Laboratory services

Tender description

The UK Water Industry Research (UKWIR) Chemical Investigations Programme (CIP) is an ongoing research programme that addresses the likely implications of environmental legislation for the UK water industry. It has primarily been addressing the consequences of legislation relating to trace substances in the water environment. It is coordinated by UKWIR as a collaborative programme involving the 10 water companies in England and Wales. The third phase of the UKWIR Chemical Investigations Programme follows on from the second phase (CIP2) that has been scheduled to be completed in 2020. The main aims of CIP3 are to: (a) elucidate some of the findings of CIP2 with respect to contaminant sources, including a further look at trends; (b) address emerging concerns including antimicrobial resistance and micro plastics; (c) extend the scope of monitoring to groundwater, estuarine and coastal waters and bio solids; and (d) provide better understanding of new and existing approaches to wastewater treatment. As such, the future programme is more varied in scope than CIP2, having 16 different elements designated as Chem0 to Chem14a (these ‘Chem’ numbers refer to elements in the water industry national environment programme). Scientific services role in this project is to provide sampling and analytical services to aid the company’s participation in CIP3. As part of this project we are seeking a third party supplier of analytical services for determinands that scientific services do not have the capacity to test.