Another month with sad or bad news for our many members in the UK water industry – but in at least one area, EBNet is helping to develop solutions.
On 25 April the National Audit Office (NAO) published its report on ‘Regulating for investment and outcomes in the water sector‘. One of the key conclusions was that “Consumer trust is at an all-time low and confidence in water companies to act in the interest of the environment and provide a reliable service has fallen”.
Meanwhile a Call for Evidence by the Independent Water Commission closed on 23 April. The findings are expected in July 2025 and will no doubt add to demands for better performance and stronger regulation and enforcement – especially for wastewater discharges and water quality.
In a recent interview David Henderson, CEO of Water UK, told the BBC: “We absolutely accept that self-monitoring is not helping to instil trust and so we would like to see an end to it, and in place of it a more robust, third-party system”. The NAO, however, is sceptical about the capacity of regulators to deliver additional monitoring.
This is one area where EBNet’s activities can be helpful. Prof Zhugen Yang, who leads our WG on Environmental Sensors and Wastewater Surveillance (ESWS WG), said: “All these points highlight the urgent need to develop novel and robust sensor systems that will enable us to expand the number of sites monitored, while also increasing range and quantity of data and allowing us to track the effect of interventions to improve treatment performance and water quality”.
The ESWS WG is also supporting an international workshop on 29-30 July on Microfluidics for Sensing – see here for more details.