AWE International | Issue 14
Air Emission Monitoring
The effects of the EU Directives are being felt by all involved in the majority of industry. One of the key elements of the directives is the requirement for quality monitoring data not only for compliance testing but also for calibration of continuous emission monitoring systems (CEMS).
Approaches to Water Monitoring and Modelling
The population in certain areas of England has grown rapidly in the last few decades. As a result, additional water will be needed to meet predicted levels of customer demand in the next 10 years in several parts of the region. This expanding population is also creating a larger energy demand. It is inevitable that conflicts will arise between the pressure exerted on fluvial systems to meet these water and energy needs and more stringent environmental protection afforded by the Water Framework Directive (WFD) requirements (WFD UK TAG, 2007).
Land Remediation Measurement
Molecular tools can provide lines of evidence for biological remediation There are 3.5 million suspected contaminated sites within the EU. The EU Soil Framework Directive will soon require member states to compile a national database of these sites, measure the contamination and put in place a national remediation strategy.
Recent Improvements in Chromatography
Improved instrumentation, greater sensitivity and faster analysis Chromatography is one of the main tools of the environmental analytical chemist in providing detailed information on hundreds of different organic compounds which may be present in the environment. A general introduction to chromatography was provided in this journal last year (Dec 06/Jan 07 issue), giving a description of the basic principles of chromatography and a number of different techniques available for use in the modern laboratory.
Source Tracing Techniques
Water movement and relative impact of pollution sources on water quality The Environment Agency (EA) defines tracers as follows: “Tracers are substances which may be used to deduce the direction, destination and velocity of water or other substances”. Source tracing is a technique that uses tracers to track the movement of water to determine the relative contribution of various sources on its composition at specific points. For example, a tracer might be used to determine if faecal pollution from an effluent discharge pipe is passing out to sea or returning to the coast and thereby impacting water quality on the nearby beaches.
Weather Monitoring [Mar 2008]
The successful use of sensors for objective weather measurement This article will give an overview of the most widely used meteorological sensors and their strengths and weaknesses. The word ‘sensors’ is here being used a little loosely and will sometimes include transducers, describing the conversion of the measured variable to another. There are innumerable sensor types in use and it is impossible to cover more than a fraction of them. This article does not go into detail concerning more elaborate measurements using optical sensors of parameters such as cloud or visibility nor does it deal with data logging or display, instead the focus is on the sensors commonly used in monitoring weather at or near the surface.
