Category: <span>News</span>

Prepare for a drubbing

Clear signs of another drubbing coming for the UK water companies, with an item on today’s BBC News website headlined Serious water pollution incidents up 60% in England.  The piece, by BBC correspondent Esme Stallard, shows the Environment Agency, Public Accounts Committee, Secretary of State for the Environment, NGOs and …

FOG in the news

A recent UKWIR Report on options for charging UK food service establishments based on the fats, oils and grease (FOG) content of their wastewater raises many fascinating questions. Alongside the practical and economic challenges of implementation, it notes our limited understanding of how these materials pose a risk to sewerage …

UKWIR Project Manager role – last chance to apply (closing 20 July 2025)

Closing date: Midnight on Sunday 20 July 2025. UKWIR is seeking a Project Manager to oversee delivery of a subset of projects from its research programme, of relevance and value to its members which comprise 18 water companies in the UK and Ireland. The role requires a level of leadership …

AquaConSoil and PFAS – Keynote presentation made available

One of the Keynote speakers at AquaConSoil 2025 has kindly made his contribution available to EBNet members. The talk by Dr Hans Slenders of Arcadis focused on PFAS, including the emerging pollutant trifluoroacetic acid or TFA. A version of his presentation on ‘How sustainable is our current approach for PFAS?’ …

BBSRC Forward Look – updated version published

The outcome of BBSRC’s refreshed Forward Look, shaped by the insights and expertise of the UK’s bioscience community including EBNet, is now available. Prof Anne Ferguson-Smith, BBSRC’s Executive Chair, said “The Forward Look sets out a bold and ambitious direction for the decade ahead. It reflects our shared vision to harness the power …

AquaConSoil and PFAS

AquaConSoil addresses the dynamic interfaces between soil, sediment and water systems under anthropogenic stress. This year’s conference in Liege on 16-20 June 2025 spotlighted themes such as integrated Soil–Sediment–Water System Management, Sustainable Remediation Strategies, Digital Innovation, and Systems Thinking. These core areas for advancing and harnessing the power of environmental …

CBE JU reports on its 2024 programme

The Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) has published a report on its latest achievements and progress. The report shows increased participation, growing community engagement and high demand for new funding. Over 1,700 stakeholders connected via the CBE JU networking platform, and the widening participation strategy produced a record …

Two IEA Bioenergy reports highlight key areas for EBNet

Two new IEA Bioenergy publications cover topics central to EBNet and its working groups on Anaerobic Digestion (AD) and Anaerobic Fermentations (AF). The newly-updated report from Task 44 Flexible Bioenergy and System Integration on Technologies for Flexible Bioenergy explores how sustainable bioenergy can provide temporal, spatial and sectoral flexibility to …

Forever chemicals –  more evidence of emerging issues

A recent BBC News item highlights growing awareness of the threat from emerging pollutants: ‘Forever chemical’ TFA found in all but one of tested UK rivers – BBC News Prof Frederic Coulon of EBNet’s PFAS WG said, “The appearance of these chemicals in drinking water sources, particularly trifluoroacetic acid or …

New interest in Respirometry

A new book from the Royal Society of Chemistry contains a chapter on Respirometry of Organic Solid Wastes:  Methods and relevance to understanding the composting process and end-product stability, authored by EBNet member Tom Aspray of Solid Sense Ltd. EBNet has done relatively little work to date on composting technologies, …

Biofilm Alliance – Survey and Workshop

The Biofilm Alliance is a Network for regulatory sciences, academic research and industrial collaboration that aims to foster innovation in biofilm management and control technologies. The Alliance warmly invites responses to it Implementation Phase Survey, which aims to gather insights on key priorities, challenges and opportunities within the biofilm management …