VOSA on the road to substantial water savings
About VOSA
The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) provides a range of licensing, testing and enforcement services with the aim of improving the roadworthiness standards of vehicles ensuring the compliance of operators and drivers, and supporting the independent Traffic Commissioners.
The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) was formed on 1st April 2003 following the merger of the Vehicle Inspectorate and the Traffic Area Network division of the Department for Transport. VOSA provides a range of licensing, testing and enforcement services with the aim of improving the roadworthiness standards of vehicles ensuring the compliance of operators and drivers with road traffic legislation, and supporting the independent Traffic Commissioners.
What VOSA does
- MOT Testing
- Vehicle Licensing
- Bus Registration
- Testing and Inspections
- Enforcement and Compliance
- Accident Investigation and Technical Research
- Training and education
- Legislation
- Road Transport and Safety Campaigns
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Publications
Benchmarking Project
ADSM and VOSA go back a long way. VOSA (or the Vehicle Inspectorate as they were known then) assisted ADSM in a national benchmarking project called Watermark undertaken in 1999 comparing water consumption to national averages.
Water Services Contract
In 2006, VOSA were nearing the end of a water management agreement with another organisation and were looking for a more comprehensive service to help them to make efficiencies and cut their water consumption.
Following discussions with ADSM they were quick to sign up for a Water Services Contract. On behalf of VOSA, ADSM now manages over 100 of their sites across the UK, from their headquarters offices to goods vehicle testing stations.
Comprehensive Strategy for Water Savings
After surveying the VOSA sites, ADSM created and implemented a complete strategy for their Water Management. This included the installation of state-of-the-art water-saving technologies, such as urinal controls and WC displacement bags.
ADSM also implemented a water usage monitoring service looking at unusual patterns of usage, to identify anomalies and major leakages.
In the first few months under the Contract, ADSM identified three major water leaks within hours of them happening and also obtained appropriate water rebates from VOSA's water supplier to cover these leakages.
ADSM also provides VOSA with a meter reading service not only for its water consumption but for all of its utilities.
The Future
VOSA is planning to move to Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) in the near future and are also expanding Bill Validation Services to include energy as well as water.