Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | SEPTEMBER 2022 | 31 have oen been over-simplified, particularly in the mass media," Barden says. "The assumption is very much that if you add a storm overflow then water quality is going to be poor, but what we're actually finding through the data is that the quality is less impacted by storm overflows than by wider activities in the catchment. Some of that may be the continued operation of sew- age treatment works and some of it is very much down to responses elsewhere in the catchment due to rainfall and run-off from urban and diffuse areas." While this messaging is oen lost in translation, according to Barden, she explains that Wessex and UnifAI have beta tested an app on stakeholders local to War- leigh Weir to showcase near real-time bath- ing water quality, while also sharing lab data on Wessex's website. "This is very much our testbed – we'd like to roll this out," she says. "There are lots of other locations where people go swimming in rivers not knowing what the water quality is like." Such a rollout could open the door to further collaboration with the likes of Surf- ers against Sewage – already a widely used source of water quality information, accord- ing to Barden. On this front, she adds that work is already underway with The Rivers Trust, which recently polled its membership to gauge the river locations where they already go swimming and assess where else they would be interested in seeing designation. "We've got that list, and what we're looking to do is work with local authorities in those areas to see whether there's the opportunity to roll out this type of approach there," Barden says. "What we're keen to do is not necessarily encourage or champion bathing water des- ignation, but more be able to find locations where it's really appropriate for people to use the river for recreational purposes, and then to work with the relevant organisations to make sure that people can do that safely." Stuart Stone, editor, Utility Week Innovate Sureground TM for haul roads drives down carbon emissions to help meet your targets SAVING IN PROGRAMME TIME 50 % SAVING IN VEHICLE MOVEMENTS 66 % SAVING OF MATERIAL SENT TO LANDFILL 100 % SAVING IN CARBON EMISSIONS 67 % Soil Science are specialists in building cost-effective, low carbon, Haul Roads and Compounds for the construction industry. Sureground TM is our unique, reversible soil stabilisation solution, where all soil is retained on-site and used within the decommissioning process. It helps your project meet its emissions targets whilst saving you time and money. For the full story, visit our website, www.soilscienceltd.com or call 01344 741098 The statistics above are independently verified and from Hinkley Point, Mendip Hills, UK, for the client National Grid on behalf of Balfour Beatty. Area covered: 14,100m 2 Overall project savings = 30% COULD SAVE YOU: We are established specialist contractors with a proven track record and a unique offer designed to help the Construction Industry meet their carbon reduction targets. Email: info@soilscienceltd.com Soil Science Limited @SoilScienceLtd SoilScience-Utility-Week-Hinkley-halfpage-land-FINAL.indd 1 SoilScience-Utility-Week-Hinkley-halfpage-land-FINAL.indd 1 08/08/2022 10:26 08/08/2022 10:26

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