63. 09-07-21 Installation Court and Farewell

My last task as Master was to chair the Installation Court and to handover to next year’s Master Peter Hall. This year was a very different to a normal year as Master, and due to the ongoing social restrictions of the pandemic, not as I had originally planned. Nevertheless, it has been a great privilege to serve this Company, and despite being restricted to the virtual world of zoom throughout the 9 months of office, the Company still managed to host an number of successful technical and social events, with the excellent support of our members.

One of the key themes for my year was strengthening our relationship with the City and the Water Conservators have been key supporters of the Livery Climate Action Group to progress various aspects of the City’s Climate Action Strategy.

I am also pleased that this year we reached agreement on the future structure of the Trust and its relationship with the Company in accordance with the wishes of the both the Court and Trustees. And finally, I would like to thank everyone for their support in making a difficult year one with some very special memories and newly formed friendships.

My very best wishes go to Peter Hall as the new Master, his consort Georgina and his Wardens for a successful year taking us out of the pandemic and back to normal activities. Also to offer my thanks to Dave Richards for maintaining this blog so efficiently.

62. 28-06-21 Livery Climate Action Group – Food Seminar

Tonight, I attended a very interesting webinar by the Livery Climate Action Group titled “The Impact of Food on the Climate”.  The evening was hosted by David Smith CBE, Master of the Cooks’ Livery Company and introduced by Alderman Alison Gowman, Lead of the Livery Climate Action Group.

The first presenter was Richard Whitlock, Master of the Farmers’ Livery Company. He explained that the primary aim of farmers was to produce food whilst optimising costs versus outputs. The key challenges for the supply chain were ensuring food was always available whilst minimising waste. WRAP estimate that of 10 million tons of food waste per year 7 million tons is in the home. Nitrous Oxide released by nitrogen fertilizer is 300 times more potent in terms of climate change impact than carbon dioxide, however, it improves crop yields by up to 200%. In terms of possible solutions, he talked about improved demand forecasting, alternative uses for food waste, food give away, and the greater use of taxes or subsidies.

The second presenter was Juliane Caillouette Noble, Managing Director, The Sustainable Restaurant Association. She stressed that meat and diary produce accounts for 16.5% of total global greenhouse gas emissions, and that just 10 products make up 75% of all plastic pollution, of which 6 are related to food service. 1 million tonnes of food is wasted across the foodservice sector alone, and she spoke about the important role of the Sustainable Restaurant Association in reducing food waste. She urged everyone to fight for local and seasonal menus, cut back on meat and dairy, and to understand and manage your waste streams.

The final speaker was Laura Winningham, OBE, co-founder of City Harvest, a charity that has rescued surplus food and delivered 21 million meals to those in need since it was founded in 2014. She estimates that the 8,526 tons of food rescued represents a saving in greenhouse gases of 33,000 tons. City Harvest rescue all types of food collected from many organisations including supermarkets, farms, restaurants, and caterers. City Harvest already receive generous support from the City of London, and many livery companies, but she urged livery companies to do more in managing their food waste.

The presentations were followed by an interesting question and answer session, and then by short break out sessions where participants could give feedback on the key challenges. My thanks go to all the presenters, the Farmers’ Company for hosting the event, and to the Livery Climate Action Group led by Alderman Alison Gowman for hosting the event.

61. 25-06-21 June FM&GP Meeting

Today I chaired the last Finance, Membership and General Purpose Committee of my term as Master. The new Master and Wardens Elect were also in attendance. We discuss articles for the forthcoming July edition of the Conservator and our Clerk gave us update on the Company finances which are in a healthy position from last year despite the pandemic. We also discussed future events and the need to bring members together again in the City as the social restrictions are eased.

Some time was also spent discussing the hiring of a new Beadle. Our current Beadle Tim Gutteridge has resigned as he has been offered a full-time position as a detective in the Metropolitan Police Force. We all wish Tim the very best for the future and thank him for the time he served us as Beadle.

Finally, I gave the committee an update on the Governance Review and Livery Climate Action Group. Work on the Governance Review is continuing well. It is planned to produce the Governance Review Paper for the Sept. FM&GP and Court. The draft Paper will be first shown to the Master/ Wardens Elect and the Clerk during July for comments. The main points arising from the consultation are: no changes to the Ordinances, modest changes to the Standing Orders, corrections to the Company Manual and Handbook to align with the governing documents, improving member orientation, a new task for the FM&GP in respect of external affairs, and a statement of Company values and code of conduct.

The Livery Climate Action Group, led by Alderman Alison Gowman, consists of around 50 volunteers from various livery companies, including 8 Water Conservators, in 4 working groups (Investment, Property, Education and General) to progress various aspects of the City’s Climate Action Strategy. The group is working on a charter that can be used by each livery company to produce their own climate action plan. We are currently advising other companies on water efficiency, wastewater and waste management/recycling, and will be looking to produce a draft action plan for the Water Conservators to put before the September Court meeting.

60. 16-06-21 Election Court Reconvened

As the Master Elect unfortunately stood down for next year, the Election Court was reconvened to elect a new Master. Past Master Peter Hall was duly elected on the basis of votes cast to be installed on 9^th July 2021 at the Installation Court. I would like to thank the candidates who put themselves forward at short notice and being prepared to give up their free time to take on the demanding role of Master to ensure this Company continues to prosper. My thanks also go to Past Master Roger North and our Clerk, Ralph Riley for putting together the election process in unique circumstances, and to Deputy Master Mark Lane for professionally conducting a “Meet The Candidate” session as part of the election. I thought these sessions were extremely useful in highlighting a number of very positive ideas for the future of the Company, and my thanks go to everyone who participated.

Peter Hall was previously Master in 2015/16 and has an extensive knowledge of the water sector. After spending 10 years with the National Water Council, Peter was appointed assistant secretary at the newly formed Water Authorities Association, where he dealt with finance and general policy matters, including industry-side logistics for water authority privatisation. Appointed deputy director at the Water Services Association in 1989, Peter spent several years coordinating views on policy issues.

My congratulations go to Peter on his election and as we hopefully come out of the pandemic and return to normal business we are all looking forward to working with Peter to create a very successful future for the Company.

59. 15-06-21 The Role of the Community in Protecting and Improving River Environments

It was a great pleasure to host this month’s Water Conservators webinar titled “The Role of the Community in Protecting and Improving River Environments” presented by Debbie Leach, Chief Executive of Thames21. Debbie began her talk by explaining how for centuries there has been a close connection between the River Thames and the communities it served. Right back to Roman times the river has been important for trade and transport, with London established a key trading port. Then with population growth the river became polluted in the 19^th century until the Bazalgette sewer system cleaned up the river. This has been followed up in the 21^st century by the Thames Tideway tunnel, preventing sewage overflows into the river.

However, in recent times a “disconnect” has grown between people and the river with many rivers becoming culverted and no longer looking like a natural river. So a key challenge for Thames21 is how do we engage people better with the issues we face, including climate change. Thames21 are supporting people to reconnect and help rescue our rivers via key projects such as Thames River Watch, a citizen science project in which volunteers collect data to help us better understand the health of the river.

Thames21 also has an established training programme and supports river action groups. The charity has also been involved in creating and protecting new wetland areas and has worked in catchment partnerships. Debbie explained how there is still so much to do to rescue our blue-green spaces, rebuild communities after the pandemic, tackle plastic pollution, and combat water scarcity. She urged everyone to help with funding to build Thames21’s core capacity, help to simply spread word, and introduce volunteers with technical expertise to support a growing organisation.

Debbie’s presentation was then followed by an excellent question and answer session which included how Thames21 and the Water Conservation Trust could work together to increase environmental learning about rivers in our schools, and possibilities to increase the links between City businesses and the River Thames, so that businesses understand more about the environmental challenges. On behalf of everyone I would again like to thank Debbie for an excellent presentation, and also give my thanks to everyone who attended making the webinar a great success.

58. 19-05-21 How Do We Ensure Water Quality After Brexit?

It was a great pleasure to host the 12th in our series of Water Conservators webinars titled “How Do We Ensure Water Quality After Brexit?” presented by Professor Sean Comber of Plymouth University. Professor Comber began his talk by outlining his background, spending many years at WRC working on environmental monitoring, then with WS Atkins on projects driven by the European Framework Directive, and then finally with University of Plymouth.

He then went on to explain how the toxicity of metals in rivers are impacted by their form and ambient conditions and how European Quality Standards for phosphates assume all phosphorus is soluble and bioavailable, whereas the bioavailable phosphorus is dependent many factors such as suspended solids. He also described the impact the river environment can have on the bioavailability of organics and pharmaceuticals, and the current regulatory set up around 50 priority and priority hazardous substances some with standards set just above the level of detection.

Professor Comber then outlined how quality standards are set with factors of safety being introduced at each level of the food chain to ensure a tolerable level of dietary intake in humans. The cost of compliance is enormous with £4bn of water industry investment planned for 2020-25 mostly for phosphorus removal at Sewage Treatment Works. Finally, he suggested a possible way forward for the future compliance of metals, phosphate and organics that includes a bioavailability assessment, along with more toxicity testing and the better management of pharmaceuticals at source as an effective way of reducing risk at a reasonable cost.

Professor Comber’s presentation was then followed by an excellent question and answer session where some of the key challenges for the UK water sector post Brexit were discussed. On behalf of everyone I would again like to thank Professor Comber for an excellent presentation, and also give my thanks to everyone who attended making the webinar a great success.

57. 11-05-21 Searching For London’s Lost Rivers

Tonight, I attended a very interesting webinar hosted by the City of Westminster Libraries and Archives on “Searching for London’s Lost Rivers” presented by Dr Tom Bolton. Tom Bolton is a writer, researcher and photographer who lives in Streatham, works in urban design and policy, and is the author of 5 books including 2 volumes on “London’s Lost Rivers – A Walkers Guide”.

During his presentation Tom explained how many of these “Lost Rivers” were still alive but now as part of the sewer system, however, glimpses of them could be seen under drainage covers, or in the case of the River Westbourne running across Sloane Square tube station in a pipe. Then Tom decided to focus on some of the lesser know rivers including the Black Ditch and Stamford Brook. It was a fascinating talk with topical stories related to the rivers, and many wonderful illustrations. This was followed by an interesting Q&A session in which Tom explained how the Serpentine had been created from the River Westbourne and Highgate ponds were the source of the River Fleet, originally dammed for public water supply. My thanks go to Tom and the City of Westminster Libraries and Archives for an excellent webinar.