Washing machine filter captures microplastic without the need for disposables

Bristol based microplastic technology company Matter is launching Gulp, "the first sustainable, long-lasting washing machine microfibre filter" on Kickstarter from 11 October. The firm develops...
UK Spill Association

Report sees trade body getting back on track

THE UK Spill Association returned to more normal levels of activity last year following a 2010 that was shaped by the Deepwater Horizon disaster. In...

Slurry spill results in £8,000 fine for farmer in Scotland

A renfrewshire farm partnership received a £8,000 fine from SEPA on 7 December, for pollution of the Locher Water on 18 March 2016. The...

New initiative aims to use Earth observation and geospatial data to detect sewage spills

Ordnance Survey is working with consultancy firm CGI to investigate the possibilities of using Earth observation data to detect sewage from space. Launched by...

Public debate on water pollution “oversimplified”, believes expert panel

The rise of citizen science is placing increasing pressure on water companies to improve their environmental performance and protect river and bathing water quality....

Cloud computing: Ohio derailment damage appraisal grapples with conflicting accounts

As details of its spilled cargo have come gradually to light, the Ohio train derailment has elicited “worst of all time” pronouncements, and a...

Dangers and opportunities of digital transformation explored at British Water Data Conference

The sixth British Water Data Conference, which took place on 3 November 2022, kicked off with a warning from keynote speaker Oliver Grieveson on...
Chemical spillage

Chemical spillage: Is your response reactive or proactive?

Paul Rast-Lindsell of the National Chemical Emergency Centre (NCEC) goes over some of the key considerations to be faced in the event of a...

Sponge soaks up and releases spilled oil

A new foam material developed at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois appears to offer a major advance in the effort to clean up oil...

Call to make London a ‘sponge city’

London will need to urgently become a ‘sponge city’ – a city better designed to absorb and hold rainwater – in order to ward...

$2.8 million awarded to research consortium studying impact of Deepwater Horizon oil spill

Environmental and civil engineering consultancy HR Wallingford is one of a team of six research institutions led by Florida State University (FSU) which has...

Sponges offer hope for affordable spill handling

RESEARCHERS at the Italian Institute of Technology in Genova have published a paper demonstrating that simple sponges made from polyurethane foam can be more...

Licence to spill? Legislative status of government’s new plans unclear

River conservation groups reacted with alarm to the news (on 29 August) that the government plans to ease restrictions on developers' need to ensure...
President Putin chairing a meeting about the fuel spill

Norilisk spill sees court

The first prosecutions have been brought in relation to a spill in Russia's Arctic region in May, which involved the release of over 20,000 tonnes of diesel into rivers and subsoil near the Siberian city of Norilisk.

Contaminant cornucopia

Monitoring projects that collect and analyze urban runoff samples have just begun to characterize the dizzying array of contaminants, including tire- and vehicle-derived chemicals, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), phosphorous, metals and many others, according to the American Chemical Society.

Wastewater analysis at Bolivian lithium deposit explores how to avoid repeating past environmental mistakes

A US group has conducted the first thorough chemical analysis of wastewater associated with mining the lithium brine at the Salar de Uyuni, in...

Leading the charge towards improved safety

Environmental protection specialist Darcy Spillcare says it has expanded and developed its Drizit Antistatic range. This anti-static product range is designed to absorb highly...

Are you prepared? Understanding the risks is crucial

Transport related spills can occur almost anywhere – in depots, at customers’ yards, from loads in transit and leaks from the vehicles themselves. Understanding...

Against the grain: What can be done about microplastics in soils and digestate?

Microplastics are everywhere: We know that much. But should we be worried? What can we do about it? Some of the speakers at Aqua Enviro's European Biosolids and Bioresources Conference, in late November, presented findings from a project aiming to understand the levels of this contaminant in compost and AD digestate. A change in the policy landscape seems imminent, as Envirotec found out.

Do or dye: Synthetic colours in wastewater pose a threat to food chains worldwide

The ecological and health threats of synthetic dyes entering wastewater systems have been detailed in a new study, which calls for new laws worldwide...