Tackling Aquatic Contamination in Partnership with Southern Water

Dr Sarah Purnell, Principal Research Fellow within our Centre for Aquatic Environments, has recently published research conducted in collaboration with Southern Water. This research addressed the challenge of mapping and predicting metaldehyde ( a synthetic aldehyde pesticide used worldwide to remove molluscs by the agricultural sector) using existing water industry and publicly available datasets. Metaldehyde is a problem for the water industry because it is mobile and very stable in aquatic environments. It is also not efficiently removed with currently employed conventional treatment technologies. The research was the first collaboration with Southern Water and has resulted in a long term research partnership aiming to solve real world catchment problems.

The research has been featured in this autumns Institute of Water Magazine (https://library.myebook.com/InstituteofWaterMagazine/autumn-2020/2779/#page/42) and is published in the peer reviewed Water Research journal (https://research.brighton.ac.uk/en/publications/metaldehyde-prediction-by-integrating-existing-water-industry-dat; https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S004313542030590X).”