On the 9th and 10th of October this year at The NEC in Birmingham, WWEM 2024 will bring together suppliers, regulators, and researchers to advance collaboration in the water and wastewater monitoring sectors.
This will be WWEM’s biggest event yet in the show’s history, with the most exhibitors and the most expansive conference programme, and the organizer promises it to be an unparalleled opportunity to foster new connections, strengthen existing partnerships and glimpse the future of the industry.
Starting its life in 2005, WWEM has continually evolved over two decades into the leading water and wastewater monitoring event in the UK. With over 200 of the industry’s top suppliers gathered in one place, the organizer believes there is no better chance to compare products and source new instruments than through face-to-face interaction that can save months of outreach – to get a head start, take a look through the exhibitor list on the following page. Beyond the exhibition floor, the conference schedule is fully packed with over 100 hours of free technical workshops and presentations, delivered by regulators, accreditation bodies, standards committees, researchers, citizen scientists and technicians from industry, including many of the major water companies.
Conference sessions
Of the many different parallel sessions running at the conference, readers of Water Magazine may be most interested in the sessions on digitalisation, compliance, industry case studies and a dedicated session on monitoring for Section 82 of the Environment Act – but you can find the entire conference programme on the website:
In these rooms, with expert speakers from the Environment Agency, Anglian Water, United Utilities, Southwest Water, Thames Water, and The Rivers Trust (among many others), you will find talks and discussions filled with up-to-the-minute information and expert insight. Explore how new digital platforms can help water companies to better manage storm overflows and asset maintenance. Learn about the innovative initiatives seeking to address the skills deficit in the water industry. Harness artificial intelligence and machine learning to solve your big data challenges. Hear about the latest developments in telemetry, automation and cyber-security. Stay ahead of the regulations on flow, level, spills and storm monitoring, and stay compliant with regulations on pathogens, pollutants and emerging chemicals of concern, including phosphates, ammonia, and E. coli. See how today’s river water quality models are delivering insights for industry. From the theoretical and academic to the practical and commercial, WWEM 2024 aims to widen horizons and help the people stay competitive in this rapidly changing industry.
Presentations
At the Monitoring Innovations Forum, there will be a presentation on the myths and challenges of sampling groundwater for PFAS using fluoropolymer-based samplers, which will tackle head-on the question of whether fluoropolymer components in groundwater samplers are themselves a source of PFAS. Subtle hint: materials testing over the past several years has shown that most fluoropolymer materials do not leach PFAS into water samples, and field testing has shown that many existing sampling systems are not sources of PFAS. This presentation aims not only to tackle these and other misconceptions, but to offer both site operators and regulators some guidance on a path forward for PFAS sampling in groundwater. Elsewhere, a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the Institute of Measurement and Control’s recent attempts to develop a national flow standard and the potential benefits that such a standard could deliver for the sector. One of the more distinctive sessions will hand over the floor to any flow- and level-monitoring specialist who wants to join in, giving them a chance to share war stories and lessons learnt from their years of service.
Another interesting presentation will be delivered as a retrospective on what now appears to be a pretty pivotal five years in the water industry’s history, exploring the rise in public profile of swimming water quality since 2019, the formation of the Environment Act 2021, and the progress made on the Water Framework Directive’s goals.
There will be plenty of presentations on recent case studies to provide some practical ideas that can be implemented. A few speakers will detail novel experiments in getting to zero spills, including trials run by Severn Trent Water. Other talks will evaluate the use of digital twins to deliver Net Zero and to revolutionise predictive asset maintenance in the water industry. One researcher from the University of Sheffield will showcase outcomes from the Pipebots project, which attempted to develop autonomous robotic inspection for buried sewers and clean water pipes. Another discusses a trial using remote earth observation techniques, like satellite-based synthetic aperture radar (SAR), which locates leaks using backscatter signals from microwave exposure to identify wet soil and wastewater’s signature. Innovations in data handling will be on display, too, with a presentation on using customer consumption data to localise background leakage on Day 2.
Awards
To shine a light on some of the most important developments in the sector, awards will be handed out for the industry’s most innovative product and service, best partnership, as well as for achievements in smart network monitoring – and for the first time ever, visitors can vote for this year’s winners on the organiser’s website. Alongside these celebrations, the Sensors for Water Interest Group (SWIG) will be awarding the winner of their Early Career Researcher Poster Competition at WWEM 2024, bringing attention to the best new research and solutions, offering a completely unique opportunity to get a taste of what’s next for the sector. Each of the three finalists will deliver presentations on their projects and posters detailing their work will be displayed for visitors to read at any time at designated areas within the exhibition hall. All of these awards will be presented during WWEM 2024’s gala party, which will be held in the evening of the event’s first day (9th October) at the Vox Venue within the NEC Campus. Guests can continue the days’ conversations at a drinks reception and then, over a three-course dinner. To make sure that you don’t miss out, advanced booking of tickets via the organiser’s website is recommended.
WWEM 2024 promises to be the UK’s most important water and wastewater monitoring event since 2022. Whether you’re a laboratory technician, a process operator, an instrument user, an environmental manager, a regulator, a policymaker, a consultant or a researcher, WWEM 2024 should offer valuable insights and networking opportunities for everyone doing any sort of work in the sector. A celebration of industry excellence, a forum for the most pressing issues in water monitoring and the most extensive exhibition to date, don’t miss this exceptional opportunity to learn, network and be the first to know where the sector will go next.
Registration is now open and is absolutely free of charge.
All visitors to WWEM 2024 will have total access to the co-located event on air quality and emissions monitoring, AQE 2024. Just head to the website to get registered today for the environmental sector’s most unmissable events.
