project

Breaking Barriers down for Water Quality

Industrial problem substances are increasingly present in surface and water groundwater, posing a threat to public health through drinking water and food supplies, as well the health of nature, and therefore the economy. The Breaking Barriers down for Water Quality project examines how parties in the water chain can work together more effectively to safeguard water quality and reduce levels of industrial problem substances in indirect discharges. In a process of research by design, Environmental Service Midden- en West-Brabant, the Brabantse Delta water authority, the provincial authority of Noord-Brabant, municipal authorities, and Rijkswaterstaat Sea and Delta are discovering and strengthening integrated collaboration.

An integrated perspective of the challenge of industrial problem substances in direct or indirect discharges

Previous research in the context of the Water Technology TKI (‘Source to effect’) identified socio-administrative bottlenecks in ‘the approach to discharges’ and concluded that tackling industrial problem substances in direct or indirect discharges is difficult because, for example:

  1. companies that produce discharges, environmental services and water authorities are governed by policies from three different domains, namely ‘industrial substances’, ‘water quality management’ and ‘living environment management’, which, in practice, do not always go together, or actually clash
  2. there is fragmentation at the governance level: many parties have a responsibility or role in the safeguarding and management of water quality, where it is not always clear exactly how, and on the basis of which objectives, other parties act
  3. the arrival of the Environment Act has implications for permit procedures, monitoring and enforcement relating to direct or indirect discharges

One of the results of this research is a conceptual model for an integrated approach to industrial problem substances. A starting point is the targeted demarcation of the integrated water chain on the basis of the source-path-receptor principle. The next step is to identify the affected stakeholders and actors in this defined area, trace sources and monitor influent or effluent in smart ways. Stakeholders can then collectively interpret and assess the insights to arrive at integrated approaches to industrial problem substances.

Figure 1: Conceptual model showing a task-oriented and integrated strategy for the reduction of industrial problem substances from direct and indirect discharges. NTS stands for non-target screening.

A perspective for the ‘hydro-social area of industrial problem substances’ provides an insight into the vulnerable ecosystems and societal ecosystem services that may be affected negatively by the presence of industrial problem substances in discharges. It also makes clear which parties are part of a wastewater chain, and can or should act to achieve reductions in levels of industrial problem substances. This analysis reveals the importance of integrated cooperation in a specific region. There are opportunities for parties to achieve multiple goals simultaneously: water quality management, the protection of wastewater treatment plants (WWTP), the protection of drains systems, and the protection of the living environment, to name just some. Stakeholders all benefit from the reduction of levels of industrial problem substances and, collectively, they have more clout to achieve this reduction.

Figure 2: Visualisation of the hydro-social area for industrial problem substances from Bath WWTP

Making an integrated approach workable for indirect discharges in the hydro-social area of Bath

In the ‘Breaking Barriers down for Water Quality’ project, a design study is exploring the shape an integrated approach to industrial problem substances in indirect discharges could take in concrete terms (phase 2 in the conceptual model). The central questions in the research are:

  • Which action perspectives do stakeholders see if they jointly assess and interpret knowledge and insights about substances and sources?
  • Which activities can parties organise collectively as part of an integrated approach and which measures can parties then implement themselves in different parts of the wastewater chain?
  • How can the resources (knowledge, capacity and budgets) of different parties be shared and deployed to achieve shared goals?
  • How can parties strengthen collaboration in the long and short term?

Through the organisation of trainee days with interviews and observation at the Environmental Service Midden- en West-Brabant, the Brabantse Delta water authority, the provincial authority of Noord-Brabant, RWS Sea and Delta and two municipal authorities, data will be collected about the challenges and possibilities relating to action tackling industrial problem substances in indirect discharges for the hydro-social area of RWZI Bath.

In joint reflection and design sessions, there will be:

  • reflection about insights relating to the existing sources and industrial problem substances (result of the TKI-PPS Source to Effect) and challenges and possible courses of action (trainee days);
  • work on shaping a joint approach (strategy and method) for safeguarding water quality and reducing levels of industrial problem substances in indirect discharges.

Image 1: Kick-off session at which the civil servants involved thought about the existing relationships in the hydro-social area for industrial problem substances from the Bath WWTP

Towards a general approach to tackling indirect discharges

The lessons and insights from this research by design will be

  1. worked up into agreements about integrated collaboration (strategy and working method) between the parties and the implementation of measures in the Bath hydro-social area;
  2. generalised into an integrated approach for the reduction of industrial problem substances in indirect discharges that can also be used in other hydro-social areas.