Photo by Martin King on Unsplash

United Utilities and the Environment Agency (EA) are going to place two monitoring buoys into Lake Windermere in Cumbria next week, as part of a year-long study to continuously assess the body of water.

United Utilities has said the trial would help it and the Environment Agency (EA) work out how best to use the technology in large, still water bodies.

Unlocking testing in more complex monitoring environments

As reported in the BBC, this monitoring is separate from the testing conducted by the EA during bathing season which involves collecting samples in person.  The EA currently collects water samples in designated bathing waters, including parts of Windermere, between 1 May and 30 September. These samples are tested for bacteria which indicates the presence of faecal matter which can come from many sources such as sewage from storm overflows, livestock and wildlife.

However, the EA said the trial would help inform its future monitoring requirements for water firms. Equipment in the bright yellow buoys will collect data from two spots on Windermere: the treated wastewater discharge point at Tower Wood and the storm overflow outfall at The Glebe. Information will be gathered on oxygen, ammonia and pH levels as well as water temperature.

The EA said this trial, as part of a wider study across the country, was aimed at discovering whether such monitoring could work in the water bodies which it said presented a “more complex monitoring environment”.

United Utilities said the data collected would be made publicly available at the end of the 12 months, however the focus of the trial was to test the process, and the findings would not be used for regulation purposes.