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New characterisation tools for natural organic matter (NOM) in drinking water are now used as standard practice within water companies such as Severn Trent Water, United Utilities and Yorkshire Water. The tools inform decisions, and help develop strategic plans on catchment management, source selection, treatment optimisation, and disinfection practice. Water companies experienced difficulties in treating high levels of NOM. Cranfield created a novel characterisation toolkit to measure NOM for its electrical charge and hydrophobicity. Also, new techniques for measuring aggregate properties and emerging disinfection by-products have provided a comprehensive analysis. Two novel treatment technologies are currently marketed. These technologies have raised international interest, resulting in industrial development in Australia.
Research at Cranfield has underpinned national policies for managing and allocating the UK's agricultural water resources over the past 20 years. It has supported major reforms in water policy, abstraction legislation and drought management. It has done this by modelling spatial and temporal variations in demand for irrigation, linking this to the financial impacts of water stress on crop yield and quality, projecting future demand, and assessing climate change impacts and potential adaptations. It has also significantly impacted the agri-food sector, helping agribusinesses assess the viability of irrigation and reservoir investment, encouraging collaboration, and reducing risks in the food supply chain.
The development and marketing of the Chemcatcher passive sampler has significantly improved the way water quality is monitored. These cost-effective devices are either used alongside or can replace established approaches that rely on infrequent spot or bottle sampling. We have contributed to the development of national and international standards for the use of passive samplers, and the dissemination of results to end users has facilitated the uptake of passive sampling technology worldwide. Our passive samplers have been used to monitor a diverse range of environmental problems, from pharmaceuticals in drinking water to the release of radioactive caesium after the Fukushima nuclear reactor incident in Japan.
Diarrhoeal disease is the world's second most common cause of death in children under five years old, killing 760,000 children each year according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Microbial contamination of drinking water is one of the most important causes. In England and Wales acute diarrhoeal disease is estimated to cost the country £1.5 billion annually. UEA epidemiologists have shown the important role of water supply systems in spreading diarrhoeal disease in developed and developing countries; led WHO research projects on small scale drinking water systems; and influenced WHO policy on small scale drinking water systems in developed and developing countries. Methodological research on epidemiological methods for monitoring and regulating bathing water quality has led to changes in WHO guidance on bathing water quality standards and influenced US Environmental Protection Agency criteria. Hunter's participation in international expert panels facilitated the impact of this research on policy.
The impact of research by the University of Southampton into global access to safe drinking water has: (i) provided important evidence for new policy initiatives by the World Health Organisation and UNICEF to promote home water treatment to reduce the 1.9 million deaths each year due to water- related infections, and (ii) stimulated debate among a range of stakeholders, including the media, advocacy groups and UN bodies, by challenging the accuracy of the assertion by the UN Secretary General that the UN Millennium Development Goal for safe water access has been met.
By modelling the formation of micro-bubbles and the flows induced by them, researchers at the University of Cambridge Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics developed a new, low-cost nozzle design that could be retrofitted to existing Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) systems. This new design dramatically improved the performance of DAF systems, used by the water industry for the production of drinking water. Specifically, this research has enabled a substantial increase in throughput and effectiveness of the flotation process, whilst simultaneously providing a dramatic decrease in the energy requirement.
Current Defra policy on river catchment management has been informed by our interdisciplinary research over a 10-year period, much of it addressing the challenges posed by the EU Water Framework Directive. Outcomes from our research are reflected in the policies proposed in the 2011 Water for Life White Paper and also in the multi-million pound investment plans of water companies. We have also influenced a whole-community framework for catchment management in the UK that was piloted in 2011 and has now been extended to 100 catchments across England.
UCL research underpins Government requirements to monitor the effectiveness of its policies with respect to international legislation to combat the impact of acid deposition on surface waters. UCL led two programmes: the Acid Waters Monitoring Network and the Freshwater Umbrella programme. Since 2008 these programmes have been used to: (i) set national thresholds to identify the extent of acidification of surface waters; (ii) model and measure recovery of freshwaters from reductions in acid deposition; (iii) set new acidification standards for pollution of UK rivers; (iv) determine ecological status of key UK protected habitats; and (v) guide upland forestry planting.
Surface water runoff in urban areas makes a significant contribution to pollution of lakes and rivers, but historically is poorly addressed in catchment models. The School of Geography (SoG) developed a Geographic Information System (GIS) model and supporting database to quantify urban source area loadings of 18 common and priority pollutants. This knowledge improves catchment models and supports impact assessment and mitigation planning by environment managers. The research has been exploited on behalf of the Department for Energy, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), the Welsh Assembly, and the UK water industry (UK Water Industry Research — UKWIR, and United Utilities). The research has had three distinct impacts: 1) its use addressing EU Water Framework Directive obligations; 2) its on-going influence on construction industry guidance; and 3) the commercialisation of its stormwater pollutant coefficient database for Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) planning software.
A team at Bristol University has played a central role in the development of new methods for assessing water quality in rivers and lakes. These are making it possible for the water industry to more reliably assess water quality and identify sites where remedial measures must be applied to meet the new standard of `good ecological status' as required by the European Union Water Framework Directive (WFD), which passed into UK law in 2003. The innovative, diatom-based tools were used in 2008 and 2009 to assess all targeted surface waters (rivers and lakes) in the UK and Ireland, leading to massive investment in infrastructure. This has opened up the prospect of higher quality water in lakes and rivers - something that the public and environmental organisations demand. Over the next few decades, the investment will bring an estimated benefit of £200 million to residents in England and Wales alone.