Northumbrian Water has been awarded a £9.5 million boost to kick-start three different ground-breaking projects, which will help to protect the region’s waterways and improve customers’ services.
Northumbrian Water says it is leading the way in innovation, with these three latest bids adding to a total of 19 bids won in the Ofwat Innovation Fund’s Water Breakthrough Challenge over the last five years – more than any other company in the water sector.
Thanks to the success of this latest round of funding, Northumbrian Water will be working on progressing the three new innovative projects, titled ‘Smart Skies Healthy Waters’, ‘Net Water PositHyve’ and ‘Stream 3’.
Automated drones, robotics, and novel water sampling techniques will make up Smart Skies Healthy Waters, a world-first project which is set to completely transform the monitoring of the region’s waterways.
It will include a ‘drone and lab-in-a-box’ system, which will deliver real-time, on-site results and lab-grade analysis, helping to protect the inland and coastal waters for the benefit of customers and the environment.
Net Water PositiHyve will help avoid precious drinking water resources being used for industrial purposes, by recycling the water left over from treated wastewater, and reusing it at large industrial sites.
The final project, Stream 3, builds on a previous project to create an open data platform, which is already being used in innovative projects. Unlocking and sharing data across the water industry will help to improve the industry’s performance when it comes to decision making, delivering value for customers and benefits to the environment.
Angela MacOscar, Head of Innovation at Northumbrian Water, said:
“Securing these latest bids through the Ofwat Innovation Fund is testament to our commitment to use innovation and technology to look for changes to the way that we work for the benefit of our customers and the environment.
“By securing these funds we’re being given a big boost to carry out work that we wouldn’t normally be able to do, and this drives collaboration across the water industry which will even make a difference to all water company customers up and down the country.”
The Ofwat Innovation Fund is a key pillar in Ofwat’s mission to drive innovation that ensures the water sector is ready for the challenges of the future and results in better outcomes for customers and the environment. It is delivered by innovation prize experts Challenge Works (part of the Nesta group), in partnership with Arup and Isle Utilities.
