here you will find Speaker information, Briefings, presentations and useful Background Materials on Resilient Water Systems
This is what we learnt
Environmental protection is an Opportunity for Innovation not a Threat
Treat rainwater as a precious Resource
Reduce Demand - Make it Easy to Use Less WAter
Benign By Design - design chemicals that do no harm to the environment
Change policy makers attitude to the public. We are not a problem to be overcome. We are an asset and part of the solution
treatment is the last option not the first
Presentations
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Alistair Chisholm, Director of Policy
Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management and author of A Freshwater Future
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Alistair Boxall, Professor in Environmental Science
University of York. Alistair’s work focuses on understanding emerging and future ecological and health risks posed by chemical contaminants in the natural environment. He is Director of the NERC ECORISC Centre for Doctoral Training on environmental risk of chemicals and also lead the NERC ECOMIX project on mixture effects of chemicals in the aquatic environment.
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Liz Sharp, Professor of Water and Planning
University of Sheffield. An environmental social scientist supporting practical improvements in our environment.
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Richard Armitage, Managing Director, Adaptive Control Group & Greener Waste Technology
Richard and Stuart share their experience of working in the water sector, the greener solutions that work, and what it will take from the whole of society to meet the challenges facing us.
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Stuart Christian, Innovation and Technical Manager, Waste Water Treatment at Adaptive Control Solutions Ltd
Presenting with Richard.
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Jo Bradley
Stormwater Shepherds.
After working on many aspects of water management during her 30-year career in the UK - a clean-water laboratory, been a Trade Effluent Officer, overseen Drought Plan development and taken endless sewage samples. her passion lies in pollution prevention & control and in the last decade, Jo’s attention has been on pollution from urban surfaces and roads. She is determined to see good SuDS used extensively across England, with similar success to that in Scotland and Wales and she firmly believes that if they are designed properly, SuDS can be applied on every development.
Resilient water Systems Presentation
Briefing for Event Two: Resilient Water Systems
This is the second of four public meetings organised by the People’s Commission on the water sector. This session explores how to secure the technical and design aspects of water systems that work for people and the environment now and into the future.
Context
The context for this session is the pressure on the water sector from climate change (pollution, flooding and drought), population and business demands, alongside emergent threats from new pollutants (e.g forever chemicals and microplastics); the state of the water sector strategy, assets, and management capability to cope with these pressures; and the engagement with the wider water system (water users, water polluters, water policy makers). The Environment Agency predicts that demand for water in southern England may outstrip supply in the next 20 years.
Internationally countries are addressing the challenges to our water system through innovations in three domains:
Water Conservation
Water Protection and Efficiency
Water Conscious Society with Active Public Participation
This Session explores these areas in more detail in relation to the UK.
Without Water
Human life is impossible without water. Without water life cannot exist. Access to water and sanitation are recognised by the United Nations as human rights – fundamental to everyone’s health, dignity and prosperity. Water is essential for humans and our ecosystem. The public, who are dependant on water, are engaged in the future of the water sector primarily as customers, and have little engagement in or contribution to the solutions.
Sewage System
The principal reason for the existence of the sewerage system is to protect public health. “...faecal-oral diseases were previously a major cause of mortality in children and adults. [Separating water from sewage] was one of the greatest public health triumphs of the last 200 years, responsible for saving millions of lives globally. .” Testing the Waters May 2024 p3.
Whilst the water sector is under pressure from demands identified above there is no doubt that the state of the assets (sewage management infrastructure) is a major contributor to pollution.
Water Pollution
The water sector is drastically failing to meet the Water Framework Directive’s requirements for the government to aim to achieve good ecological status for all surface water bodies by 2027. 75% of water bodies in England and 94% of water bodies in Wales have been assessed as technically being able to achieve good ecological status, but in 2019 (the last time this was measured) only 16% of water bodies assessed in England, and 40% in Wales, reached this standard or better. The Office for Environmental Protection's worst case assessment would see just 21% of surface waters in Good Ecological state by 2027, representing only a 5% improvement on the current situation.” OEP (2024)
All our rivers are polluted, and all our chalk streams are in poor health. Only 16% meet the criteria for good ecological status and none meet the criteria for achieving good chemical status. Untreated sewage was discharged into our waterways 464,056 times for over 3.5 million hours in 2023, which is 1,271 discharges a day – that’s the equivalent of sewage flowing nonstop for 450 years.
Our rivers, lakes and seas are so polluted it is affecting businesses in seaside towns, with tourism down up to 20% (Devon and Cornwall). In Exmouth business and residents have mounted the first community led legal claim against South West Water, citing the fall in tourism as a result of sewage pollution. In Cornwall, 11 shellfish zones have had to close because of sewage pollution. An Essex oyster farmer took to the courts to stop sewage threatening oyster grounds, whilst sewage is threatening to wipe out Whitstable oyster farmers.
Sewage pollution is creating a public health hazard for people getting into our waters, be it kids paddling at the seaside or in our rivers in the summer, to people surfing or fishing. Surfers Against Sewage report “Between October 2022 and September 2023, a total of 1,924 water users reported getting ill after entering the water. That's nearly triple the number of reports we received in 2021-22.” Prof Chris Whitty calls for people to be protected from waterborne disease (National Engineering Policy Centre Report 2024 )
Microplastics entering our waterways at alarming levels, they are suspended solids and water companies are legally obliged to remove them along and when treated 99% can be removed; the pollution is coming from unlawful untreated sewage discharges.
The State of Water Industry Assets
The Water sector infrastructure is crumbling. As the public sees more and more evidence in the media, water companies themselves have begun to share in their evidence to the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs Committee that they have not maintained their infrastructure. Meanwhile water companies compliance with plans has remanded unchecked, and there is no overview of the state of water company assets despite the requirement for water company funded Reporters to provide reports to Ofwat that demonstrate "progress and performance, particularly in respect of investment programmes and standards of service to customers"
By 2050 water companies will be overseeing short of 4bn litres of water per day. Currently leakage is circa 3bn a day, and no water company is on track for 2050 targets. (Dame Julia King, Watershed investigations)
Treating our Waste Water
The solutions to pollution from raw sewage discharges from CSOs and Storm Overflows, and from undertreated sewage are known. The National Engineering Policy Centre (2024) reviewed capital expenditure against risk reduction exploring the four approaches to secure clean water: Water Management, Water Treatment, Monitoring and Engagement, and Maintenance and Operations and concluded that the best solutions are to separate drainage of rainfall and clean water from foul sewers, followed by sustainable drainage and the use of Integrated Constructed Wetlands. These are not expensive options, in fact they can be cheaper.
Alongside treatment solutions, we will need solutions that work upstream, on the causes of pollution before waste water hits the sewage works; on our increasing use of water (and over use of clean water); and on our land management and approach to flooding. Getting treatment right is only one part of the overall change that needs to happen.
Compliance with the Law
Water companies must comply with, and regulators must regulate, according to the 1991 Water Industry Act and the 1994 Urban Waste Water Treatment Regulations. These require all sewage to be treated, and for storm overflows (which discharge raw sewage) to only operate in exceptional circumstances.
The WildFish Judicial review clarifies that the EA has both a duty and the powers to enforce compliance with the 1994 Regulations through amending permits.
Ofwat along with the Environment Agency, is investigating every water company in England involving more than 2000 sewage treatment works. Windrush Against Sewage Pollution (WASP) uncovered 9,000 illegal sewage discharges using water industry data. To date Ofwat has taken enforcement action against Southern Water and Yorkshire Water. Ofwat has also proposed fines of £168m for Thames Water, Yorkshire Water and Northumberland Water for failing to manage wastewater treatment works and networks and harming the environment. Ofwat announced in February this year that it is investigating delays to 100 environmental projects by Thames Water. The Environment Agency’s criminal investigation is continuing until at least 2026.
The Office for Environmental Protection says Defra, The Environment Agency and Ofwat have failed to comply with environmental law.
The whole water system is not compliant with the law.
Relevant Background Materials Event Two
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A Freshwater Future
An independent review of water sector performance and governance and a co-created expert, stakeholder and public vision for future water management in the UK.
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Assessment of the Potential Ecotoxicological Effects of Pharmaceuticals in the World's Rivers
Alejandra Bouzas-Monroy, John L Wilkinson, Molly Melling, Alistair B A Boxall . 2022. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.
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Testing the waters: reducing health risks from water pollution
A new report from the National Engineering Policy Centre discussing the priorities for mitigating health risks from wastewater pollution.
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Policy Briefing: The benefits of a community-oriented approach to surface water management
This Policy Briefing summarises the findings of a research project studying community engagement in adaptation to climate change through surface water management. The project was conducted between 2020 and 2023. The Briefing begins by describing the problem of disconnected and fragmented infrastructure before summarising our finding that the exclusion of ordinary people represents a missed opportunity for the integration of more distributed form of water management. The Briefing then presents some of our key practitioner-focused publications.
Chapman, Kiera; Sharp, Liz (2023). Policy Briefing: The benefits of a community-oriented approach to surface water management. The University of Sheffield
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Water smart communities – What are they? What and who are they for?
Dr Ella Foggitt , Dr Claire Hoolohan & Prof. Alison Browne (2024) Water smart communities – What are they? What and who are they for? A review of industry and academic research. University of Manchester
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Pharmaceutical Pollution of the English National Parks
Results revealed widespread contamination of the national parks, with APIs detected at 52 out of 54 sites and in both seasons.
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PODCAST Streams of medicines: what’s hiding in the UK’s waterways?
The UK is known for its national parks: areas of outstanding natural beauty with rolling hills and crystal-clear streams and lakes. But research has shown that England’s most protected rivers are full of pharmaceuticals.
In episode one of a two-part series, biodiversity reporter Phoebe Weston tells Madeleine Finlay about the problem of chemical pollution in our waterways, and how it could be contributing to what the World Health Organization has described as ‘the silent pandemic’ – antimicrobial resistance.
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Podcast - Streams of medicines: how Switzerland cleaned up its act
Switzerland is leading the world in purifying its water of micropollutants, a concoction of chemicals often found in bodies of water that look crystal clear. They include common medicines like antidepressants and antihistamines, but have unknown and potentially damaging consequences for human and ecosystem health.
In the second of a two-part series, Phoebe Weston travels to Geneva to find out how the country has transformed its rivers from sewage-filled health hazards to pristine swimming spots. She tells Madeleine Finlay how a public health disaster in the 1960s spurred the government to act, and what the UK could learn from the Swiss about taking care of a precious national asset.