Breaking Waves
This October, we're delighted to bring you the latest edition of our newsletter.
94% of London authorities renew onto new frameworks with Wave
We’ve been delivering a comprehensive and quality-driven water retail service for London public services since we won the former London Energy Project (LEP) framework in 2018.
Following years of successful delivery, proactive account management and discussions regarding all options for routes to market, we’re pleased that we’ve successfully retained 94% of customers to date, through established and robust public sector procurement procedures.
By renewing with us, London’s public sector organisations will continue to benefit from excellent service, competitive pricing and regular reporting as well as a strong focus on driving out efficiencies and reducing consumption, as well as an array of social and environmental initiatives.
Tony March, Director of Public Sector and I&C Customers commented, “Over the last four years, we’ve worked closely with London’s public sector, building some fantastic long-term relationships and adding real value. We’re delighted that so many have chosen to continue this association, allowing us to build on the excellent levels of service and savings we’ve already achieved together”.
March continued, “This is only the start and as we look forward, Wave has some exciting new initiatives to consistently exceed expectations and continue to ensure high levels of customer satisfaction and value”.
September sees two successful social value days
Wave celebrated another two successful corporate volunteering events in September at Standedge Tunnel, in support of the Canal & River Trust and at Washington Wetlands Centre, supporting the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust.
We were delighted to be joined by partners and customers at both events, including YPO, NEPO, TEC, Costa Coffee, Durham University and Sunderland Council to name a few.
Standedge Tunnel
After an introduction from our Director of Public Sector and Industrial Customers, Tony March, we headed to Tunnel End Woods, which is used by the local community for recreation and relaxation. Due to the overgrown vegetation, the area was unsuitable for walking and off-road wheelchair access, so the team worked hard to cut back shrubs and trees to enable access to the whole area. In the afternoon we cleared out the historic Sheep Fold and surrounding forest, to make it accessible for children and families to enjoy.
It was a fantastic and rewarding day, and despite the rain, nothing could dampen our spirits. A passer by even stopped to tell us how grateful they were that we were clearing the area and offered to help!
Washington Wetlands Centre
We kickstarted the day with a welcome from our HR Director, Jane Austin, who gave some background to the area and what these volunteering days mean to Wave. We then split into three groups and went to paint hides, rake the meadows and build a new fence which meant that the resident geese had more space. It was great to see what was achieved in a small space of time, meaning the local wildlife weren’t disturbed for too long.
Volunteering events like these offer a fantastic opportunity to build relationships with colleagues, partners and customers while fulfilling our social and sustainability promise, giving back to the community and positively impacting our volunteers’ wellbeing.
Everyone who joined us said they would love to attend more events in the future. Frasers Group said it was a “great event and everyone was really invested”, and North Tyneside Council said they “enjoyed networking opportunities and getting out in the fresh air."
YPO said: “It’s been a pleasure to attend the Wave volunteering event at Standedge Tunnel – the day’s been a great opportunity to contribute to the local community, supporting the Canal and River Trust’s work, as well as connect and network with colleagues across the attending organisations.”
Want to join us?
Look out for invites to our next event which is:
- Wednesday 22 March 2023 – helping the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority to maintain one of their important sites along the Lee Valley in London.
The drought continues into autumn months
Despite the arrival of autumn and the colder, wetter weather, saving water is still extremely important. It’s easy to assume we don’t need to be as mindful when using water as we did in the summer, but water levels are the lowest they’ve been in 19 years.
The last eight months have been the driest on record since 1976 with below-average rainfall, meaning rivers and reservoirs are very low (as much as 25%) so we all need to do our bit to use less water.
Temporary Use Bans
Many wholesalers still have Temporary Use Bans (TUBs) in place including:
Although TUBs primarily apply to domestic water use, some restrictions affect businesses too, such as not using hosepipes or sprinklers for watering flowers and green spaces, for cleaning vehicles, cleaning footpaths outside of your premises or filling up fountains. You can find out more about TUBs in our FAQs.
Now’s a good time to check for leaks
The Environment Agency predicts that the dry conditions will continue through to November, so it’s a good time to check for leaks, as you could be wasting thousands of litres of water without realising.
Discover Wave’s winning Market Improvement Fund bids
The Market Improvement Fund was established to help encourage innovation and collaboration and provides funding to help deliver projects designed to improve the market and benefit business customers and trading parties.
As a company committed to driving change and passionate about helping the water industry be a success, we’re delighted that the three bids submitted by Wave to the second round of the Market Improvement Fund were all awarded funding.
Over the coming months, we’ll be working with our partners on the following projects:
Meter Condition Assessment
Starting this month, we’re working with OccuTrace to investigate 2,000 supply points (SPIDs) with zero-consuming meters (suspected to be broken) across all wholesalers incorporating a variety of meter sizes, ages, manufacturers, types and customer segments. The aim is to collect enough information to build a source of evidential data which shows the condition of NHH meter assets across the market.
Automated Water Efficiency Audits
In partnership with Creative Network Consulting, this project is designed to help small businesses decrease their average water consumption and take targeted actions to address any issues. It’ll use Internet of Things (IoT) technology (Water Event Metering) that deliver continuous Water Efficiency Audits across a pilot of 250 customers.
REDUCED
Wave is the sponsor of, REDUCED: Raising Efforts to Drive User Consumption Efficaciously Down, a project driven by Isle Utilities. Its purpose is to create a searchable online portal for all retailers to provide them with access to emerging technologies designed to solve water efficiency challenges faced by their customers.
To find out more about each bid, what we hope to achieve and how we think our findings could benefit the market, take a look at MOSL’s latest special feature.
Wave sponsors climate positive project in Brazil
As part of our Social & Sustainability Promise, Wave is sponsoring a special project in the Amazon rainforest that’s helping to provide a solution to climate change. 
The Pacajai Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation project (Pacajai REDD+) is supporting the interests of Amazonian people and is helping to protect the rainforest too.
We’ve all heard about the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, but did you know we’ve already lost 50% of what we once had? And we’re currently losing it at the rate of a football pitch size area every second due to deforestation.
Deforestation is the world’s number one cause of species extinction, so help is needed to find other ways to support local people and the natural environment too. The Pacajai project has created a private conservation reserve where the forest will be protected. This is so important because the Amazon’s natural environment is home to 10% of the world’s creatures.
Wave’s social volunteering event organiser, Jackie Firth, was searching for a partner who could provide 200 native British trees for a tree planting initiative we’re hoping to provide in the UK, which is an additional commitment towards our Social and Sustainability Promise. Through our research, we learned that Carbon Footprint could help us with our tree planting scheme, and we also learned about the work they do to support several carbon-capture projects around the world.
Carbon capture is very important of course but saving the huge diversity of life in the Amazon rainforest itself is something really special.
Jane Austin, Director of HR at Wave explains: “We’re very aware of climate change and the impact it’s having on our planet, so when the opportunity to support the Pacajai project was presented by Jackie, it didn’t take our steering group long to decide we wanted to help and are delighted we could do this.”
“The project is enhancing the lives of local people who live in the rainforest. It is offering them opportunities to work with the forest that will improve their livelihoods, providing them with a better way of life by protecting the trees, the natural environment and the diversity of species that need it to survive. This project will help them create a better standard of living from other income sources.”
This sponsorship package is one of a number offered by Carbon Footprint. For more information about these special projects in the Amazon and elsewhere in the world, please visit their website.
Take some Action for Happiness
When it comes to looking after our people, we’re very active. We’ve a broad menu of resources and ways that we offer help when someone is feeling the pressures of life.
Many things can affect a person’s sense of positivity, but we find that being kind to each other brings out the best in us, and supporting each other helps us to support you, our customer. Kindness is part of Wave’s success story. We know we’re only successful together, so we built that ethos into our values.
We appreciate the resources that are provided freely by so many great charities and organisations across the UK, and we wanted to share one with you so you can support the people in your life.
Action for Happiness
Action for Happiness is a UK-based charity, founded in 2010 by four men who had a simple idea, that the quality of life within our society could by uplifted if everyone made happiness their primary goal. Led by Dr Mark Williamson, the charity’s mission is to promote a happier world, through a culture that prioritises happiness and kindness.
Their work is evidence-based and grounded in five key beliefs:
- Happiness matters
- Our actions make a difference
- It’s OK not to be OK
- Our happiness is part of something bigger
- People make the biggest difference together
Action for Happiness share free resources to help people feel happier every day. These resources include a regular course on ten keys to happier living, a downloadable app of daily actions and live talks with leading thinkers who are recognised around the world. They share their research and findings on happiness, wellbeing and mental health and support a network of Happy Cafes, provide resources for schools and training for workplaces.
We download the Action for Happiness calendars every month to share with our colleagues and put up around our offices. Every day there is a themed action suggestion to help you feel – you guessed it - happier!
Download October 2022 Calendar
Join the conversation
The next webinar is Monday 31 October with Prof. Richard Layard, who’ll share his personal insights on happiness, mental health and the future of the world wellbeing movement. These hour-long webinars start at 7pm, so you can leave your working day behind and join hundreds, if not thousands, of other like-minded people from around the world. You can chat to people and the presenters in the chat box, respond to questions and enjoy some happy company.
Promoting happiness
By visiting the website actionforhappiness.org you’ll be able to join the worldwide movement to be happier and kinder together, access the free resources find your local group and log on to some happiness coaching.
Rerouting pipework ensures efficiency
LimpetReader reveals water leak
See how LimpetReader technology helped Hatch End High School identify a leak.
Find out more