December 14, 2022
breakthrough-2 climate-change customers get-involved innovation resilience water water-breakthrough-challenge water-use winnersCombatting droughts and floods for a resilient future
In 2022, the UK experienced one of the hottest, driest summers on record with temperatures reaching over 40 degrees Celsius for the first time. This affected public water supplies, agriculture, and wildlife.
As the water industry adapts to more extreme weather and the effects of climate change, it looks likely that such events will bring periods of very dry weather to the UK, and with it, storms and flooding. There is a clear need to become better at managing how we take in water, such as through building new sources of water or cutting leaks. But we also need to become smarter in how we use water. And the complexity of making sure there’s just enough of this precious resource for people and planet means we increasingly need joined-up, collaborative and innovative solutions.
Below is a selection of stories of winning projects from the Ofwat Innovation Fund that explore new approaches to help reduce our demand for water, combat droughts and floods, and make our water system fit for the future. These include innovations that:
If you feel inspired, you can also find out how to win funding for your #WaterBrightIdea below.
The water sector has always worked closely with the Met office to predict demand for water but the Sub Seasonal Forecasting project, led by Thames Water, has demonstrated how closer collaboration and sharing data can enable more accurate predictions for the water industry.
Conventional weather forecasting gives predictions 10-14 days ahead, whereas the system being developed allows water companies to take a longer-term view and plan up to six weeks ahead.
With climate change provoking more extreme weather events, having time to react and prepare is important. Production capacity can only be increased or decreased slowly, so knowing that hot or cold weather is on the way means that the process of treating additional water can be started earlier. Using the past ten years of demand and weather data, experts can more accurately predict what will happen and anticipate surges in demand caused by weather events.
The project is based in London but once established will extend to the home counties and Thames Valley. This region, which extends west to Swindon, can have quite different weather to London, so this will allow the team to test how well the model works in a different geographical area. The service will then be tailored and rolled out to nine other water companies all around the UK.
There’s a huge public benefit in water companies having an accurate long-term understanding of weather, and water demand – for example when pipes frozen by the Beast from the East back in 2018 suddenly thawed, demand for water went up extremely rapidly. This new predictor would enable water companies to plan ahead accordingly.
Over the last century, our urban areas have become increasingly impenetrable to rainwater, with paved surfaces preventing rainwater from trickling into the ground. Roofs and roads, patios and pathways all intercept rainwater and channel it into our drains and sewers, rather than back into the ground where it would eventually rejoin the water system.
Climate change is contributing to an increase in sudden and heavy downfalls, and the UK’s current drainage systems can quickly become overwhelmed in the event of a storm, or with heavy rainfall following a particularly dry few weeks.
In order to mitigate this, the Community-Centric Rainwater Management team, led by Thames Water, is trialling a potential solution in collaboration with homeowners, looking at installing rainwater storage technology, called Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS), in neighbourhoods. These systems can help to manage the flow of rainwater, controlling the run-off rate from hard surfaces, and reducing the impact of urbanisation on the water system whilst providing communities with rainwater for local use.
The team is looking at the idea of installing specially designed water butts in customers’ gardens. The idea is in exploratory stage, but these water butts could potentially serve a dual purpose; reducing the chance of sewers becoming overwhelmed and spilling into waterways, and storing rainwater for customers to use in their gardens. This latter function will become increasingly important with more frequent droughts leading to further hosepipe bans in future.
The Community Rainwater Management team are trialing this solution by challenging communities to test one method of distributed water storage. They hope this will reduce the impact of heavy rainfall on sewers and limit risk of overflow.
Nowadays, most people understand the importance and benefits of keeping materials out of landfill, however few are aware of how roads and paving can affect the water system, and therefore the environment. The shift towards consideration about how we can all help with responsible water is similar to the change that has happened with recycling. Through the project, the team want to explain and enhance this understanding, by directly working with individual communities and local issues.
In the long-term, installation of more decentralised rainwater storage has potential to mitigate flooding, limit stormwater overflows and all the while provide rainwater for local use in times of drought. This project will identify the drivers and benefits for local rainwater storage and support explore how to scale up such schemes in the future, bring benefits to individuals, communities and the local environment.
As the UK’s population grows, so does demand for water and the need to use resources efficiently becomes more important. Some regions are already at capacity for water use. Others are water-stressed and if new homes continue to be built as they are currently, the increasing demand will put the environment under considerable strain. Yet, when new housing developments are planned there’s an opportunity to rethink how water arrives at taps and work with the construction industry to do things differently.
For example, why are toilets flushed with treated water? Existing water networks provide homes with one single source of clean, potable water which is essential for cooking and drinking. However, using ‘potable’ water for flushing toilets and showering isn’t strictly necessary.
Enabling Water Smart Communities is a project led by Anglian Water with collaboration from Thames Water, United Utilities, teams from the Universities of Manchester and East Anglia and other specialist bodies from a range of sectors. It takes a fresh look at how resources are used in new housing developments and focuses on how to reduce water use in the home. This includes reusing greywater (lightly used water from sinks, showers and washing machines) where possible, managing resources with new storage systems to prevent flooding, and finding new ways to treat water and wastewater.
This project will work with housing developers to identify sites where new approaches to using water in the home can be tested and measured. Many of the ideas being explored are already in place in water-stressed parts of the world such as Australia and South Africa and the team will look at how best to integrate them into British homes, as well as how current regulation might need to be adapted.
For instance, a water-efficient community might see houses fitted with a second pipe that goes to the washing machine, toilet and outdoor tap with non-potable water. By reusing harvested rainwater and greywater, models show that the household demand for water can be reduced by 30-50%.
If the project can demonstrate success and help households reduce, or even halve their water consumption, then water smart homes will be the way of the future.
Don’t work in the water industry but have an idea on how to help reduce demand? The Water Discovery Challenge will be welcoming ground-breaking innovations from anyone in any sector from January 2023. Find out more here: waterinnovation.challenges.org/water-discovery-challenge/
Work in the water industry and feel inspired? The Water Breakthrough Challenge 3 is open for entries until December 2022: waterinnovation.challenges.org/breakthrough3/catalyst/
Have a great idea but need time to get your entry together? The next round of the Water Breakthrough Challenge will open later in 2023.
