Water Industry Awards finalists revealed

The companies in the running for the Water Industry Awards 2023 have been announced.

The winners across the 21 categories for this year’s awards will be revealed on 29 June at the Vox, Birmingham. Tables can be booked here.

This year’s ceremony will see three new awards presented – Energy in Water, Leakage Initiative and Engineering Consultancy of the Year, as well as the return of Water Retailer of the Year.

In the video below, Utility Week water correspondent Ruth Williams reveals the finalists.

Utility Week editor and chair of the judges James Wallin said: “The flood of entries for this year’s Water Industry Awards is testament to the innovation and ambition of the sector as it faces up to unprecedented challenges.

“Our judges had a difficult task in whittling down these compelling entries to a shortlist across a diverse set of categories. We are all excited to reveal the winners on 29 June in Birmingham.”

Full list of finalists:

Alliance or Partnership of the Year 

• Anglian Water and the Norfolk Strategic Flooding Alliance – Uniting to deliver coordinated flood response and mitigation strategies for Norfolk
• Browne and Thames Water changing the customer experience of infrastructure improvement
• Living With Water and Stantec – Hull and Haltemprice Blue-Green Plan
• Morrison Water Services, a part of M Group Services – Blicker, AI meter reading technology
• Northumbria Integrated Drainage Partnership (NIDP) (comprising Northumbrian Water, The Environment Agency and 14 Northeast local Councils), Esh-Stantec and MMB
• Northumbrian Water – Collaborative Approach to Catchment and Nature Based Solutions for PR24 WINEP
• WaterAid, Anglian Water Alliances, Nepal Water Supply Corporation – The Beacon Project
• WSP – Implementation pathways for successful adoption of SuDS Approval Bodies in England

Asset Management Initiative of the year 

• Barhale & Thames Water – Jeff Farrow Trunk Main Test Rig: Barhale and Thames Water building the UK’s first, in-pipe non-destructive testing equipment facility
• Jacobs – Aqua DNA
• Morrison Water Services, a part of M Group Services – VariSim Delta
• Northumbrian Water  – Tipping Point Tool – The Concrete Assets Condition Planning Tool
• Scottish Water, Caledonian Water Alliance, Environmental Techniques, Good Friday Robotics – Adapting Drones for Sewer Surveys
• SES Water – DMA Asset Health Project
• Southern Water and Stantec – Clean Rivers and Seas Task Force: Pathfinder Projects
• United Utilities, VAPAR, Sapphire Utility Solutions and IPSUM – Using AI to Improve Wastewater Network Investment Decision-Making

Contractor of the Year 

• APEM
• C2V+, a VolkerStevin/Jacobs joint venture
• Clancy
• Galliford Try Environment
• J Browne Construction
• Mott MacDonald Bentley
• OnSite
• WGM Engineering

Customer Initiative of the Year 

• Anglian Water – Supporting our customers through the cost-of-living crisis and delivering on our Purpose
• Northumbrian Water  – Effective Customer Contact Management
• Severn Trent – Intelligent Kickouts
• Severn Trent – Engaging Hard to Reach Vulnerable Customers
• South West Water – Awesome Water
• United Utilities – Enhanced Metering with Lowest Bill Guarantee
• Water Plus

Digitalisation Award 

• Arup and Severn Trent, with CADA Consulting – Blue Green Digital Strategy Tool: Delivering Sustainable Flood Resilience in Mansfield
• Connexin – Smart Water Networks
• Costain / United Utilities (Maintenance Service Provider Framework) – The Costain Neural Estimation Overview (NEO) Artificial Intelligence (AI) system
• Morrison Water Services, a part of M Group Services – VariSim Delta
• Mott MacDonald and Severn Trent Water – Moata Route Optimiser: A new era for pipeline design – “the domain x digital approach”
• Mott MacDonald – Taking an innovative digital approach to support water resources management plan development
• Scottish Water – SWIFT – Scottish Water Field Force Transformation
• Thames Water and ExploreAI – Open Data – Online discharge map and open data API

Diversity & Inclusion Initiative of the Year 

• Anglian Water – Strength in Diversity Initiative: building our future workforce to reflect the diversity of the region we serve
• C2V+, a VolkerStevin/Jacobs joint venture – Embedding a strategy for fairness, inclusion and respect 
• Jacobs – Diversity and Inclusion at Jacobs
• Morrison Water Services, a part of M Group Services – Allyship Programme
• Northern Ireland Water (NIW) – The only way is (levelling) up at NIW
• Stantec – Celebrating and Embracing the Unique Minds and Strengths of our Neurodivergent Talent
• WSP – Women In Water Initiative
• Yorkshire Water – Partnership for Yorkshire Women in Engineering

Drinking Water Initiative of the Year  

• James Mae Group – Alum sludge recycling machine
• NI Water – The Source to Tap Project 
• RSE in Collaboration with Scottish Water – Modular Water Treatment Solution Upgrade at Bonnycraig Water Treatment Works
• Uisce Éireann – Operational Oversight: Alarm & Inhibit Review
• United Utilities – Water Quality First Programme (WQF)
• Water Research Centre – Understanding discoloured water using data-driven analytics
• Wessex Water – Durleigh Water Treatment Centre Refurbishment

Energy in Water Award 

• Glan Agua and Easy Hydro – Harnessing the Power of Water to Generate Renewable Electricity in Water Treatment Plants
• Salinity Solutions – Batch reverse osmosis water treatment technology
• Scottish Water Horizons – Innovative Hydro Generation plant on a Waste Water Treatment Works
• United Utilities Water – Maximising generation outputs whilst reducing its environmental and social impact
• Veolia – Net Electricity Exporter
• Xylem – Supporting Scottish Water on their Carbon Net Zero by 2040 journey with innovative pump system technology

Engineering Consultancy of the Year 

• AECOM
• Binnies UK 
• Jacobs
• Stantec
• WSP

Groundbreaker Award 

• Anglian Water’s Strategic Pipeline Alliance – Low Water Commissioning
• APEM – The SRO Aquatic INNS Risk Assessment Tool (SAI-RAT)
• Kier Utilities & Northern Ireland Water – Hydrogen Near Me (H2 near me)
• RSE in partnership with Scottish Water – Scotland’s First Ceramic Membrane Modular Water Treatment Works
• Salinity Solutions – Batch reverse osmosis water treatment technology
• Southern Water – Slow-drain water butts
• Thames Water – Online discharge map and open data API
• United Utilities, C2V+ and Nuvoda – Mobile Organic Biofilm – Plant-based media for sustainable wastewater process intensification at Macclesfield WwTW

Health & Safety Initiative of the Year 

• Binnies UK & Techfinity – HomeSafe AI powered real-time safety management for mobile/travelling staff
• C2V+, a VolkerStevin/Jacobs joint venture – Safety Ripple – a positive, inclusive and future-focused behavioural change programme
• J Browne Construction – Sentinel Initiative
• J Murphy & Sons – Secure our Future – Service Avoidance
• Morrison Water Services, a part of M Group Services – SHALLOW contract safety campaign
• MWH Treatment – The introduction of Comprehensive Personal Medical Assessments
• Scottish Water, Caledonian Water Alliance, Environmental Techniques, Good Friday Robotics – Adapting Drones for Safer Sewer Surveys
• Wessex Water – Sustainable Operations & Engineering

 Leakage Initiative of the Year 

• Anglian Water – Transforming leakage management with our smart metering programme
• Binnies UK, FIDO Tech, Thames Water Utilities – AI Leak Detection Service
• Craley Group and Kier Utilities – CRALEY Sensing™
• Morrison Water Services, a part of M Group Services – Leakage Technician recruitment initiative
• Severn Trent – Intelligent Kickouts

Natural Capital Initiative of the Year 

• Mott MacDonald – Water Resources Regional Plan: Putting Natural Capital at the heart of the decision-making process
• Northumbrian Water  – Nature Based Solutions for PR24 WINEP
• Severn Trent, Mansfield District Council, Arup, Galliford Try, Via East Midlands – Mansfield Sustainable Flood Resilience – Pilot Raingardens
• Southern Water and AECOM – Embedding natural capital across Southern Water’s business
• South West Water – South West Peatland Partnership
• United Utilities – Innovative use of Free Surface Water Wetlands for treatment at Southwaite WwTW, using NBSs to generate Natural Capital benefits
• Wessex Water – Durleigh Wetlands & Water Quality Improvements

Net Zero Carbon Initiative of the Year 

• Caledonia Water Alliance, partnership between Morrison Water Services and AECOM – CWA Carbon Management Plan
• Costain, Vinci, Bachy – Fuel Efficiencies in Tideway East
• Dwr Cymru Welsh Water and Cobalt Water Global – Quantifying, Modelling and Mitigating Process Emissions: Welsh Waters Journey to Net Zero
• Isle Utilities – Trial Reservoir
• Metasphere – ART Sewer Wastewater Level Monitoring solution
• Severn Trent – Delivering net zero wastewater treatment
• Yorkshire Water and Stantec – Hollym, Myers Lane Wastewater Treatment Works – “Replacing Yorkshire Water’s at-risk coastal asset with an innovative low carbon solution”
• United Utilities and Avove – Vyrnwy Aqueduct Modernisation programme (VAMP) – bringing the aqueduct into the 21st Century

Pollution Mitigation Initiative of the Year 

• Binnies UK and Thames Water  – WINEP Urban Pollution Mitigation Programme
• Glanville Environmental & South West Water – Pennance Mill Rising Main Scheme 
• Metasphere – ART Sewer Wastewater Level Monitoring solution
• Northumbrian Water – Saltburn pop-up treatment works
• Plantwork Systems – Pollution Mitigation with Filtration+
• Smart Storm – The NeutraliZer
• Ulster University – A Sustainable Method to Reduce Vancomycin Concentrations in Water Using Timber Waste
• Xylem – Smart sensor and smart cloud technology to support Water Utilities with The Environment Act 2021

Rising Star Award 

• Callum Brock, Anglian Water
• Tim Chatfield, Costain
• Dan Crow, WSP
• Julia Jambo, Stantec
• Justine Leadbetter, Water Research Centre
• Alistair Nicol, Caledonia Water Alliance, a Morrison Water Services and AECOM partnership
• Will Sainsbury, Barhale
• Kai Woodman, Galliford Try

Smart Water Networks Award 

• Arqiva and Anglian Water – AMI smart meter network rollout
• Connexin – Smart Meter Rollout
• Morrison Water Services, a part of M Group Services – VariSim Delta
• Yorkshire Water, Stantec, Xylem & Idrica – Sheffield Smart Water Network

Wastewater Innovation Project 

• Arup – Wastewater-based Epidemiology
• C2V+, a VolkerStevin/Jacobs joint venture – Breaking Boundaries at Ellesmere Port WwTW: Innovative treatment process for achieving flows and loads on a constrained site
• Clancy – Blue Light Technology
• Salinity Solutions – Batch reverse osmosis water treatment technology
• Samatrix – NOV – Norag
• Samotics and Yorkshire Water – SPS Clogging detections at Yorkshire Water with SAM4 Health
• Scottish Water Horizons – Innovative Hydro Generation plant on a Waste Water Treatment Works
• United Utilities – Blackburn and Darwen WwTW Integrated Solution

Water Efficiency Project of the Year 

• Hero Labs – Sonic by Hero Labs, the smart leak defence and water management system
• Northumbrian Water – Water’s Worth Saving – Top 5% highest users
• South West Water – Stop The Drop
• Thames Water – Water Efficiency innovation from rolling out smart meters in businesses: Non-Household Smart Meter Data Services and Continuous Flow Live Dashboard
• Thames Water – Water Neutrality Pilot
• The Consumer Council for Water – ‘Waterfall’ Podcast
• Water Plus – Increasing water wisdom, efficiency and engagement amongst organisations of all sizes in the UK
• Water UK – Water’s Worth Saving

Water Retailer of the Year 

• Business Stream
• Veolia Water Retail 
• Water Plus
• Wave

Water Company of the Year 

• Anglian Water
• Northumbrian Water 
• SES Water