New Concawe web-based water use/effluent quality survey

A new survey aims to address EU initiatives on the sustainable use of water resources. In recent years the development and implementation of EU legislation, including the Water Framework Directive, the Industrial Emissions Directive, the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register Regulation and REACH, has led to a growing need for data on refining sector water use and effluent quality. In particular, additional data on water use and consumption is needed to address legislative initiatives under the 2012 Blueprint to Safeguard Europe’s Water Resources and the EU initiative on the circular economy.

To address these challenges, the Concawe refinery effluent special task force has developed a new web-based data collection system to streamline data capture, provide sites with an immediate overview of their water use, and expedite the process of data analysis and reporting. This article explains the design concept behind the new web-based survey and provides an introduction to some of its key features.