Amber Davis

Since March 1st I was promoted to Senior Project Engineer, which I'm very happy about. It not only makes me feel recognised for my contribution to the company but recent changes have meant I am now more heavily involved in some really exciting projects.

Over the passed weeks I have been getting really involved in energy optimisation at some of our largest sites. We are working together in small groups to address issues on-site, as well as putting plans into place. It's really interesting work and also very satisfying when things go to plan.

I have also been given a new capital scheme to work on, it is one of the top two biggest sites in the company with respect to the population equivalent that it treats. I have started on the project at the commissioning stage which I think is by far the most exciting. Responsibility towards the planning on how we bring new assets on-line at such a large scale requires meticulous planning and a good understanding of the process, so it's great to have been given this opportunity.

Another week out of the office last week as I spent 5 days on a course at Cranfield University. The level of support for my development is something I really appreciate and it was good to get the time out to improve my knowledge as well as meet new people. The course was called "Biological Processes" and covered the theory behind activated sludge as well as other treatment techniques. It was good to consolidate a lot of my knowledge that I've picked up over the past 3 years of working here, as well as link in with my operational experience. It was interesting to talk to people from other water companies to find out about their challenges and what they do to deal with them.

Luckily I don't have too much in my diary this week, so there's enough time to catch up on all the e-mails and of course look forward to the team's Christmas "do" on Friday!

After my travels last week I'm catching my breath and spending some time in the office, catching up on e-mails and projects - being out and about is great, but it's good to have some desk-based time to balance it out.

The trip down to London went well and the steering group reviewed the R&D project and agreed the final report, so it was fab to see the project successfully completed. On Thursday it was good to see the project technicians and hear what stages each of our new sites are at. Next time I meet them will be on their sites where we'll look at how we get their works running as well as possible.

Currently we're focussing on the first of our new Fresh Water Directive (FFD) sites.  It's in the early days so we are collecting energy data, looking at how our assets are running and whether we can operate them in different ways depending on the time of day or time of year. These two points are both important because we're charged differently for electricity depending on whether or not it's in a peak period. Seasonal changes can also make a difference because we can operate our plants differently depending on the temperature of the sewage.