The new Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) received favourable views among delegates at a WRc event yesterday, but there were minor reservations from the supply chain about engagement from the water companies.

The ETV is a new tool to help innovative environmental technologies reach the market. Under ETV, performance claims by manufacturers about new technologies can be verified by qualified, independent third parties called ‘Verification Bodies.’

The WRc is one of only two UK organisations that are qualified as ‘Verification Bodies’ – the other is the National Physical Laboratory.

A three-year pilot of the initiative is currently underway as an action under the European Union Eco-innovation Action Plan High Working Level Group. The pilot is steered by a group of 7 EU member states (Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Poland and UK) with 4 observers (Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Slovakia).

The aim of the ETV is to stimulate innovation in environmental industries by giving novel, innovative technologies developed by SMEs a chance to penetrate the market. ETV verification could help convince customers and investors that their money will be well spent on the particular technology.

So far, the ETV covers three technology areas: water, resource/waste management, and energy, however depending on the results of the pilot, this is hoped to be extended to other areas, such as healthcare.

When the debate on benefits and shortfalls of the scheme was opened to the floor, some interesting themes occurred.

Representatives from the supply chain generally saw ETV as a significant benefit and said it had been calling for this kind of independent verification process.

However, there were concerns about the cost of going through the process, estimated at about £40,000, which would ultimately fall on a company. Although initial funding for the scheme was welcomed, questions were raised about what happened when the funding ended. Despite this, there were calls for the supply chain to recognise the value that the process could bring to it, and therefore the cost would be less of an issue.

A recurring theme throughout the day was in what regard the ETV was held in by the water companies. The supply chain was concerned about how well the ETV standard would be viewed by end users in an industry e.g. the water companies.

WRc staff said that the High Working Level Group was particularly keen to engage with the end-users and sell the scheme to them.  Representatives from water companies at the event said the ETV will definitely help as utilities have been badly let down in the past by false performance claims.

Although the water companies will undoubtedly still want to test products presented to them, it was agreed that ETV accreditation would scale down the need for this, though with each water company operating in different environmental conditions, the need for in-house testing would still be pertinent.

Implications for the procurement process were also raised, such as how ETV accreditation would be factored into tendering contracts. There were calls for a database of ETV-approved companies, and it is anticipated that final verifications will be published on the European Commission website at a later date. When the issue of commercially sensitive information being provided by companies arose, it was suggested that the parameters for verification would have to be adjusted to reflect a company’s concerns. This could put them at a disadvantage when going to end-users, but would keep their technology’s benefits secret from competitors.

Another water company representative said that ETV must be vigorously marketed and awareness raised, while also pressing for the Environment Agency to support the process. Furthermore, it was argued that the ETV concept must also be taken to water industry regulator Ofwat, who must be fully brought into the discussion.

Overall, ETV was seen as a positive step towards bringing new, innovative technologies to market, but the dialogue between the Working Group, the supply chain, end-users and even the regulators in the coming months will be of much interest to each of the water, waste and energy industries as a whole.

For more information on the Environmental Technology Verification, see here