Innovation Award - Water
Celebrating the ambition, creativity and determination of utilities as they push the boundaries of collaborative innovation.
Innovation Award - Water
Celebrating the ambition, creativity and determination of utilities as they push the boundaries of collaborative innovation.
Affinity Water and Weir The Agency - Bidwell Water Savers: Water Neutral Homes Blueprint
To address the UK’s 5 billion litres a day water shortfall by 2050, Affinity Water’s ‘Project Zero’ team is creating The Water Neutrality Blueprint. This will enable every future new home to be water neutral/positive and provide the guidance required to make legislation change possible. Once achieved, over the first decade the UK would save the equivalent of a whole year’s water use. Through ‘Bidwell Water Savers’ – a behaviour change and offsetting campaign - we created the world’s first ‘water positive’ housing development of its kind, forming part the blueprint for this ground-breaking innovation programme.
Mott MacDonald and Wessex Water - Innovative wetlands presenting an exciting solution for reducing storm overflows
Storm overflows (SOs) are a critical component of sewer networks, acting as relief points within the network and preventing systems from being overloaded and causing flooding. In the UK, our legacy Victorian sewer infrastructure is under growing pressures from climate change and increasing urban development and SOs are struggling to cope, affecting water quality. Mott MacDonald is working with Wessex Water Services Ltd to install innovative constructed treatment wetlands at storm overflow sites at a large scale, helping to improve water quality while also maximising benefits for the environment and wider communities.
Northumbrian Water - The Organics Ammonia Recovery project
The Organics Ammonia Recovery project is a first for the water industry, Ofwat awarded £225k in 2021 as part of the Breakthrough Challenge – ranking it one of the most innovative projects. It involves the recovery of ammonia from wastewater with the option to directly convert it into green hydrogen for beneficial use in the emerging hydrogen economy powering fuel cell powered buses, HGVs and trains. Ammonia is a widely used building block for the manufacture of valuable chemicals, for example, fertiliser, or used as a precursor to green energy and will contribute to the green gas and renewable fuel agenda.
Northumbrian Water and CKDelta - Early Warning System (EWS)
The Early Warning System (EWS) is believed to be an industry-first predictive model, empowering Northumbrian Water Group (NWG) to accurately identify dissatisfied customers and proactively anticipate and prevent negative experiences. This supports NWG's goal to lead in CMeX (Customer Measure of Experience set by Ofwat). With over 4 million customers, it is impractical to monitor every individual journey, therefore EWS is designed to generate the essential insights needed to continually improve processes and prioritise customers, ensuring a better experience for each. As a result, when surveyed, customers are more likely to provide positive feedback, reinforcing our commitment to customer satisfaction.
Reinert-Ritz, South West Water & Glanville Environmental - Quick-Pig makes its UK debut on Tresco
Glanville Environmental were tasked with replacement of the Abbey Pit rising main on Tresco, Isles of Scilly. The 63mm rising main had been laid over 20 years ago as a private rising main which transferred to South West Water in 2020. The pass forward flow had reduced to a trickle resulting in premature spills to the environment even during dry weather periods. The logistics of carrying out civil engineering works on the remote islands is extremely challenging and similarly, for SWW to carry out regular planned maintenance.
Severn Trent Water and IDenteq - Void Base Transformation
Severn Trent Water partnered with IDenteq to deliver an industry leading improvement in 'void performance', reducing their void property base by 30% and outperforming their Outcome Delivery Incentive (ODI) target with OFWAT for 2023. This performance helped Severn Trent Water earn the maximum OFWAT reward payment on voids in 2023 and underpinned a c.£20M reward over the 5-year budgetary period; money which enabled additional support for financially vulnerable customers.
Severn Trent Water and Intuety - Partnering to use data to to increase quality and reduce incidents in the water sector
As the water industry enters a super cycle and faces increasing demands, innovative collaboration is key. Intuety, a leading technology company, partnered with Severn Trent Water to develop a solution that has significantly improved project delivery and customer outcomes. By leveraging Intuety's advanced technology, Severn Trent Water achieved a 13.88% increase in document quality and benefitted from a 4.16% decrease in incidents. This partnership not only showcases the transformative potential of innovative technology in water management but also inspires hope for the future of the industry.
Yorkshire Water and BMA - Adaptive Systems Planning Platform
This initiative supports Yorkshire Water's (YW) goal to adopt digital 'whole systems' adaptive planning capabilities, complementing traditional engineering approaches by allowing comprehensive operational risk evaluation across its water supply network.
BMA (Business Modelling Applications) implemented the Decisio platform, specifically the Water Systems Digital Business Twin, to leverage AI and identify optimal mitigation options during disruptions at critical water supply facilities to ensure continuity of service.
The platform was extended to generate optimal network designs and identify long-term investments, considering changing externalities and regulatory context. This enhanced YW’s systemic understanding of its network and provided access to optimal investment decisions, driving AMP outperformance.