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Environmental Monitoring

2005-02-28
With the stimulation of new growth in the UK market for environmental monitoring solutions, competition has inevitably become more acute, with many new players from overseas entering the arena. Although the user benefits from a wider choice of products, the risk potential becomes greater. Independent performance accreditation, therefore, becomes increasingly important for operators looking to optimize their pollution monitoring investment. They need to have confidence that their instruments will deliver guaranteed quality environmental data and they need the assurance that such guarantees will have the support of the regulators. Against this background and working in collaboration with GAMBICA (the association for the instrumentation control and automation industry in the UK), the environment agency recently launched its monitoring certification scheme (mcerts).

The scheme will initially focus on continuos emission monitoring (cem) systems for chimney stacks but will be expanded progressively to include ambient air quality and water quality monitoring. While portable equipment and off-line 'snap-shot' techniques will be included, there will be increasing emphasis placed on continuos on-line instruments.