1. 1
MAINTAINING WATER
SUPPLIES IN THE
LONDON AREA
Supervisors: Dr. Neil Mcintyre, Ed Gower & Dr. James Lau
Group members: Maximilian Vollmar Theocharis Tofis
David Clarke Evdoxia Nikolaou
Mithila Patkunan Alastair Courtney
Hemal Malde Issam Ashur
Jai Shah
Group 4

2. 2
Background - Context
• The south east of the UK has
always been the driest.
• Annual rainfall totals have
been fallen year on year in
the area around London.
• Reservoir levels have been
falling.
• Severe drought expected in
the next couple of years.

3. 3
Design Brief
• Reservoirs in the Thames Water region have reached
critical levels (25% of capacity)
• Short-term and long term
solutions required
• Creative ideas encouraged
• Sustainable for approximately
3 months
• No budget limitations

4. 4
Thames Water
Customers:
8,800,000
Predicted to
increase to
10,000,000 by
2035
Consumption:
165L/head/day

5. 5
1. In depth quantitative research of
Lower Thames reservoirs
Work to date
2. Demand modelling
3. Idea Generation
4. Statistical analysis using Matlab
5. Development of viable solutions
6. Final recommendation
(Presentation to client)

6. 6
The team Project
manager
Waterbag
development Liaison & media
officers officers
Desalination Conventional
bulk import
vessel designers investigation
officers

7. 7
Magnitude of the Problem
• Olympics – 500,000 additional visitors to the capital
• Below 15% of reservoir capacity, water is no longer
palatable
Drought Scenario Return period Demand for different lengths of
[years] drought [m3/day]
75 days 50 days
1976 129 666,931 333,218
2006 7.6 539,475 205,762
2009 3 259,539 0

8. 8
Initial ideas  Supply-Side
Local Regional National
Fog collectors Sewage effluent Bulk sea import (bags)
treatment
Standpipes Desalination Bulk sea import (tankers)
Cloud seeding SUDS Bulk sea import (iceberg)
Tanker Trucks Bulk import by canals
(both boat and channel)
Highlighted options chosen for further development.

9. 9
Watair
Demand Reduction
1L per 8 sq m per day
% of Reduction per
Households person per
Using Watair day (litres)
100 19
50 9
25 5

10. 10
Solution 1 : Waterbags
• Uses the ocean to
transport water
• Spragg Bags:
• Dimensions sufficient
enough for large volumes
of water
• Range from 30Ml to 0.5Gl

11. 11
Presidence
• Easy manoeuvrability
• Connection of bags into
‘trains’

12. 12
Solution 2 : Tanker
• Established method
• Tanker capacity =
40,000m3
• Cost per shipment =
£203,000

13. 13
Route

14. 14
Solution 3 :
Desalination
Vessel
Combination of
available
components
Flexible
Capacity
Rapid
Deployment
Commercial
Viable

15. 15
Sustainable
Energy
Expansion
2x 2.5 MW wind
turbines
Coastal winds
Generates up to
60% of energy
Subsequent
installment
Supported &
Foldable

16. 16
Rental
Possibilities
Monthly rental:
£1,000,000
Op. Costs:
-£201,500
Installation fee:
£500,000 Time Month Start January February March April May June
-2013 Week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
User Thames Water
Country 1
Country 2
Septemb Novemb Decemb
Annual profit:
Time Month Start (2013) July August er October er er
Week 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52
User Thames Water
Country 1
Country 2
£5,395,500 Key Period of Use
De/Construction Period
Transportation Period
Based on 6
Unused Time (Maintenance)
months rental p.a

17. 17
Short-term Conclusion
• Less severe drought scenario:
• Bulk sea import by tanker
• Bulk sea import by water bags
• For the worst case scenario:
• Seafaring Desalination Vessel
• Recommendation:
• Combination of Demand reducing strategies and the flexible
Seafaring Desalination Vessel

18. 18
Critical Session Feedback
Issues for future consideration
• Location of desalination vessel questioned
• Environmental issues
• Timescale of implementation
• Political issues
• Value added

19. 19
Long-term Solution
Critical 5 Step Plan
1. Identify potential routes
2. Advantages & disadvantages of each route
3. Nature and scale of engineering works
4. Costs, resources & time required
5. Technical, social, geological and environmental
risks of each route

20. 20
Moving Forward
Week Goals
1 • Research & propose 3 short-term solutions ✓
2 • Address client requests and concerns
• Initiate long term solution plans
3 • Integrate short-term solution into long-term solution
4 • Finalise design
5 • Address client requests and concerns for long-term
solution

21. 21
Team Dynamics
Touch and I’m captain of
you will die! this sinking ship
9000 Giga- Are you
litres?! serious?!

22. 22
MAINTAINING WATER
SUPPLIES IN THE
LONDON AREA
Wave Goodbye to Drought!
Many thanks to: