How to build (or refresh) your knowledge of environmental water quality

Published on: 23 Oct 2024

Donna Murray develops and delivers training courses in environmental water quality

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Water quality, the health of rivers and water company responsibility for storm overflows and sewer flooding is now, and always will be, a top story in our news feeds. Water is not the largest utility bill that households or businesses face, yet there is huge importance in having a continuous supply of safe drinking water coming out of our taps, and having confidence that wastewater is not polluting the water environment. Understanding water quality science and regulations is crucial, therefore, to meet the issues that arise in our roles in the water industry.

Against this backdrop, WRc Academy made its return to live training events by hosting an environment regulations training day in June 2024 at the restored railway engineering workshops at Royal Agricultural University (RAU), Swindon. Having previously held a series of training days on Statistics and Urban Pollution Management, we relaunched with our Foundations of Water Quality and the Environment training course to give a broad overview for industry new starters (or a refresher) of how water quality in the environment is managed in the UK.

A day of dynamic discussions

The day was structured with a broad syllabus of topics backed up with engaging group discussions. Lecture-style sessions began with lively debates about water regulations, the definitions of water quality used to assess compliance with standards, water science concepts and the impacts of pollutants, followed by a review of environmental monitoring and data assessments.

It was really well structured and engaging. The course covered a broad range of subjects, which was excellent. I would recommend to others who are just starting out. 

We had lots of interaction from the delegates; as practitioners, they had their own experiences to add to these discussions. They were guided by workbook activities, using them as prompts to think about issues such as the reasons why pollution occurs, managing options to improve rivers, how to monitor water quality and comparing groundwater and surface water pollution. The small size of the groups enabled the participants to interact easily with each other as they focussed their attention on the challenges they were presented with.

A lunch buffet spread (and a few extra treats in the afternoon) kept us going at pace, with even the jokes on the Penguin bars getting shared. These kinds of breaks gave us time to meet others in the water industry, finding out about our varied experiences. There were lots of questions for WRc Academy’s trainers which they were happy to answer, sharing their extensive technical knowledge. The day concluded with examples of how mathematical models are used to show water quality changes in the environment after agricultural and wastewater inputs are reduced.

The trainers were very knowledgeable and obviously passionate about what they were teaching which made the course enjoyable even with the more challenging aspects of the material.

Reflecting and looking ahead

It was a day to take in lots of definitions, as well as understand the water environment regulations, look at the reality of assessment in terms of a long-term view and the response to short-term pollution and incidents. We also delved into the practicality of sampling, laboratory analysis, statistics and models. It introduced these topics for new starters to the industry to identify their further goals.

“The best part for me,” says Course Trainer Donna Murray, “was the discipline of pausing at the end of each module to reflect on the key points, and hearing what the takeaways were. Everyone engaged with this, sharing what they would use when back at work. There was an emphasis at the end of the day on ‘what next’… with discussions about the benefit of finding opportunities for site visits or work shadowing to see sampling in the environment and laboratory analysis. We have opened up these science and regulation topics for the delegates, giving them confidence in what they need to know to be able to investigate water quality issues.”

I have a better understanding of the policy and legislation behind our treatment work outfalls and will help me to ensure compliance with our construction projects.

Now that the delegates are familiar with broad environmental regulations, the opportunity presents itself to upskill within specialised areas – whether that be an in-depth look at water quality microbiology, statistics or modelling via self-paced digital learning; or the specific water quality impacts of Storm Overflows; or how we ensure the quality of reclaimed water or drinking water for customer supply.

This course was great for those working in the water industry. The instructors' clear explanations and excellent delivery provided valuable insights into the correlation between environment and water quality. Highly recommend it for people in environmental fields or at the early stages in the water industry.

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If you or your team can benefit from building foundational (or refresher) knowledge and skills for the assessment and management of environmental water quality impacts, including pollutants, monitoring strategies, and legislation that drives investment decisions, we’ll be holding this training course again on 13 February 2025 at WRc’s Swindon office - click here to reserve your place and secure your group discount. Our full suite of in-person, online and digital training courses for the water industry and beyond can be found on our website: www.wrcgroup.com/services/wrc-academy/courses/.

Created by potrace 1.16, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2019

Attend the next course date

WRc Academy are hosting this course at our offices in Swindon on Thursday 13th February 2025. Click the button below to view full details and benefit from a group discount.

Places are strictly limited to 20 seats, on a first come, first served basis.

Read more and register
Created by potrace 1.16, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2019

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Donna Murray

Consultant Scientist (Water Quality Modelling)

Donna is a Water Quality Modeller and Trainer with skills covering rainfall data (STORMPAC), river and coastal water quality modelling, estuary modelling, and model development and software testing. Donna has experience with water quality assessment procedures and has carried out catchment wide studies using SIMCAT, SIMPOL and QUESTS models. She is highly skilled in all aspects of the GIS SIMCAT SAGIS river model software - building, calibrating and running scenarios. This includes carrying out compliance assessments for permitting discharges to watercourses. Donna has also provided training courses on Water Quality and SIMCAT, QUESTS and the Urban Pollution Management (UPM) procedure.

2024-10-23 08:26:00