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UTILITY WEEK | 11TH - 17TH MARCH 2016 | 7 Interview B uried deep in the bowels of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) – the regulator tasked with ensuring the water from all customers' taps is, as chief inspector Marcus Rink emphasises, "clean, safe, and wholesome". In his first interview in the role, Rink is speaking to Utility Week. The chief inspector, who replaced Jeni Col- bourne last summer and stepped up to the top role aer more than 13 years with the DWI, reflects that his first seven months in charge have been hectic. So much so that he says: "I'm not sure I've quite got my feet under the table". This is understandable when you consider that his first day in the post coincided with the cryptosporidium outbreak that resulted in more than 300,000 United Utili- ties customers being issued with a boil water notice in August 2015. Alongside dealing with the fallout from that inci- dent, Rink is also preparing for an imminent review of the Drinking Water Directive, the impact of competition, the potential fracking revolution, and the chemical com- plexities presented by water trading. Despite this series of challenges, it is that memorable first day – Monday 3 August – that sticks in Rink's mind. He recalls that the phone rang and "suddenly, six weeks had gone". During that month and a half when the crypto hit the fan, Rink and his DWI colleagues were hard at work. "That does cause you to divert all your energy and effort into ensuring that as the event is going on there is a clear understanding of what is happening, what needs to be done, who needs to go where, and who needs to be dealt with – the companies, government and stakeholders." That work is still continuing because the DWI inves- tigation into the outbreak is ongoing. This is something Rink will not be drawn on. "My team is carrying out an investigation and I wouldn't like to pre-empt what they're doing and what their findings are," he says. The chief inspector adds that the report will only be published when the inspectors are "satisfied that have all the information". The cryptosporidium outbreak affected the Franklaw water treatment works in Preston, and addressing water quality issues at source is an area in which Rink is taking a keen interest. This attention to what goes into the water network is directly related to his responsibility for what comes out the other end – good quality water. "You've got to have good quality [water] to start with," he says, "and that ends up with a good quality for consumers, and at the end of the day that's what our interest is. If you pollute the water in the beginning and use expensive technology to remove it, that's a bit of an own goal." As this view suggests, and Rink goes on to confirm, he is an advocate of catchment management. This management of raw water quality is important because Rink sees that increasing pressure on water sup- plies, especially in the south and south east of England, will create a greater need for water trading in the near future – something which itself is far from easy. "It's a heavy product, it has different chemical make- ups and it has its challenges. We've seen some inter- esting challenges abroad that have had some water quality effects." Specifically, Rink mentions the water supply crisis in Flint, Michigan in the US. This began in April 2014 when the municipal supplier changed its water source from treated Detroit Water and Sewerage Department water, which comes from Lake Huron and the Detroit River, to the Flint River. The different chemistry of the Flint river water, which had not been subject to corrosion control treat- ment, resulted in a series of drinking water problems that culminated in lead contamination, and as many as 12,000 children suffered health problems. An outbreak of legionnaires' disease may also be linked to the change in water supply. Rink does not suggest that anything of this scale is likely to occur in England, but he says the event high- lights the problems that water trading could create, add-