Water Quality Scientist turned Inspector at the DWI By Krishna Morker
I learned of the DWI secondment process during our Scientist’s team meeting in York. Being fairly new to the role of Scientist, it was the first time I had witnessed the extreme operational nature of my team’s role, in that upon arrival, a colleague was immediately dispatched to provide scientific support at a WTW in the South of Yorkshire, a good two hours’ drive away. Once my colleague was dispatched, the agenda items ensued, with topical and vibrant discussion by all. We were then joined by our Manager of Water Quality, who presented to the team the new work streams undertaken by the Business to improve our performance and relationship with the Drinking Water Inspectorate. This included the possibility for one of my team to spend 6 months seconded to the Inspectorate at their offices in London. I remember thinking what a fantastic opportunity for a young scientist carving out a career in the Water Industry and in that moment, I knew that I wanted that young scientist to be me. Despite being in the team for less than six months, I had strong scientific and technical credentials; A degree in biology, a PhD in plant molecular biology, a post-doc in plant defence responses and published research papers. I had followed this with two years working as a technician in the Developer Services Team at Yorkshire Water, completing a HNC in Civil Engineering whilst carrying out the day job of assessing new development sewerage designs for adoption under Sections 104 and 102 of the Water Industry Act, 1991. And now, as a Water Quality Scientist, this would be a chance like no other. An opportunity to see how the regulator works and to understand their requirements and needs for shaping Yorkshire Water’s working relationship with them. I showed my interest (I couldn’t hide it!) and was lucky enough to be selected for the process. The first Yorkshire Water Secondee to participate in the process and the first Secondee to enter the scheme who was not from Anglian Water. I had a lot to live up to. The secondment process was well underway at the Inspectorate with two secondees due to complete their secondments and two secondees due to replace those that were finishing. I was effectively the 5th Secondee to participate and was given a provisional date of Summer 2014, pending satisfactory completion of paperwork and police criminal checks by DEFRA. As my start date drew closer, I was preparing for the secondment by spending the majority of my time on site carrying out process investigations and company WTW audits. I completed a three and a twenty day investigation report for a notified discolouration
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introduction of the Chartered Scientist title, which I have commenced my application for and my imminent move to the Inspectorate, I couldn’t think of a more perfect time to join. My first day at the DWI was spent gaining access to the IT systems with the new laptop I had been provided with for the duration of my work period and meeting the Inspectors and teams in the office. I spent the majority of the day with my line manager, Principal Inspector Keith Smith, discussing the sorts of work I wanted to be involved with during the secondment, the three week induction process that I was due to commence and the opportunity to attend a company audit within the next few days; my diary was very quickly filling up! IoW South East Area’s visit to the Thames Barrier event, which was a thrilling experience; it allowed me to gain first-hand experience of the processes that Yorkshire Water undertake in response to an event and the numerous individuals and teams that are involved in incident review meetings and investigations to supply relevant data, figures, maps and information required to write both reports issued to the Inspectorate; all the while having a clock ticking in the background with the deadline in sight. I had been familiarising myself with The Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 2000 (as amended), which resulted in many random “What is Regulation 9?” style questions being thrown my way at every opportunity by my Managers and colleagues. I moved down to London the weekend prior to my start date and had begun to familiarise myself with a far more fast-paced way of life. My commute to work was less than an hour door to door on the District line and I was ready to go. I decided to join the Institute of Water (IoW) just before I moved to London and became a member of the South East Area to take full advantage of my new location. Having previously won a place sponsored by GA Valves, to the IoW Annual Conference in London (2012), I had previous knowledge of the Institute and had been looking to become a member for some time. With the
I was lucky that when I began my secondment, I had a short overlap period with Ray Butler and Amy Ryan from Anglian Water, who were in their final months of the secondment and as they left another of their colleagues from Anglian Water, Kara Sadler commenced her secondment. My secondment also coincided with the starting dates of six new Inspectors; Steve Youell, Simon Benton, Mike Turrell, Guy Franklin, Caroline Knight and Tim Williams. It was a really vibrant and lively time to be in the office, with lots of activities, events, meetings and training sessions occurring. Any preconceptions that I had about the DWI evaporated within seconds. I knew that this was going to be a fantastic six months. A large part of this feeling of settlement, was due to the interactions that I had with my new colleagues, who were welcoming, friendly and ever so helpful and with Steve Youell being a committee member of the IoW South East Area, I was certainly more informed about IoW events and socials occurring in the Capital. During my initial three week induction, I spent time with various Inspectors and Principal Inspectors who provided an introduction to the main functions and core work streams of the Inspectorate. These areas included Compliance, Events & Complaints, Regulation 31, Media & Communications, Private Water Supplies, the Data Management Unit and the Business Performance Unit. Within my first three weeks I had a vast array of interesting work to be assessing from a wealth