Lead free aspiration

There is an aspiration at Anglian Water to become Lead free, can you help?

Reason for this opportunity?

There is a significant aspiration within Anglian Water to embark on a programme to become lead free, however, the current solutions for replacing or lining the assets are hindering this aspiration due to unit rate and/or curing time impact on the interruption to supply commitments.

Therefore there is a desire to find an innovative solution which is both easy to use, provides a significant cost benefit and reduces the current level of risk posed to the interruption to supply target through existing methods.

What is the current solution?

The current solution is to replace the Lead communication pipe with a PE pipe, new boundary box and tapping to the main. Where possible this is carried out utilising progressive dig techniques such as Vacuum Excavation to reduce time on site, unit cost, disruption to customers and excavation related H&S risks.

Existing lining techniques were explored, however, they were excluded due to the required curing time (4 hours) would result in a recordable interruption to supply for every service lined.

What would we love to see?

Anglian Water is seeking a Lead Communication and Service pipe lining solution with a curing time of ideally less than 1 hour and not more than 2 hours between application and water flowing through the pipe to customers’ taps again. The successful solution would be applied to our high-volume lead replacement programme.