In a move to help water companies meet increasingly specific regulatory and operational challenges, UK Water Industry Research (UKWIR) is significantly increasing its ability to deliver a Tailored Collaborative Research Programme (TCRP).

The initiative transforms the organisation's previous ‘club’ projects into a more focused framework, ensuring a highly targeted approach to research that directly helps water companies improve compliance and deliver a more resilient and efficient network for customers.

"The new name reflects the specific, agile nature of these projects," explains UKWIR CEO, Mike Rose. "The TCRP is designed to bring together smaller groups of water companies to address unique regulatory requirements or specific operational challenges that may not be relevant to the entire membership, helping them meet regulatory obligations and improve compliance.”

The recently published Independent Water Commission's final report directly identified UKWIR as playing a 'key role' in driving collaboration between the industry, research institutions, and academia. This endorsement underscores UKWIR’s vital role in supporting innovation and knowledge transfer and directly aligns with its aims for TCRP.

The TCRP is already delivering on a range of vital projects, for example, the Chemical Investigations Programme 4 (CIP4), which brings together all water and sewerage companies (WaSCs) in England and Wales to collaborate with regulators on better understanding trace chemicals in wastewater and the water environment. Another critical project is SAGIS, a Source Apportionment GIS tool for modelling water quality in rivers and lakes, which is funded by all WaSCs & environment regulators in England, Wales and Scotland and is improving decision-making processes.

UKWIR is also working on several projects focused on the assessment and mitigation of invasive non-native species (INNS), with both biosecurity trials and surveillance projects underway across England. Further projects are tackling complex issues such as nitrate technically achievable limit trials and continuous water quality monitoring in estuarine environments. A separate initiative, responding to a direct request from a WaSC/Environment Agency task and finish group, is investigating the efficacy of sewage treatment processes under high-flow conditions.

With the exception of SAGIS and the high-flow treatment project, all these initiatives are directly supporting the crucial Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP) deliverables for UKWIR’s member companies.

The projects will be overseen by Craig Palmer, newly appointed as UKWIR’s TCRP project manager. He will be working closely with UKWIR members to deliver impactful results and brings a wealth of experience from previous roles, including product delivery manager at Google and a project & risk manager for the HS2 high-speed railway project. Palmer also served as a delivery manager for capital works at Transport for London (TfL).

Jenni Hughes, UKWIR’s strategic programme manager who will oversee the TCRP, understands the unique value these projects offer, "The TCRP enables our members to tackle highly specific challenges in a cost-effective and collaborative way, turning regulatory requirements into opportunities for shared learning and improved outcomes for customers and the environment.”

In an increasingly complex regulatory and environmental landscape, the Tailored Collaborative Research Programme is a vital tool for UKWIR’s members to address specific challenges, stay ahead of evolving requirements, and collectively build a more sustainable and resilient future.

UKWIR invites members to get in touch with ideas for future TCRP research. Projects do not have to address issues affecting the whole of the UK and Ireland; UKWIR is actively seeking proposals for hyper-local or region-specific challenges as well.

Please contact UKWIR to share your proposals and get involved at ukwir.org.uk