Sign Up
Log in

Water Excellence

Highlighting innovative ways in which water companies are maximising efficiency while minimising operational costs

Editor's picks

Yorkshire adds phosphorous-treating ponds to wastewater site
Yorkshire Water is adding more than 4,000 square metres of ponds to one of its wastewater treatment sites that will use 25 different species of plant to remove phosphorous from the water before it is returned to the environment. The plants have been selected to promote diverse habitats, with particular attention given to creating environments which support bees and other pollinators.
News
Ofwat’s £40m Breakthrough Challenge kicks off
After the successful first round of the Innovation in Water Challenge, entries to Ofwat's main innovation competition have opened for water companies and partnerships to win up to £10 million towards finding solutions to sector-wide challenges
News
Leak repair tool wins Future Water innovation award
A tool that is drawn to leaks within pipes has won the Future Water Association 2020 Water Dragons prize. Qinov8's Aquapea moves through pipes and forms a seal over holes to prevent leaks
News

Featured

IWC: Smarter Tanks to improve resilience
One of Affinity Water's two winning bids in the Innovation in Water Challenge is to apply smart network techniques to assets such as storage water tanks to boost network capacity when demand is high. Project lead Mumin Islam talked to Utility Week about the project.
Analysis
IWC: ‘Game-changing’ tool to measure whole life carbon
Ofwat’s Innovation in Water Challenge has sparked imaginations across the sector in a united effort to find solutions to common challenges faced by water companies. Utility Week finds out more about Anglian's successful bid: a tool to measure the whole life carbon and costs of assets.
News

Latest in Water Excellence

First planning permission granted for Havant Thicket
Planning permission has been granted by Havant Borough Council for the construction of the first reservoir to be built in the UK since 1989. Portsmouth Water will supply neighbouring Southern with up to 21 million litres a day to ease supply issues in Southern's western region where it must reduce abstraction from chalk streams
News
‘Compelling case for merger’, say British Water and WIF
The University of Sheffield’s Professor Tony Conway, a non-executive director of both British Water and the Water Industry Forum, writes about the two organisations’ recently-announced decision to pool their resources.
Comment
Welsh Water unveils zero carbon 2040 target
Welsh Water has set out plans to reduce its emissions by 90 per cent by 2030 and be carbon neutral by 2040 by examining and improving the whole lifecycle of its assets and driving down process emissions at wastewater treatment sites.
News
Vulnerability and the importance of disclosure in the utilities sector
The utilities sector has been one of the most proactive in supporting vulnerable customers but the job is far from complete. Helen Lord of the Vulnerability Registration Service sets out her vision of utilities playing a key role in encouraging customers to ask for help and making disclosure as simple and as routine as updating contact details.
Opinion
Water Industry Awards 2021: winners revealed
The winners of the this year’s Water Industry Awards have now been unveiled, recognising the best and brightest projects and people the industry has to offer.
News
Why Ofwat is opening the door to innovation
Ofwat has established its £200 million Innovation Fund in a 'disruptive' attempt to change mindsets and boost water companies’ capacity to collaborate and co-operate to solve problems. UW Innovate looks at the aspirations behind the Fund, and meets the teams behind two projects in the first wave to secure funding.
Analysis
Joining up the water industry’s circle of life
In the second of three articles, BPF Pipes Group (a division of the British Plastics Federation) explores the policy drivers behind the circular economy, and how recycling and re-use can bring us into better alignment with the natural world.
Comment
Ofwat: We want to be the sector’s innovation catalyst
Ofwat is hoping that its five year, £200 million Innovation Fund will help water companies collaborate their way to solving the sector’s pressing problems, and also open up a dialogue with prospective partners in other sectors, such as Fintech or telecoms. UW Innovate spoke to John Russell, senior director for strategy and planning and Harry Armstrong, director for regulatory policy.
Interviews
Stacking up ‘smart water’ investments
Water companies can now deploy multiple sensors and advanced smart meters to give them a real-time view of their operations, or to digitally model future interventions. But, when few companies reaped full benefit from previous rounds of smart metering investment, how can new programmes stack up?
Analysis
Route map for water sector collaborative innovation set out
Collaborative innovation within the water sector is currently high on the agenda, thanks to the Ofwat Innovation Fund. A team from the University of Sheffield has distilled its work on how best to build partnering relationships that lead to viable innovations into a new downloadable guide for the sector.
Opinion
Close
Clear
Close

Request a call back