42 Water/Wastewater 200th The 200th MCERTS Product Conformity Certificate Issued MCERTS certificate has been recently awarded to Hach Lange Ltd for the Hach BioTector B7000 TOC Analyser.


The certificate, issued by CSA-Sira Certification and officially awarded to Hach Lange by Paul Wiggins of the Environment Agency, marks a significant milestone in the development of MCERTS, with the 200 MCERTS certificates issued to date covering measuring systems for air and water emissions, as well as environmental data acquisition software.


From a strategic perspective Matthew Dillon, UK & Ireland Sales Director at HACH LANGE said, “One of our key goals is to ensure that our customers are able to generate the highest quality data and we see the MCERTS scheme as an important contributor to that goal. At HACH LANGE we aim to offer the widest range of MCERTS products on the market; we already have a good number of certificates and we currently have a variety of products undergoing MCERTS evaluation. These include the SC1000 Digital Controller with sensors for pH, dissolved oxygen, ammonium and turbidity, and portable devices such as the HQD range of electrochemical instruments for pH, conductivity and dissolved oxygen.”


In the past, the Environment Agency conducted a large amount of industrial environmental monitoring, but in recent years this responsibility has shifted to the process operators themselves, and the MCERTS scheme is helping to ensure that the quality of monitoring remains high. Nevertheless, Matthew Dillon, commented, “As a manufacturer we invest heavily in the development of instruments and analysers that are robust, reliable, accurate and simple to use. However, it is extremely important that the recommended maintenance and calibration procedures are followed assiduously (and our service team can help with that, if necessary) because failure to do so would threaten the quality of data and would not be acceptable to the Agency. To further support the quality of monitoring, HACH LANGE regularly runs training workshops and can provide personal competence training for key staff so that users are able to obtain optimal performance from their HACH LANGE instruments.”


The Environment Agency’s MCERTS scheme, operated by CSA-Sira, has been a success due to a number of factors including support from industry and manufacturers of monitoring equipment. It provides a framework for process operators and the regulator to work within, and a clear benchmark of acceptability for monitoring data.


Paul Wiggins, Environment Agency, commented “A contributor to the success of MCERTS is the flexibility that the scheme allows. A certification committee is assigned to each project, ensuring the evidence submitted by the manufacturer is technically robust. This route allows for the use of existing test data and for in-house data to be used when witnessed and verified by CSA-Sira. Field trials can also be conducted on existing installations reducing timescales and cost.”


The issue of the 200th MCERTS certificate comes less than 10 years


since the first certificate for water monitoring equipment was awarded to Aquamatic Ltd, a provider of Automatic Wastewater


Samplers. Jeremy Smith, MD of Aquamatic, commented “In 2003, following discussions with Sira and EA we decided to attempt to certify one model from our portable sampler range to the ‘all new’ MCERTS standard for Wastewater Samplers. Although at that time no other manufacturer had achieved this standard, we saw that it would be a great indication to our existing and future customers that they would be using equipment which met the requirements of their enforcement authority. As history now shows, this was a worthwhile endeavour and since then, as an indication of our belief in this standard, the whole Aquamatic sampler range has been MCERTified. Now in 2012, with this 200th Certificate, it is a great to see that MCERTS is going from strength to strength and has become virtually an industry standard (and often a mandatory requirement) on all new installations throughout the UK Environment Agency’s territory”.


Looking to the future, the development of MCERTS is set to continue. A CEN Water group has been established in the UK, comprising of a mixture of interested parties including manufacturers and process operators. With this support and a great deal of effort from CEN TC 230 WG4, the current MCERTS performance standards for water samplers and online and portable monitoring analysers are being made into European Standards.


The publication of European standards in this area will benefit all stakeholders involved. It will eliminate the need for repeat testing and approvals across Europe, provide commercial benefits and improved marketing opportunities for manufacturers of equipment and facilitate increased acceptance of equipment that meet these new Standards by European regulatory authorities.


The first MCERTS performance standard was published nearly 15 years ago. The considerable development of MCERTS since this point can be seen below.


2012 2011


2009 2008


2007 2005 2004


2003


2000 1998


200th MCERTS Product Conformity Certificate issued MCERTS standard for Radioanalytical testing of Environmental & waste waters


3500 certificates issued to water utility sites and 300 certificates issued to industrial sites under the Self Monitoring of Effluent Flow scheme


Operator Monitoring Assessment (V3) for Air & Water


Performance standard for Environmental Data Management Software Performance standard for Sampling and Chemical Testing of Water MCERTS Personnel - 1000th person registered on scheme


EN15267-3 standard for Continuous Emission Monitoring Systems MCERTS Personnel - 500th person registered on scheme


Self Monitoring of Effluent Flow Scheme launched Performance standard for Continuous Ambient Air Monitoring Systems (CAMS)


Performance standards for Continuous Water Monitoring Systems – Automatic water samplers, online analysers & flowmeters MCERTS standard for Chemical Testing of Soil


MCERTS Personnel Scheme launched for Manual Stack Monitoring First MCERTS Standard published; Performance standard for Continuous Emission Monitoring Systems (CEMS) Reader Reply Card No. 213


Paul Wiggins, Environment Agency (right) presenting the 200th certificate to Matthew Dillon, Hach Lange Ltd (left) July 2012


All MCERTS standards are freely downloadable from www.mcerts.net


CSA-Sira; Tel: Emily Jarvis +44 (0)1244 670 920 Email: info@siracertification.com Web: www.siraenvironmental.com


Footnote: If you are a manufacturer of MCERTS equipment and would like CSA-Sira to feature your product range and the impact MCERTS certification has had to your organisation, please contact CSA-Sira at info@siracertification.com


Emily Jarvis, Environmental Project Manager Tel: +44 (0)1244 670 900


Email: info@siracertification.com Web:www.siraenvironmental.com


Products Keeping Athletes Safe at Eton Manor


A series of Lovibond (UK) CheckITDirect 6in1’s was selected to monitor the purity of the water at Eton Manor throughout this summer. The photometers were selected and put to good use over the summer, analysing the cleanliness of the water and ensuring pristine venues of the Synchronised Swimming Pool, the Water Polo Pool and 3 Training Pools,. The Lovibond photometers, measuring Chlorine, pH, Total Alkalinity, Calcium Hardness, Bromine and Cyanuric Acid were chosen for their ease of use yet unquestionable accuracy in results, keeping the athletes safe and healthy throughout the events.


Reader Reply Card No. Reader Reply Card No. 214 IET September / October 2012 www.envirotech-online.com 215


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