U.K. water and wastewater utility chooses spectrometers for quality tests

Emission spectrometers perform 500,000+ tests annually of drinking water, treated wastewater, says Thermo Fisher Scientific. Link to related reading.

By Control Engineering Staff

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Thames Water , the U.K.’s largest water and wastewater services provider has chosen the Thermo Fisher Scientific iCAP 6000 Series ICP emission spectrometer for the detection and quantification of trace elements in water samples.

Thames Water carries out over half a million water quality tests each year to ensure the quality of its drinking water and environmental compliance of treated wastewater. With such a high analytical throughput, the company requires reliable analytical instrumentation for its routine analyses. The iCAP 6000 Series helps Thames Water measure the trace element content of potable water, ensuring that it complies with U.K. regulations.

Thames Water offers extended analytical capabilities in microbiology, organic and inorganic chemistry, materials testing, and metals analysis. The company is independently regulated by the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) which monitors and enforces regulations on behalf of the secretary of state for the U.K. Department of Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). The DWI imposes stringent standards on laboratories, with more than 50 parameters that are used to assess the quality of drinking water.

As part of a larger move to centralized laboratory testing, Thames Water purchased three iCAP 6000 Series instruments. One very practical consideration that the company found particularly useful is the analyzer’s footprint. "The initial decision to purchase the iCAP was based on its size,” says Graham Coe, analytical manager for Thames Water. “It is exceptionally space-efficient. Additionally it is very current in its technology, ergonomically friendly, and meets all our analytical requirements providing precise results quickly and efficiently."

Stability and drift resistance are advantages of the analyzer, Thermo Fisher says, important for a high throughput laboratory. With higher stability, more checks are within limits regulated by the DWI, resulting in fewer samples needing to be re-tested.

The iCAP 6000 is supported by iTEVA software, which allows full multi-tasking flexibility, enabling operators to edit the active sample lists while automated analytical operations are occurring. This keeps tests moving and supports fast, reliable, and simplified performance for routine analysis of its water samples.

Related reading
- Automating the San Francisco Bay Hydrodynamic Model
- Teledyne buying Isco to boost water monitoring instrumentation .

—Edited by Peter Welander, process industries editor, PWelander@cfemedia.com ,
Control Engineering Process Instrumentation & Sensors Monthly
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