A few years ago Defra funded a project to study the impact of intermittent discharges on shellfish. UKWIR supported and managed the project which concluded that, on balance, the Environment Agency's policy for intermittent discharges in the vicinity of shellfish beds was broadly appropriate.
The faecal coliform standard in the guideline standard for shellfish waters (Shellfish Waters Directive (2006/113/EC)) is still proving difficult to achieve. The Environment Agency has spent considerable sums on investigations to find the sources of bacteria pollution and water companies have included various schemes, at a projected total cost of £125 - £225m in their business plans for 2010/2015, to help tackle the problem.
Whilst the earlier project dealt with acute pollution events, there remains uncertainty of those factors which control the microbiological burden in shellfish when exposed for prolonged periods to moderate levels of pollution. Defra has therefore launched a 6-month study to better understand the relationship between chronic microbial pollution in the water column and the burden in shellfish flesh. The project (WT0923) - details of which with full tendering information are available from the Defra website - will investigate the response of commercially significant shellfish to a range of chronic exposure scenarios. Tenders need to be submitted by 22 September 2010.
As previously, UKWIR will be supporting the project with Ted Thairs (tedthairs@sky.com) as Project Manager.
