Water Science and Technology

During October Irish Water were inundated with complaints that the water being supplied in Dublin and county Wicklow tasted and smelt earthy and musty. Odour and taste problems  are a common complaint issue for water undertakers and it has been estimated that nearly all supplies will suffer from problems occasionally (Gray, 2008). Earthy/musty odours are the most common and are caused primarily by moulds and actinomycetes.  They tend to be found where water is left standing  in pipework but also when water becomes warm which is the possible cause this year in Dublin. These problems are generally arise due to plumbing issues or unlined boreholes, especially when the soil is waterlogged.  Blue-green algae is also a possible cause when water is supplied from reservoirs. Vartry Reservoir Wicklow, source RTE News, ( https://www.rte.ie/news/ )  The common compounds that fall into this tase/odour category include Geosmin, 2-methylisoborneol, 2-isopr...

  The most important factor in fieldwork is safety. Surface waters can often contain pathogens and those taking water or biological samples are particularly at risk from leptospirosis, cryptosporidiosis and, increasingly in Europe, giardiasis. Those working with surface waters should always wear protective rubber gloves, avoid hand-to-mouth contact (i.e. do not touch your face, smoke, eat or drink without thoroughly washing your hands first with soap and clean water), and all wounds, scratches and skin rashes must be protected from contact with water.  Many effluent discharges are chemically dangerous, as are spillages, so there is also a potential risk from chemical injury in some situations. Apart from pathogen transfer there is also a risk of injury or drowning when sampling.  Some general guidelines are given below to help avoid serious injury while carrying out a sampling programme:   (a)  Never work alone. One person should always remain on land or in...

  Book Review Ponds, Pools and Puddles  By Jeremy Biggs and Penny Williams (2024) 614 pp. Harper Collins ISBN 9780002200851 (Hardback).   New Naturalist Series No. 148 There are some books that are just lovely to own and this is one of them.  Beautifully produced in high quality paper, with clear colour illustrations throughout, this is a book that will be on your shelf for a lifetime and which will continue to pull you back for the odd twenty minutes browse.   Whether you are a citizen scientist, undergraduate, PhD student or an aging professor like me, it’s a must have if you are interested in hydrobiology. But like all the New Naturalist Library series if you are interested in science, the environment or just life, then you will find this a fascinating book.   The book is split into 12 stand-alone chapters and draws heavily on the National Pond Survey. Apart from a general introduction the book deals in depth with the evolution o...

  Great examples of river restoration projects by the Wild Trout Trust where they enhance floodplain connectivity and increase habitat diversity. Follow them on X @WildTroutTrust or their website  https://www.wildtrout.org Examples of all river restoration techniques can be seen from re-meandering river channels to create more habitat diversity and fish spawning areas: To protecting banks and reducing sediment loss:   And slowing the flow in upland streams and re-engaging the floodplain:   The Wild Trout Trust is a charity and welcomes donations from individuals and companies alike so that they can continue there work.  

Image of data centre by Rsparks 3. Reproduced under creative common licence. From an environmental perspective there is not a lot of good things to say about data centres and their rapid growth. Globally they are using about 2% of global electricity which is estimated to rise to as much as 5% by the end of the decade.  Of course the gigawatts of electricity being consumed represents gigatonnes of CO2 emissions. The lesser known fact is that they are consuming about 5 billion m 3  of water every year for cooling. A lot of suggestions have been made as to how this waste heat could be used in particular district heating and heat to electricity conversion. However, according to Diaz-Martin and Berquist (2025) two new innovative ideas are showing huge promise in terms of economic value and contributing to net zero.  These are direct air capture (DAC) of carbon dioxide which in theory could remove up to 1,000 megatonnes of CO 2  annually contributing to decarboni...

  Published last month (August, 2026) a unique report exploring the operational reasons for one of the largest wastewater treatment plant failures ever recorded – the Moa Point WWTP in Wellington New Zealand on the 4 th  February 2026.  Flooding severely damaged the main unit processes, in particular  the primary, secondary (biological) treatment and UV disinfection, and also its electrical and control systems. Six months later the plant is still only operational in preliminary mode, with the screened wastewater discharged via a 1.8 km long sea outfall. According to Gregory Walligora (@lordmacgreg  on X), who has been documenting this case, 70,000 m 3  of untreated wastewater has been discharged to sea each day since the 4 th  February, equivalent to 15 million m 3  to the end of August.       The key finding of the report is the lack of resilience in plant design and operation, although it also showed it was impossib...