RADIO ALL ROUND AIDS WATER BOARD OPERATIVES
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by Paul Brockington, MI MechE
THERE has never been a time when the vehicles operated by the North West Worcestershire Water Board have not been radio controlled since the fleet became fully operational soon after the Board was established in October 1962. No comparisons can, therefore, be made with operating a comparable non-radio-controlled fleet, but in the words of the works engineer, "radio is something that the Board couldn't do without". And this is borne out bron-thespot observations of some of the Board's 30 vehicles at work in various parts of the districts covered which have a total area of about 230 square miles.
The population of the area in 1970 was around 180,360 and will, it is estimated, have increased to 225,000 by 1980. On average the daily consumption of water for the year ending March 31 1970 was 8.22 million gallons. A large proportion (about 90 per cent) of the water supply is derived from pumping stations at bore holes that are equipped with high-output electrically driven pumps, and servicing the equipment is mainly an electrician's job. The bore holes are spread over the area and water is pumped to covered service reservoirs, the levels of which are regularly checked and if necessary "adjusted".
Other major installations include water towers and booster stations; and the inspectors, fitters and electricians responsible for supervision, servicing and maintenance are constantly on the move. But they must be ready to undertake non-scheduled and emergency work, and being on call by radio saves many man/vehicle hours day-by-day and improves the efficiency of the essential service they provide. It frequently enables work to be phased with the minimum of manpower (and vehicle power) and emergency operations to be co-ordinated to the best advantage.
In the case of a burst main, for example, an inspector is called by radio, instructions with regard to cutting off the water supply are if necessary given on the radio, and radio is used to organize a gang for the job together with a vehicle fitted with a compressor to operate the pneumatic tools. Typically, quite a big job is completed in a day which, in some cases, would have been impossible without the time saving that radio provided.
Frequent use is made of the facility to radio back from a vehicle on site work or on the road (the vehicles are known as mobiles) to one of the two depots of the Board in the Stourbridge and Kidderminster areas or to the head office in Kidderminster to seek advice on a technical aspect of a job or to obtain authority to go ahead with work that presents unusual difficulties.
The Board provides a 24hr service seven days a week. Members of the staff are on stand-by duty at the depots outside normal working hours and staff can be contacted by phone in their homes in the event of weekend or night-time emergencies.
Pye Telecommunications VHF radiotelephone equipment is used throughout at the base stations and in the mobiles. The transmitter at Rock Tower is connected by Post Office land line to the Foley Park depot in Kidderminster and there are land lints between Foley Park and head office and the Coalbournbrook Stourbridge depot. Radio contact can be made with the mobiles in any part of the Board's area, the greatest distance between North-and-South and East-andWest boundaries being about 25 miles. The radio equipment has a range of approximately 20 miles.
Service vans in the fleet comprise some 20 Ford Transit and Escort petrol-engined vehicles which include vans used by superintendents and inspectors while two BLMC Minivans are employed on meterreading. Vehicles equipped with air compressors for powering air-operated tools include three Land-Rovers and three Commer vans, a 3-ton tipper is based on a Ford chassis, and a 4-ton tipper on a Commer VC5 chassis is fitted with a FOCO 6-ton hoist. This vehicle has a gvw of 9.5 tons and a 4-ton front axle, the rear axle being rated at 7 tons.
It is noteworthy that the average water consumption per day per head of population is 45.7gal, of which 32.5gal are supplied to domestic premises and 13.2gal to industrial users. The amount of water consumed by a community is directly related to the standard of living of the people, and the plea that few members of the public are aware of the complicated and varied work involved in providing a water supply and in servicing the equipment would appear to be fully justified. It is a service that the general public takes for granted until something goes wrong, and in the case of the North West Worcestershire Water Board, the confidence of the community in the water service is undoubtedly enhanced by an efficiency that is in part a function of radio control.