Winter Chestnuts - Issue 10

We did it - Van Walt is accredited to ISO 9001

In the last issue of Water Chestnuts we promised to come clean on the results of our final audit for ISO 9001 accreditation. We have been very honest in our resistance to following this route, believing we had the necessary processes and procedures in place to deliver excellent customer service without having to 'buy-in' to the system. But we finally decided to 'bite the bullet' and get official verification that we were 'up to the mark'.

We are delighted to be able to report we passed with flying colours and can now proudly display the ISO logo on our website and documentation because we are officially ISO 9001 accredited.

So now it's up to you, as well as the whole team at Van Walt, to make sure we consistently meet and exceed your expectations, because now we've signed up to this there is no way we ever want to lose it!

Important information you NEED to know

This month we have sent out three important pieces of information to all our customers involved in environmental research. These were:

• Sampling for Volatiles – changes to standards
• Reporting Redox measurements – converting field readings to the recognised standard
• The safe use of sampling pumps – working with high voltages in the field

We have added Information Sheets on all these topics to our website but to summarise each:

It's all part of the service...

if you have bought equipment from us – site visits. More and more we are working with our customers to ensure that when you purchase a piece of equipment from us you get the skills, techniques, tips and expertise to use it immediately and effectively. That means for some of our specialist equipment like TDR soil moisture measuring systems, micro-drilling rigs and percussion drilling sets, part of the sales package includes onsite training and equipment familiarisation.

This area of our business is important and we believe what makes us unique in our industry. In the last few weeks members of Van Walt have been on site in Warwickshire, Peterborough, Hull, Swindon, Leeds, Leicester and Gravesend.

Can scientists really explain why British rain is different to the rain in France?

Well it seems they can because now, by filming one falling raindrop, researchers in France have explained why raindrops are an array of so many different sizes.

Scientists previously believed that raindrops collided with each other as they fell, and that these interactions produced a variety of drop sizes. But now we are told that there are "shortcomings" in this idea because raindrops are not likely to collide because they are so sparse.

Turbidity - it's important if you 'low flow purge', so that's why we've got what you need!

There is more and more literature, much from the United States relating to the measurement of turbidity in monitoring wells particularly as regards low flow purging and sampling. Turbidity could play an important role in water quality sampling and it may be that standards will follow.

We have found two interesting articles which may be of interest to you:

• http://www.epa.gov/tio/tsp/download/lwflw2a.pdf
• http://www.state.me.us/dep/rwm/publications/is-lfs.htm

The good news is that in view of these developments we now have available for rental turbidity meters which will take measurements as a single parameter instrument or as part of a cluster of electrodes to measure turbidity concurrently with the other more common parameters such as pH, EC, ORP, DO.

Coming soon to Van Walt – the new eco bailer

Van Walt will soon be stocking a new stainless steel re-useable bailer – the way forward for ecological sound sampling, time and time again.

Constructed of high grade stainless steel these bailers are strong, sink quickly, maintain sample integrity and come with a double valve option for depth discrete sampling.

Better value in the long term and better for the environment.

For more information visit our website

Tom and Vincent do Denver

At least once a year we believe it's important to visit our suppliers. Recently Tom and Vincent were in Denver to see Geotech Environmental Equipment Inc. – manufacturers and product developers of one of the most extensive lines of equipment in the environmental field.

Waste not, want not – finding alternative solutions for our rubbish

Burying rubbish in huge pits in the ground is no longer an option in the 21st Century and the UK needs to adopt a range of measures - some more popular than others - if we are going to get on top of our waste problem.

In Britain we still dump more rubbish into landfill than any other EU nation and our failure to invest in the more sustainable waste management practices based on the three Rs - re-use, recycle and recovery - has lead to our excessive dependence on landfill.

Soil stability made easy

That's exactly what our wet sieving apparatus does – it makes the process of investigating soil erosion and loss or stability, very easy and straightforward. And we've been hiding the real benefits of this equipment for too long!

Soil loss is one of the most important, yet probably least known, of todays environmental problems.

STOP PRESS

Just as we were going to press we have found we have just ONE space available on our Environmental Soil, Groundwater Research & Remediation Training Course on 30th September, 1st & 2nd October 2009.

To find out more and book your place click here.