Environmental Planning – Water Quality

Our approach is evidence led, and includes influencing monitoring strategies, implementing policy, data and information analysis including modelling, and communicating technical issues to a wide range of internal and external stakeholders particularly water companies.

You will lead a dedicated Integrated Environmental Planning Team committed to protecting the environment, and creating a cleaner, safer and healthier environment for people and wildlife. The team you lead will be specialists who work to deliver environmental improvements for water quality, water resources and river catchments. A key focus in the next five years will be working closely with water companies on their investment programmes. Your teams will work with others in our National Directorate to hold water companies to account in their commitments to protect the environment. Your role will include maintaining the health, safety and wellbeing of your team, supporting them to develop themselves, identifying training needs and managing ways of working to ensure we can meet the needs of the future. You will need to balance the work within your team to ensure that they are focussed on the areas that will deliver the greatest environmental benefit. You will be based in the Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire Area, mostly office based, with occasional site visits.

We are looking for Water Quality Specialists in our Area Integrated Environment Planning Teams in a variety of roles. These water planning teams drive improvements in local rivers, lakes and coastal waters. You will work on a variety of aspects of water quality planning to understand the pressures, find solutions, and work with those who can deliver change.

You will need to be skilled at reviewing data and information and communicating requirements clearly to ensure proposals meet the latest environmental standards and provide the maximum environmental benefit. Given the scale of future investment by water companies in England, and the record number of improvements required by the Environment Act, many of these roles will be dedicated to reviewing and shaping water company proposals. For this, you will work closely with the local Water Company, reviewing the data and information they provide. You will need to communicate with them and be able to influence them to go further against competing priorities. Within the Environment Agency, you will work with National colleagues, who provide guidance, and technical support. You will also work with other local Area Teams with specialist knowledge in different aspects of the local environment, and environmental regulations. These are area-based roles, based in various Area locations across England.

Water Quality Planning Officers in our Area Integrated Environment Planning Teams drive improvements in local rivers, lakes and coastal waters. You will provide technical support on a range of water quality workstreams and support the team in its planning of projects to improve water quality. These workstreams may include:

· Delivery of the Water Industry National Environment Programme on the Price Review process with water companies.

· Environment Agency activities, such as permitting of discharges and planning applications, Responding to requests for information from the public, MPs and others.

· Planning of Protected Areas improvements, including bathing waters, shellfish waters and drinking waters.

Within the Environment Agency, you will work with National colleagues, who provide guidance, and technical support. You will also work with other local Area Teams with specialist knowledge in different aspects of the local environment, and environmental regulations.

Your support will be key to delivering a wealth of positive environment outcomes across each area. These are area-based roles in Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire and North East Areas.

As a Water Quality Data Analysis Officer you will support local bathing water quality improvements, working closely with our Bathing Water Planning Specialist. You’ll be part of the Yorkshire Area Integrated Environment Planning team, a primarily water-focused team with expertise in water quality, water resources, and river basin planning. You’ll collaborate with area operational teams, national policy makers, and key stakeholders, particularly water companies, to help shape the environmental plans that guide Yorkshire’s priorities.

Our diverse and supportive team of advisors sits at the heart of environmental decision-making, driving integrated action to tackle complex challenges.

As a Storm Overflow Senior Officer you will specialise in Storm Overflow work within Operations at the Environment Agency. You will be part of a team of operational specialists in Operations Catchment Services (OCS). You will work within a national operational team called Wastewater Systems, who focus on regulated flow, dry weather flow, storm overflows and urban drainage. The Environment Act has driven water companies to put forward more proposals to tackle storm overflows and we need more specialists to help work on assessing these proposals. You will be tasked with helping deliver an effective community of practice to enable Operations to fulfil its responsibilities, which include tasks like the assessment of Water Company proposals to meet requirements for storm overflows. You will work very closely with local Area Integrated Environment Planning teams and Head Office Water Quality Guidance teams as well as the Water Industry. You will have a particular focus on storm overflows in all water environments from source to sea. You will be an operational specialist on the storm overflow subject area. You will work closely with Environment & Business (Head Office Teams) to provide support to colleagues across the Environment Agency, to find solutions that protect and enhance water quality.

This new Bathing Waters Senior Officer post will be part of the national Operations Catchment Services (OCS) Water Quality team. You will work alongside the Principal Water Quality Officer dedicated to leading bathing water work in Operations. You will help in establishing and embedding this work stream within the team and community of practice to enable Operations to fulfil its responsibilities, which include tasks like the assessment of Water Company proposals to meet bathing water standards. You will work very closely with Local Area Integrated Environment Planning Teams and Head Office Water Quality Guidance Teams as well as the Water Industry.

This new Bathing Water Principal Officer post will be part of the national Operations Catchment Services (OCS) Water Quality team. You will help shape its work and embed it in the wider team culture and community of practice to enable Operations to fulfil its responsibilities, which will include tasks like the assessment of Water Company proposals to meet bathing water standards. To do this, you will work very closely with Local Area Integrated Environment Planning Teams and Head Office Water Quality Guidance Teams as well as the Water Industry. You will work alongside the Bathing Waters Senior Officer dedicated to bathing water work. You will be the operational expert and technical leader on the Bathing Water subject area, solving challenges, sometimes working in unfamiliar territory, without established processes or guidance to base decisions on. You will work closely with Head Office Teams to provide support to colleagues across the Environment Agency, to find solutions that protect and enhance water quality in Bathing Waters.