Professional Engineering

R&D funding will stimulate water industry innovation

Collaborative projects aim to tackle security and sustainability of our planet's water supply

  • Published in News.

R&D will focus on finding new ways to secure our future water supply

Grants totalling more than £2.5 million have been awarded for seven major collaborative research and development projects that aim to find innovative solutions to help secure our planet’s future water supplies.

The R&D will aim to address water security challenges while developing profitable ways to use our current water sources more effectively.

The companies taking part have been set the tough challenge of creating a technology or process that will either save or recycle 1,000 million litres of water a day – roughly equivalent to the volume it would take to fill 400 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

The collaborative projects will be led by Arvia Technology, Balfour Beatty Utility Solutions, Cambrensis, Halcrow Group, KEE Process, Quest UAV and Watershed Associates.

Ian Gray, chief executive of the Technology Strategy Board, one of the organisations providing the funding, said: “The sustainable and secure supply of water is a major challenge for modern societies. This presents innovation opportunities in water for UK businesses, particularly in the export market and for companies in the supply chain. The research and development we are funding will help UK companies improve their access to global water markets.”

The rest of the funds will come from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Natural Environment Research Council, and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

The total cost of the projects, including contributions from the participating companies, is in excess of £5.6 million.