28 Aug 2024
New research has been published looking at enhancing microplastic removal from natural water using coagulant aids. Highlights Larger microbeads (1 mm – >250 μm) have >95 % removal; smaller ones (10 – <250 μm) are challenging. Denser microbeads like PVC (1.38 g/cm³) settle better than lighter ones like PE (0.97 g/cm³). PAC (0.4 mmol/L) with 3 mg/L PAM at pH 8 removes […]
21 Aug 2024
A new report, Embracing Nature, published by The Wildlife Trusts, identifies drought as the current leading threat to their nature reserves for the first time. The Wildlife Trusts, who are among the UK’s largest landowners with 2,600 nature reserves covering nearly 100,000 hectares (ha), also point to pollution, invasive species and habitat fragmentation as high […]
21 Aug 2024
According to The Guardian, the Environment Agency is planning to amend the Environmental Performance Assessment, tightening the rules to stop water companies from using the current highest four-star ratings to justify high CEO pay. The newspaper says that bosses presiding over companies found to “recklessly” discharge sewage have been able to justify their large pay packets because of being […]
21 Aug 2024
The Environment Agency has published a mid-programme summary of its ongoing £200m flood and coastal innovation programmes. The mid-programme headlines are as follows Flood and coastal resilience can unlock significant wider social and environmental benefits for people, places, and wildlife A lack of understanding and evidence hinders the coordination and delivery of groundwater flood risk […]
21 Aug 2024
UKWIR has published a new report ‘The greenhouse gas emissions of nature-based solutions for wastewater treatment’. Abstract: Using a systematic global literature review, factors were collated that increased or decreased emissions from methane, nitrous oxide and carbon from various typologies of constructed wetland, enhanced septic tank-nature-based solutions (NBS) and stabilisation ponds. Responses were gathered from water […]
21 Aug 2024
About 90kg (200lbs) of dead fish have been removed from a canal after a sodium cyanide leak in Walsall that experts fear could have “devastated the aquatic ecosystem” in the area. A 1km stretch of the waterway remains closed to the public after the chemical spill from a metal finishing company, Anochrome. The spill was declared a major […]
21 Aug 2024
Recent cost of living research from Ofwat found that 20% of water bill payers are struggling to afford their charges. A March 2024 survey found one in five are struggling with water charges, up from 18% in October 2023. This is part of a wider picture of affordability challenges, with 53% saying they struggle to […]
13 Aug 2024
The government is consulting on plans to double compensation payments for customers when their basic water services are disrupted. Subject to an eight-week consultation, the proposals will double payments for all existing standards and will more than double the payments for certain highly disruptive incidents, such as when water companies fail to provide notice of supply […]
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