Water sector comes together to tackle micropollutants

Climate change will significantly impact the presence of micropollutants in water and more stringent regulations are on the horizon across the UK and Europe to protect water bodies and the environment.

In addition, conventional wastewater treatment systems have their limits in terms of micropollutant removal and dedicated treatment facilities will be required in the future – leading to opportunities for the sector to collaborate and be at the vanguard of tackling the issue.

These were the key messages of the first ever micropollutants conference hosted by British Water in Birmingham, UK, on 29 March 2022.

Following the opening address by Lila Thompson, CEO of British Water, conference chair Dr Fabio Bacci opened the conference by encouraging companies to collaborate to address micropollutants before handing over to Marcus Rink, Chief Inspector of the Drinking Water Inspectorate for the keynote address.

“While we have the best drinking water quality ever, public confidence is becoming lower. This is a real problem because people may choose to go to other sources such as bottled water,” said Rink. “Part of the issue is that we are better able to take analytical measurements - for example of the level of micropollutants in water- which means the public has even greater expectation in terms of water quality. Protecting public health and putting water quality first requires effective and proportionate regulation.

To tackle micropollutants we need to consider the research and the existing infrastructure and particularly in regard to micropollutants it is difficult to disconnect waste from drinking water.”

Rink went on to explain that to effectively tackle micropollutants in the UK and globally, continuous research and innovation efforts and investments are needed to develop advanced and resilient treatment and monitoring solutions, to enable cost-effective management of micropollutants and to better integrate circular systems for water and sludge reuse, and recovery of resources.

Micropollutants pose a huge challenge for operators in both drinking water and wastewater. With increasing evidence of the environmental and health impacts of micropollutants entering our water sources and drinking water – the pressure is on for the water sector to respond quickly and robustly.

To support the sector in rising to these challenges, the conference invited speakers with cross-sector expertise to discuss trends, interventions, and innovations to help the sector and supply chain tackle the issue.

Speakers included Sharon Pfleger from the NHS who spoke about source management of pharmaceutical emissions and Phillipe Sauvignet from Veolia who shared information on how climate change is impacting levels of micropollutants.