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Meet Our BHUC 2022 Speakers

October 5, 2022

The time has come to meet our BHUC 2022 speakers!

Our renowned conference is well known for its expert selection of speakers, now in it’s 10^th year, this year is no different! A group of specialist individuals have been selected to bring our theme ‘Making the Invisible, visible’ to life, drawing on practical case studies, years of industry experience and an outstanding understanding of their subject areas.

Water professionals can expect to leave the day buzzing with newfound confidence, a greater knowledge of boreholes and private water supplies, and practical ways to understand and overcome the day-to-day challenges of working within the regulated water environment.

What to expect…

The day kicks off with our keynote speaker, Dr Mike Jones, who will set the tone for the day and build on the UN-Water’s theme ‘Making the invisible, visible’. Mike will promote the role of groundwater as a hidden resource and asset in the fight against climate change, exploring the parts that we all have to play in managing water resources effectively.

After which, Envireau Water’s very own Penny Jenkinson will dive into the science behind siting new borehole supplies, and the practical dos and don’ts for locating your next water supply! Our audience will then hear from Christian Bird from Terradat UK followed by David Hingley from European Geophysical Services. This geophysical-duo, who will explore the role of geophysical techniques for siting new boreholes without breaking ground, and how below ground geophysics can be used to investigate what’s going on inside existing ones.

The afternoon will then see two fantastic workshops, the first of which will be co-ordinated by Phil Merrin of Severn Trent Water, who will lead discussions about common borehole ‘myths’, using case studies from the water industry to demonstrate what can go wrong with boreholes, and how to avoid them going wrong in the first place! Our parallel workshop on Water Stewardship, run by Envireau Water in collaboration with Steve Brown from Central Solutions and Ben Davies from The Alliance for Water Stewardship, will be a hands-on practical session discussing what stewardship can offer to abstractors and the journey towards certification, with a focus on how to successfully undertake stakeholder engagement.

Then, as we approach the end of our brilliant day, Lois Leslie and Dr Fiona Palmer from the British Soft Drinks Association will bring the day to a close with our plenary session where there’s a final opportunity for our expert speakers to address the burning questions from the day!

Our flagship Borehole Users Conference returns to Aspects, the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire on the 3rd November. There's still time to book your delegate space!

Meet our Exhibitors:

Dr Mike Jones, Formally of Thames Water

Dr Mike Jones, our keynote speaker, is a hydrogeologist and water resources manager with over 30 years’ experience in consultancy and the water industry. He has directed investigation and development of major groundwater resource schemes, including managed aquifer recharge, covering feasibility assessment of future options for long term water resource management planning, through to development, licensing & operation to support public water supply. He has provided technical direction on the impact assessment of groundwater abstraction on water-dependent environments to support abstraction sustainability, as well as the risk-based impact assessment of infrastructure development on water resources and abstraction sources. Mike's wider experience also encompasses water resource systems analysis and water treatment works modelling to support asset investment and operational decision-making, including drought risk assessment and management.

Penny Jenkinson, Envireau Water

Penny is a Principal Hydrogeologist and completed her MSc in Hydrogeology at the University of Leeds following a BSc in Applied and Environmental Geology from the University of Leicester.

Penny joined Envireau Water in 2007 and has worked across a range of sectors including agriculture, quarrying, food & drink, and onshore oil and gas. She specialises in water resources hydrogeology which typically involves hydrogeological impact assessments, dewatering assessments, groundwater feasibility studies, abstraction licensing and environmental permitting, production borehole construction, and environmental monitoring and data analysis. She is particularly interested in the development and licensing of private water supplies.

Christian Bird, TerraDat UK

Christian is the Technical Manager at TerraDat (UK) Ltd, a Geophysical Contractor and consultancy based in Cardiff.

Christian studied Geology at Cardiff University before joining TerraDat in 2003 as a graduate geologist and field geophysicist. Two decades later, he is responsible for the technical output of the company and multiple areas of new research. As a geologist, he is particularly interested in pioneering 3D geophysics to visualise the hidden subsurface. When not looking into the earth, he can often be found trying to find difficult ways to climb up it!

David Hingley, European Geophysical Services

After graduating from Birmingham University with a BSc (Hons) in Geology, David spent two years in Australia as an Exploration Geologist project managing drilling, sampling, and field operations in Northwest Queensland. On his return, he worked as a Geotechnical Engineer before joining European Geophysical Services in 2015.

In 2019 David was appointed as Operations Manager and supports the logistical and operational planning of the business.

Phil Merrin, Severn Trent Water

Phil Merrin is a qualified hydrogeologist, with over 25 years’ experience in the water and environmental industry. Phil spent a few years at the British Geological Survey coordinating regional hydrogeological studies and also on overseas resource development projects in Ghana and Ethiopia. Phil then spent 19 years as Groundwater Manager for United Utilities, one of the UK’s largest water and sewerage companies. His role encompassed developing the groundwater asset base for the company and he personally designed 12 new borehole schemes for the company which were successfully deployed as new public water supply sources. Phil also instigated a programme of borehole rehabilitation / capital maintenance utilising both mechanical and chemical cleaning methods. He also oversaw the company water business plan submission for PR14 and developed the company’s options identification and appraisal programme for many regulatory water resource management plans.

Since joining Severn Trent Water in 2019, Phil has continued to develop his role, looking to influence new strategies for groundwater across the company working with cross functional teams to maintain and enhance the groundwater asset base

Lydia Yates, Severn Trent Water

Lydia Yates is a principal hydrogeologist at Severn Trent Water, with fourteen years’ experience working as a hydrogeologist in the UK. Lydia started her career in consultancy working in contaminated land, hydrogeological risk assessments and water quality risk, before moving into water resources, working for Severn Trent Water and later Nestle Waters UK on borehole operation, environmental impacts, assets investment and water stewardship. Lydia has recently re-joined Severn Trent Water where she is a member of the strategic hydrogeology team in water resources, working on strategic options and investments for borehole and groundwater related assets.

She holds a first degree in Exploration Geology from the University of Cardiff and an MSc in hydrogeology from the University of Birmingham.

Carl Gilbert, Severn Trent Water

Carl Gilbert is a senior hydrogeologist at Severn Trent Water where he leads on complex water quality and yield investigations, which result in useful and workable solutions to the business. He has over eleven years’ experience in the groundwater environment, from assessing new, current and historic landfills and quarries, to remediating highly contaminated groundwater in Bengaluru, India.

He is a firm believer of undertaking site testing to capture the data needed, to understand the cause of an issue which will better inform decisions to move forward to the next stage.

Bethan Harrison, Severn Trent Water

Bethan Harrison is a hydrogeologist at Severn Trent Water, with four years’ experience working as a hydrogeologist in the UK. Bethan started her career in consultancy, which provided her with valuable experience of working on a variety of major infrastructure projects, assessing the potential impacts and risk to the groundwater environment. She joined Severn Trent Water last year to pursue her interest in and develop her skills in working in the water resources sector. She is a member of the Tactical Hydrogeology team in the Water Resources department, working on reactive requests that come in from operational groundwater sites, as well as working on longer term water quality investigations. She holds a first degree in geology from the University of Leeds and an MSc in hydrogeology from the University of Strathclyde.

Dr Phil Ham, Envireau Water

Phil Ham is the Managing Director of Envireau Water and a Hydrogeologist with over 15 years of consultancy experience working with natural water systems.

Phil has a master’s degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering and a Doctorate in Environmental Hydrogeology, which he gained whilst working as a scientific researcher in The Netherlands. His background has led to his specialism in hydrogeological impact assessments and expertise in the development, management and regulation of independent water supplies for a range of sectors including food and drink manufacturing, water bottling, brewing, distilling and allied industries, as well as pharmaceuticals and manufacturing.

Steve Brown, Central Solutions

Steve Brown has extensive experience in the water sector ranging from sustainable urban drainage design, water demand data collection and analysis, implementing and auditing international water standards, writing technical guidance and has written several academic journal articles related to water stewardship. He regularly presents at conferences and delivers training on water standards to a wide range to people in various roles and organisations.

He is based in the Central Solutions UK office, where he leads the business development for water stewardship programmes and supports UK business to understand and develop their water stewardship credentials and actions.

Lois Leslie, British Soft Drinks Association

Lois is a Technical Officer at the British Soft Drinks Association. The British Soft Drinks Association represents UK producers of soft drinks, carbonated drinks, still and dilutable drinks, fruit juices and bottled waters, and in this role Lois provides technical, scientific and regulatory information to address the needs of BSDA members.

During her career Lois has worked in various food science roles including as a Technical Account Manager at Cargill in the Netherlands, and as a Research and Development Scientist at Mondelēz International.

She has a BSc in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from Durham University and an MSc in Applied Biomolecular Technology from the University of Nottingham.

Fiona Palmer, British Soft Drinks Association

Fiona has over thirty years’ experience in the soft drinks sector, seventeen years in technical roles at Britvic Soft Drinks and running her own consultancy.

Since 2012 Fiona has been Technical Executive at the British Soft Drinks Association, where she assists members with scientific, technical and regulatory advice covering soft drinks, fruit juice, and bottled waters.

She holds a degree in Food Science and a Doctorate in Analytical Chemistry.

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