Water & Wastewater Treatment

www.wwtonline.co.uk | WWT | MAY 2015 | 27 In the know Engineers at the University of Sheffield have success- fully used tampons to iden- tify where wastewater from baths, washing machines, sinks and showers is pollut- ing rivers and streams. The natural, untreated cotton in tampons read- ily absorbs chemicals com- monly used in toilet paper, laundry detergents and shampoos. These chemicals, known as optical brighten- ers, are used to enhance whites and brighten colours and show up under ultravio- let (UV) light. Using a mixture of labo- ratory tests and field trials, a team from the university's Faculty of Engineering has shown that when tampons are suspended in water contaminated by even very small amounts of detergents or sewage, they will pick up optical brighteners and glow under UV light. Professor David Lerner, who led the study, said: "More than a million homes have their wastewater in- correctly connected into the surface water network, which means their sewage RESEARCH ROUND UP Fertiliser project could bring down phosphorus levels A new sustainable fertiliser product being developed by scientists could improve catchment management of phosphorus and help water companies meet EU environ- mental legislation. Scientists at environmen- tal consultancy Aqua Enviro are now working together with Lancaster University on Tampons used to detect pollution in Yorkshire study is being discharged into a river, rather than going to a treatment plant. Unfor- tunately, it's very difficult to detect where this is hap- pening, as the discharge is intermittent, can't always be seen with the naked eye and existing tests are complex and expensive. "The main difficulty with detecting sewage pollution by the tampon test. When a tampon was dipped for just five seconds into a solution containing 0.01ml of deter- gent per litre of water – more than 300 times more dilute than would be expected in a surface water pipe – the optical brighteners could be identified immediately and continued to be visible for the next 30 days. The technique was tri- alled in the field by sus- pending tampons for three days in 16 surface water outlets running into streams and rivers in Sheffield and then testing them under UV light. Nine glowed, confirm- ing the presence of optical brighteners, and therefore sewage pollution. With the help of York- shire Water, the team fol- lowed the pipe network back from four of the nine polluted outlets identified, dipping a tampon in at each manhole to see where the sewage entered the system. They successfully iso- lated the sections of each network where the sewage originated, narrowing down the households that would need to be inspected. Professor Lerner now hopes to trial the scheme on a larger scale to identify all sources of sewage in the Bradford Beck, which runs through Bradford. wwtonline.co.uk ● 29 Skilling up: rope access ● 33 Getting to grips: electrofusion jointing ● 37 Technically speaking: drainage modelling ● 40 Nuts & Bolts: products, solutions and services a three year £850k Natural Environment Research Coun- cil (NERC) project to develop sustainable fertiliser prod- ucts to help reduce phospho- rus levels. The products being de- veloped have the potential to provide a high quality, slow phosphorus release bio-ferti- liser, reducing run-off associ- ated with farm yard manures and chemical fertiliser. The project, carried out in collaboration with Stopford Energy and the James Hutton Institute, will use calcium- rich wastes derived from re- newable energy generation to supplement organic mate- rial currently going to agri- cultural land. Improving the catchment management of nutrients, in particular phosphorus, whilst enhancing the value of sewage sludge biosolids could provide an opportu- nity for UK water companies, researchers believe. RISING UP Emma FitzGerald has been appointed managing director of Severn Trent Water's Wholesale Operations, taking effect from July 1st. Fitzgerald is currently CEO of Na- tional Grid's Gas Distribution division. Prior to joining National Grid, FitzGer- ald held senior technical, strategic and operational roles with Shell for more than 20 years. WAGO Ltd has appointed Tony Hoyle as its new Managing Director for UK and Ireland. Hoyle, formerly Measure- ment Products General Manager (UK and Ireland) at ABB, succeeds Gordon Smith, who has announced his retire- ment. Smith will work with Hoyle in a joint management capacity until the middle of 2015. Engineering and construction man- agement contractor Imtech Water, Waste and Energy has appointed Jeff Alchin as senior operations manager. Alchin was previously Galliford Try's construction manager in Southern Water throughout AMP 3 and 4. Nick Salmon is the new chairman of South East Water following the retire- ment of Gordon Maxwell. Salmon, currently senior independent director of Elementis and a non-executive director at Interserve and Acal, has extensive experience in the water industry following nine years as a non- executive director at United Utilities. Smart pressure management technology company i2O Water has announced the appointment of Joel Hagan as its new CEO. He was the founder and former chief executive of ONZO, an electrical consultant to the electricity sector. 19 May WWT Wastewater Infrastructure & Networks Conference, Birmingham. 21 May Inside Government Forum on Flooding, London 20 May WWT Wales Water Conference, Cardiff. 17 June British Water Annual Lunch, London. COMING UP by searching for optical brighteners is finding cotton that does not already con- tain these chemicals. That's why tampons, being explic- itly untreated, provide such a neat solution. Our new method may be unconven- tional – but it's cheap and it works." Funded through the En- gineering and Physical Sci- ences Research Council, the study used laboratory trials to determine how much de- tergent would need to be in the water to be picked up Thamse Water - London SPIRAC ® Live Bottom Silo System STORAGE AND SLUDGE SOLUTIONS THAT WORK. RELIABLE. TRUSTED. COST EFFECTIVE. SLUDGE HANDLING Sliding Frame/Live Bottom Silos Truck Receival Bunkers Closed Container System SPIROTAINER ® SCREENING SOLUTIONS Washer and Dewaterer SPIROWASH ® Compactor and Dewaterer SPIROPRESS ® Solids Removal & Dewatering SPIROGUARD ® Closed Container System SPIROTAINER ®

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