Ever wonder what happened to the Mill on the Floss? It's been turned into a training centre for all aspects of water treatment processes and products
Vivendi Water Systems has opened a prestigious new group training centre in the picturesque Derbyshire market town of Wirksworth. The new centre will provide facilities for training Vivendi staff and customers in all aspects of water treatment processes and products.
Wirksworth is the headquarters of Vivendi Water Systems service and the main function of the new centre is to provide training for over a hundred field-based technicians on over 1400 products including non-Vivendi plant.
This includes not only planned routine servicing of equipment but also sanitisation, cleaning and media replacement and all-important validation procedures for pharmaceutical plant.
As market leader in water and wastewater treatment, Vivendi has a wealth of knowledge gained over 70 years in the industry.
The new centre will provide a forum for staff from around the world to share experiences, strengthening the resources of the technical support team, who provide ongoing support for Vivendi brands including Elga LabWater, Permutit, Dewplan, Ionpure, USF, Mass Transfer International, Edwards and Jones, Memcor, and DWA.
For customers, training is available at all levels including management, technician and operator.
Courses are available on a wide range of topics including water chemistry, treatment processes, analytical techniques and maintenance as well as specific training for customer's own systems.
In addition, examples of many Vivendi Water Systems products are fully plumbed-in and installed in a wet area.
This enables hands-on operator training, which includes an explanation of each component's function, a review of operating and maintenance manuals and instruction on how to maintain accurate records.
The new training centre is a listed building, Haarlem House, which was built in 1840 for the manager of the adjacent Haarlem Mill (now home to the Vivendi Service Operations centre).
Originally a felt fulling mill, it was converted to cotton spinning in 1778 by Richard Arkwright and was reputedly the first textile mill in the country to use water power.
From 1814 the mill manager was Samuel Evans, the uncle of novelist George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans).
She frequently stayed with her uncle and aunt, and Haarlem Mill was the setting for many of her novels including the Mill on the Floss and Adam Bede. Later, when steam boilers were installed, water could be pumped from below the waterwheel back to the pond at times when water levels were low - an early example of water conservation.
An appropriate home for a training centre dedicated to the efficient use of water and water treatment technology.
