New water quality monitoring service
1 Nov 2011
The Environment Agency (EA) has created a new agency, called the National Water Quality Instrumentation Service (NWQIS), to improve the quality and efficiency of water quality monitoring in England and Wales.
NWQIS has a remit to deliver the field monitoring requirements of the EA. It will operate as part of the National Laboratory Service (NLS), and will also be available to other public and private sector organisations.
The new service will centralise the Agency’s water-quality instrumentation activities to deliver several important benefits, explains Chris Hunter, who has been appointed to manage the NWQIS.
There will, he said, be “greater commonality amongst both the instruments that we use and the procedures that we use for set up, calibration, operation and service. This will lower costs and improve data accuracy and repeatability.”
The EA, which is responsible for monitoring groundwater and surface waters, such as rivers, lakes and coastal waters, has historically managed its field instrumentation on a regional basis.
The Agency currently uses a wide range of instrumentation (as pictured), including hand-held water quality meters, logging multi-parameter ’sondes’, and complete water quality monitoring stations with communications capability to provide high-intensity, almost real-time data.
Prior to the formation of NWQIS, the Agency’s water quality instrumentation was purchased and operated by local offices. But now, under the co-ordination of Frances Houston, all water quality monitoring equipment is to be purchased and managed centrally.
An important goal is to reduce the variety of instruments being used, explains Houston: “Firstly, it simplifies the stocking of spares and accessories. Secondly, it provides greater availability of spare or replacement monitors, so that we can quickly replace units that are damaged or lost. Thirdly, it helps us to build a closer partnership with suppliers, which means that we are able to influence future product development, and finally, central control enables us to ensure that all staff utilise the most accurate and reliable instruments.”
*In recent years, the YSI 556 multi-parameter water quality monitor from YSI Hydrodata an EA framework partner has been the workhorse of the EA’s water monitoring teams. However, the Agency is now moving to the newer MCERTS-approved YSI Pro Plus multi-parameter water quality monitors and has commenced a full, capital replacement programme.
