Health and Emergency Services

The challenge

Clean drinking water is essential to life. However, there are many areas of the undeveloped world where people are still drinking water that is contaminated, either because the proper water infrastructure is not in place or because disasters, environmental and otherwise, have prevented access.

The challenge

Monitoring water quality, and early detection of unwanted toxins, is essential in a wide range of areas including public and industrial water supplies, wastewater discharges from industry, and the output of wastewater treatment plants.

Conventional testing procedures involve taking intermittent samples, and typically provide only one test result in 15-30 minutes. To ensure effective protection of water quality requires continuous monitoring and immediate identification of contaminants, and demands a step change in water monitoring technology.

The challenge

Point source discharges of pollutants from sewage works or industry are responsible for 16% of failures by rivers to meet WFD targets, and at high concentrations may be damaging to wildlife and human health.

The challenge

The UK is a densely populated small island. Its small rivers allow limited dilution of any chemical that enters them. Because of this, aquatic life here faces more risk of exposure to pharmaceuticals than in most developed nations. Sewage treatment plants (STPs) often cannot completely eliminate these compounds entirely and as a result, trace levels are discharged into surface waters.

The challenge

In many parts of the world groundwater is used for drinking, cooking and irrigating crops, and the level of arsenic it contains is a major health risk. Continual exposure to high concentrations of arsenic in water can result in people developing cancers, ischaemic heart disease and compromised immune systems. This is particularly marked in countries such as Bangladesh, where it is estimated that tens of thousands of people die prematurely each year because of chronic exposure to this carcinogenic hazard.

The challenge

In England and Wales, the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) has responsibility for checking that water companies supply water that is safe to drink and meets regulatory standards. The DWI has issued requirements and expectations requiring consideration be given to water supply quality and distribution network maintenance within Distribution Operation and Maintenance Strategies (DOMS).