ADAS Environmental Consultants have delivered the diffuse pollution element of the Thames Water Drinking Water Safety Plan (DWSP). Using unique datasets, an approach was developed which combined the likelihood of pollutants entering the water supply with the potential impact of that pollutant.
DWSPs are a statutory requirement for submission to the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) and are set out in guidelines created by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The overall aim of DWSPs is to ensure the safe supply of drinking water to the consumer, taking a proactive, risk based approach to supply management.
Diffuse pollutants from agriculture can have a significant impact on raw water quality in a catchment. ADAS and Thames Water developed methodologies to assess the level of risk posed by pesticides, nutrients and pathogens from diffuse sources to ground and surface water abstraction points within the Thames catchment.
The methodology calculated the overall risk (Hazard Risk) through combining two different factors: Likelihood Score (the likelihood of the pollutant entering the supply) and Consequence Score (the impact of the polluta...
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