Environmental monitoring has become a key focus for Water Utilities. Under new legislation, The Environment Act 2021, which became law in November 2021, Part 5 Section 82 of the legislation requires water utilities to continuously monitor the water quality of all storm overflow and sewage disposal works, that discharge into these waterways.
The regulation requires the measurement of dissolved oxygen, temperature, pH, turbidity and ammonia, and others specified in water across over 20,000 Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) and more than 7,000 sewage treatment works in England.
Xylem has the technology required to support the water utilities with this challenge. Large-scale, robust water quality data that can be trusted, are being collected from rivers and other water sources.
To effectively measure these parameters, water utilities require the latest digital multiparameter sondes such as the YSI EXO2S. These sondes are designed to work directly in the river with in-built anti-fouling to improve data quality whilst extending deployment times.
The sondes are connected to low power sensor gateways which push secure water quality data to the cloud every 15 minutes and uses AI logic to present the data including using a traffic light system based on the water quality parameters. Using these solutions together will enable water utilities to securely deploy water quality sondes with real-time alarms and cloud visualisation.
The Environment Act 2021 requires a step-change in the way water utilities monitor the water quality of storm overflow and sewage disposal works. This amount of data will allow us to digitize our river catchments, understanding and reacting to events, mitigate risks and provide a cleaner and healthier environment for all.
