Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water: Safeguarding the environment for a sustainable future
With strict environmental legislation and specific site permit requirements to comply with, effective odour monitoring is a vital component of a wastewater site manager’s responsibilities. Odour emissions from treatment plants can have a detrimental impact on the local community and - if not managed correctly - can result in considerable penalties. Skyview Systems was proud to work with Dwr Cymru Welsh Water, to ensure legal compliance and work towards their long-term Sustainable Strategy.
About Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water
Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water is the only not-for-profit UK water company of its kind. With 828 million litres of water supplied daily, Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water delivers drinking water and wastewater services to 1.4 million homes and businesses or 3 million people in most of Wales, Herefordshire and parts of Deeside.
Delivering sustainable and environmentally-responsible business services is a key driver for Skyview, as is working with likeminded clients. We welcomed the opportunity to support Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water in their environmental objectives including:
“Safeguarding the environment: … We will protect the environment within which we all live - taking a holistic view of environmental impact at a local, river basin and global level.”
“Responding to climate change: We will adapt our activities to deal with the potential consequences of climate change, while substantially mitigating our own ‘carbon footprint’ ...”
Environmental aims by 2035 include “a zero tolerance approach to pollution and service failure” and “at least a 50% cut in greenhouse gas emissions”.
The Challenge
As with all water companies, every aspect of Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water’s performance is tightly monitored by a host of regulating bodies and legal and site permit compliance is mandatory.
Weather monitoring for wastewater sites is vital to determine the potential for odour emissions, set odour control performance criteria, and develop odour mitigation measures.
Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water’s Odour Management Plan sets out that “emissions from the activities shall be free from odour at levels likely to cause pollution outside the site, as perceived by an authorised officer of Natural Resources Wales, unless the operator has used appropriate measures, including but not limited to, those specified in any approved odour management plan, to prevent or where that is not practicable to minimise the odour”.
Wind speed is a particularly significant parameter to assess, as it disperses both air and odour pollutants. Odour levels will be greatest under calm conditions and low wind speeds, when the movement of air is restricted. Accurate wind speed and direction monitoring can go a long way in estimating odour impacts, and provides essential data to respond to odour complaints.
Our Solution
With over 30 years’ experience in supplying weather monitoring solutions to the water industry, Skyview Systems is proud to have partnered with Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water since 2013.
Following an initial visit Welsh Water’s Hirwaun site to assess site-specific requirements, our expert engineers successfully installed a remote weather monitoring system, complete with computer data logger; GPRS data modem.
Data is then disseminated directly from the weather station to Skyview’s supporting online real-time weather monitoring portal, Skylink-pro, allowing staff to access weather data remotely, and make necessary site-management decisions, as well as effectively manage any complaints raised.
As per Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water’s Odour Management Plan, when investigating complaints it is recommended that “the investigation may include … the weather during the day of the complaint.”
With Skyview’s help, Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water can confidently state that “a weather station is located on site to predict potential impacts on identified receptors”.
