queen is Green!

The Jersey New Waterworks company has been anxious to make a harmonious link between business on the one hand, and the environment on the other. And this is particularly true in relation to its Queen’s Valley Reservoir. The period from conception to completion of the project lasted nearly 15 years. Built in the east of the island in the parish of Grouville, the reservoir now forms an integral part of the company’s interconnecting raw water resources. The reservoir holds in the region of 260 million gallons of water. But aware of its need to protect the environment and allow the public the benefit and enjoy the surroundings created by the reservoir, an environmental appraisal of the reservoir was commissioned early on in the planning stage of the project. Employment of a landscape architect and the spending of some considerable sums of money have helped turn Queen’s Valley into an area of outstanding peace and beauty. The Queen goes green, as the local paper, the Jersey Evening Post, once reported it! Fishing is one of the passive sporting activities encouraged by the company and the reservoir is now stocked with fish including trout, which helps to monitor the quality of the water in the reservoir. As the florae and fauna establish themselves in their new environment the reservoir has won a reputation as a place where all life forms can live in a balanced harmony together, the company conscious, Howard will tell you, that the reservoir is an area held in trust for future generations.

"We are an optimistic company, confident about the future", Howard concludes. Jersey is often thought of as a kind of primitive, quaint back water to the rest of Great Britain. When in fact that couldn’t be further from the truth. You only need to look at the water industry here to see that we are at the cutting edge of the latest technologies, and keeping up with the best of them."

And whereupon you are somewhat relieved to know that your tour of the island is over. But only on the grounds of Howard’s driving which might be described as of the rallying variety. Upon which one of the island’s senior engineers heads back off to his office to begin an assault on a mountain of paperwork – hoping that buried deep somewhere will be the piece of paper he has been patiently waiting for – permission to buy a house on an island he has come to love.