How to build (or refresh) your knowledge of environmental water quality
Published on: 23 Oct 2024
Read moreThe recent Sensors for Water Interest Group (SWIG) workshop highlighted the increased scrutiny that the water industry is coming under due to public and political pressure.
The Environment Agency’s environmental monitoring scheme (MCERTS) is a key element in ensuring that we have high quality data that demonstrates to the regulator, and the public, that companies which produce potentially harmful emissions are operating within their environmental permits. It is widely recognised that the MCERTS scheme for self-monitoring of discharge flows has resulted in significant benefits for both the regulator and the regulated, making it a good model to follow.
However, applying the MCERTS principles across other regulated water applications will not be easy – there will be technical and resource challenges. The recent application of MCERTS to flow-passed-forward and event-duration monitoring is highlighting some of these challenges as was illustrated by some of the more interesting installations and technologies cited by some speakers at the SWIG workshop.
Technically, we need to ensure that the standards are appropriately tailored for each application, and, whilst there will always be unusual cases, that they are generally robust and keep pace with technology. We also need to ensure that we have the right level of training and knowledge within water companies, and that we can grow the inspection community to meet the additional workload.
Our long involvement as independent experts with MCERTS means that WRc can provide support to all parties: the regulators, the water companies, the suppliers, and the service providers. In doing so, we are helping to ensure the future success of the MCERTS programme and good environmental regulation.