Environmental Challenges Need Water Technology Innovation
Micropollutants are present in the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat. From pharmaceutical products to pesticides to hormone active pills, the removal of these contaminants at wastewater treatment plants pose increasing challenges to the water industry. An efficient way to fight the problem is to block the source or their travel routes.
At the IWA Leading Edge Conference on Water and Wastewater Technologies (LET) 2019, world renowned experts debate and present solutions to these emerging pollutants. “Micro pollutants range is from pharmaceuticals to pesticides and all do influence our water quality”, says Uwe Sollfran, President Hollinger AG. “The removal of these contaminants at wastewater treatment plants poses increasing challenges to the water industry.”
The role of water utilities is critical here. “The micro pollutants reach the wastewater facilities within the very large quantity of wastewater. If you want to treat the wastewater and remove the micro pollutant at utility level there is quite a significant investment to make,” states Lydia Whyatt, Resonance Asset Management Ltd. “Instead what you can do is to remove them before it hits the treatment plant. This will improve the efficiency in the wastewater treatment.”
The 16th IWA Leading Edge Conference on Water and Wastewater Technologies (LET) closed at the weekend, concluding that water technology innovations are most critical to find solutions for emerging challenges in the water sector and beyond. New critical water technology developments are emerging continuously and we all know about the importance to keep in exchange on latest research, to keep the momentum vibrant.
Bringing innovations, novel technology developments, and leading-edge applications from across the industry is key to our water future. Throughout the week there was a focus on implementation and action of water technology innovations for the emerging challenges the world faces.
Being the window to the world for water sector technology, the LET gathers international experts on water technology innovations for the water sector. “At the Leading Edge Conference we get technology to attract people from the business side perspective from commercialising products to implementing technology for developers, to display new opportunities for them,” states Ana Soares, Cranfield University.
Finding solutions to emerging contaminants such as microplastics and micro pollution or digitalisation of water was among the key issues discussed by the interdisciplinary participants, covering the full range of professions in the water sector from research to practice, from utilities to academia.
“What you see at this conference is the mixture of really good academics, the best academics in the world,” says Simon Parson, Scottish Water, “talking to people from utilities here and actually to people whose job it is to develop technology to make them fit and ready for the world.”