Rethinking wastewater systems report

Innovation in wastewater treatment and wastewater asset management – the way we distribute, treat and release wastewater back into the environment – is essential to address the acute crises our global society and the water sector faces. With pressure from climate change, exponential population growth, rapid urbanisation and environmental, economic and public healthy challenges, it is crucial that the water sector finds novel approaches that keep our customers and our society and environment safe and healthy.

To date, the Ofwat Innovation Fund has awarded funding to many innovative projects working in various aspects of wastewater treatment and its associated assets and networks, and this report spotlights 7 of those projects that are focussing primarily on innovation for water conveyance systems, testing and trialling new approaches to the networks that carry wastewater for treatment.

Download the report (PDF, 4MB)

The water sector increasingly embraces principles of circularity and circular economies to recover resources and feed new processes. By reusing byproducts created in the treatment and transport of wastewater we reduce the need to exploit virgin materials, minimising the impacts of the sector on the environment and creating value and growth opportunities.

As a result, there is a natural overlap with some of the projects and concepts featured in the first learning report, Circularity in water: resource recovery and circular economies in the water sector, published in August 2024, which we invite you to read to complement and supplement the knowledge and insights you glean from this report.