WATER QUALITY & POLLUTION CONTROL

Water Quality Scientist, Water Treatment Operator

The Sector
The occurrence and control of water pollution is a vital issue in almost all parts of the world, even in the remote Arctic and Antarctic regions. Water pollution can occur in all water bodies: groundwater, inland surface water, coastal and territorial waters. Addressing this issue properly ensures that our water resources are available in sufficient quality and quantity throughout the world to meet our current and future needs. The UK has established environmental water quality objectives and a comprehensive legislative framework over many years for monitoring and controlling water resources and minimising pollution impacts.  The two main sources of water pollutants are factory discharge and spill off from farm fertilizer and pesticides. The key issues in controlling and monitoring water pollution are locating the causes of pollution, setting quality standards and prevention.

Sector Profile
Although many people have duties which include the prevention and control of pollution as part of a wider role, there a number of people who work directly with the sector. These careers include environmental regulators who monitor possible pollution sites and prosecute polluters, laboratory/field technicians responsible for sampling and analysing water samples, researchers, business environment advisors and government positions.

Issues and Trends
Environmental legislation in the UK has traditionally been characterised by considerable flexibility with a preference for locally set, variable water quality standards. Elsewhere in Europe centrally set emission standards have been the norm. However, European directives have driven much of the recent UK environmental legislation including water pollution control. The next few years will see the setting of statutory water quality objectives for all inland surface waters, together with a more holistic and integrated approach to managing the UK’s water resources. The long-term aim of this is to achieve good water quality status in all water in the UK by 2015. Greater coordination of Government efforts in the UK is also needed to prevent more water pollution and achieve the 2015 goal.

Overseas, the huge challenge of delivering clean drinking water and sanitation to the world’s expanding urban and rural populations is increasingly focussing on protecting their scarce water resources from pollution. Opportunities to work overseas with voluntary organisations, commercial consultancies and aid organisations will continue to grow for practitioners with some experience.