PerkinElmer To Sponsor World Water Monitoring Day

PerkinElmer Life and Analytical Sciences has announced its partnership with the Water Environment Federation’s (WEF) and the International Water Association’s (IWA) World Water Monitoring Day™ (WWMD) during the Beijing Conference and Exhibition on Instrumental Analysis (BCEIA) in Beijing. This partnership and other strategic alliances are a vital part of the company’s newly launched EcoAnalytix™ initiative, a program dedicated to improving and protecting the global ecosystem.

WWMD is an international outreach program that builds global public awareness of and involvement in protecting water resources by engaging community members to perform basic monitoring tests of local rivers, streams, estuaries and other bodies of water. In 2006, the WWMD program resulted in monitoring water quality at 3,900 sites in 39 countries.

“As a global leader in environmental measurement solutions, PerkinElmer’s partnership with WEF supports their objective to have 1 million plus participants in World Water Monitoring Day by 2012,” said Dick Begley, President, PerkinElmer Analytical Sciences. “Water is one of the most valuable resources we have and we are proud to offer our support and global reach in an effort to support water testing at the local level and safeguard this valuable resource.”

In addition to facilitating WWMD outreach, PerkinElmer will also provide its thought leadership to the WWMD Steering Committee, to develop short and long term goals as well as technical expertise for the monitoring kit.

“We are excited to partner with a company that not only has a high level of water analysis expertise but also shares WEF’s dedication to protecting our global water resources," said WEF Executive Director Bill Bertera. "PerkinElmer is a wonderful complement to the World Water Monitoring Day program and I believe our partnership will help us achieve greater international awareness of the importance of clean water."

To implement the program on a global basis, WEF coordinates the program with the International Water Association (IWA). “Along with WEF and PerkinElmer, we can create a global water corps of committed and action-oriented people helping to educate society about clean water, its use and value,” said Darren Saywell, Development Director for the IWA.

Originating as a national event, the program was founded in 2002 in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Clean Water Act which is recognized as a milestone in efforts to restore and protect U.S. water resources. To expand its reach, World Water Monitoring Day became an international program in 2003. Since then it has become a global program with 52 countries thus far participating in 2007.

Citizens monitor their local water for a core set of water quality parameters including temperature, acidity (pH), clarity/turbidity and dissolved oxygen (DO) and report their data to the WEF. The data is compiled to provide a snapshot of the world’s water resources.