Mott MacDonald to provide surface and groundwater quality modelling for Anglian Water, UK
Mott MacDonald has been appointed by Anglian Water Services in Cambridge to provide surface and groundwater quality modelling to help improve drinking water quality. The modelling is part of Anglian Water’s strategy to improve drinking water quality through catchment management, being implemented between 2010 and 2015. Mott MacDonald’s appointment follows on from a pilot study which the consultancy undertook for Anglian Water in 2010-11.
Catchment management is a method of influencing raw water quality at its source by managing land use practices on a catchment scale. This project involves modelling the behaviour of pesticides, particularly metaldehyde, at 13 water treatment works which are supplied from surface water sources such as rivers and reservoirs. It also involves modelling concentrations of nitrates and pesticides at seven groundwater sources, which is water located beneath the ground surface in pore spaces and in fractures of soil and rocks.
The consultancy will use the SWAT¹ model for surface water catchments and the WAVE², Modflow³ and MT3D4 models for groundwater areas. The objectives of the modelling are to produce a simulation of pesticide and nitrate concentrations at the treatment works for past, current and potential future conditions. The modelling will demonstrate the effects of no change to current conditions or alternatively large scale changes in land use and/or application of pesticides and fertilisers.
Project director Jane Dottridge said: “Mott MacDonald has significant expertise in both catchment management and diffuse pollution, which are very topical as regulators and water companies have to comply with the Water Framework Directive5. Diffuse pollution is the most difficult aspect of compliance as it refers to pollution covering a large area without one single defined source and is often associated with land use practices. Catchment management could be a sustainable, environmentally friendly and low carbon impact solution to improving water quality as opposed to building new water treatment plants. This may have a significant impact both in construction and operation through use of chemicals and energy.”
Mott MacDonald’s commission is due to be completed early 2015.
Ends
Notes for editors
1) SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) is a river basin scale model developed to quantify the impact of land management practices in large, complex watersheds.
2) The WAVE model (Water and Agrochemicals in the soil, crop and Vadose Environment) simulates the behaviour of water and agrochemicals in the soil and unsaturated zone.
3) MODFLOW is a three-dimensional model of groundwater flow and coupled groundwater/surface-water systems.
4) MT3D is a comprehensive three-dimensional numerical model for simulating solute transport in groundwater.
5) The Water Framework Directive is a European Union directive which commits European Union member states to achieve good qualitative and quantitative status of all water bodies by 2015.
Media Enquiries:
Tom Smith
44 (0) 20 8774 2205
tom.smith@mottmac.com
Christina de Burgh-Milne
44 (0) 20 8774 3639
christina.deburgh-milne@mottmac.com
Lee Lodge
44 (0) 20 8774 2040
lee.lodge@mottmac.com
About Mott MacDonald
Mott MacDonald is a global management, engineering and development consultancy with more than 14,000 staff, £1 billion revenue and work in 140 countries for the public and private sectors. The employee-owned company is ranked 13th in the 2011 Sunday Times 25 Best Big Companies to Work For survey and was awarded Engineering Consultant of the Year at the 2011 Building Awards. Mott MacDonald’s core business sectors cover buildings, transport, energy, water, environment, health, education, industry, oil and gas, communications and international development.
More information can be found at http://www.mottmac.com/
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