The water industry is under pressure to reduce spills from Combined Sewer Overflows (CSO), but without actions to limit infiltration and separate surface water, the consequence of this allied to climate change will be larger volumes of more dilute sewage arriving at Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW), possibly for protracted periods. 

Hence this project takes a wider view on dealing with the dynamic nature of volumes and strengths of the sewage that the water industry is likely to need to treat. The output of this project includes realistic operational design options for existing WwTW’s processes and considers a selection of potential alternatives for WwTW dealing with intermittent higher flows of weaker sewage.

As an UKWIR BQ2 (Zero Leakage) and BQ3 (Zero Interruptions) collaboration, a series of workshops were held in the summer of 2021.  Four interrelated topics were discussed virtually by water companies, their contractors and the supply chain.   Innovative methods were used for gathering and sharing data, insight and opinion in order to disseminate valuable learning and knowledge in relatively short timescales to the appropriate industry areas. 

Failures on trunk mains are relatively low in frequency they can, however, cause significant disruption. This report details the outputs of both a practitioner workshop and associated industry surveys and examines current practices of preventing and mitigating trunk mains failures and good practice recommendations.

As an UKWIR BQ2 (Zero Leakage) and BQ3 (Zero Interruptions) collaboration, a series of workshops were held in the summer of 2021.  Four interrelated topics were discussed virtually by water companies, their contractors and the supply chain.   Innovative methods were used for gathering and sharing data, insight and opinion in order to disseminate valuable learning and knowledge in relatively short timescales to the appropriate industry areas. 

Failures on the clean water network that could potentially lead to interruptions to supply are hard to predict and detect. This report details the output of two workshops and associated industry surveys to identify current initiatives and potential future requirements for event detection and management systems. A number of key suppliers were interviewed to examine current capabilities and near future developments in event management systems. Key requirements were identified for an ideal system that water companies can apply for the future.

As an UKWIR BQ2 (Zero Leakage) and BQ3 (Zero Interruptions) collaboration, a series of workshops were held in the summer of 2021.  Four interrelated topics were discussed virtually by water companies, their contractors and the supply chain.   Innovative methods were used for gathering and sharing data, insight and opinion in order to disseminate valuable learning and knowledge in relatively short timescales to the appropriate industry areas. 

Interruptions to supply can cause significant disruption to customers lives and are a significant cause of water company customer contacts.  This report details the outputs of two workshops and associated industry surveys examining water company approaches and customer expectations and identifies current good practice and future recommendations.

As an UKWIR BQ2 (Zero Leakage) and BQ3 (Zero Interruptions) collaboration, a series of workshops were held in the summer of 2021. Four interrelated topics were discussed virtually by water companies, their contractors and the supply chain. Innovative methods were used for gathering and sharing data, insight and opinion in order to disseminate valuable learning and knowledge in relatively short timescales to the appropriate industry areas.

Companies perceive that the use of linings in water pipes to reduce leakage will be required to meet regulatory targets in the coming decades. This report examines existing literature to identify potential methods to be developed to test the long-term viability of these types of linings.

A workshop was held bringing experts together from water companies and the supply chain and industry surveys were also carried out. The report identifies three follow-on projects for the industry to consider to further develop this work as a potential Phase 2.

Establishing financial and carbon costs of disinfecting wastewater discharges enabling engagement with regulators and stakeholders is an important stage in considering the issues around the disinfection of wastewater discharges.

Regulatory, bacteriological standards and post-disinfection assumptions are documented in the report. Case studies are included to cross-reference and validate outputs. Seven likely scenarios were developed and the financial and carbon costs were estimated.

The review of research on costs and efficacy of disinfection of discharges concluded there was a paucity of any recent research.

Nature based solutions and emerging technologies around oxidation processes were considered in the project.

Regulatory frameworks in place have not changed for some time but the Environment Act 2021 may result in disinfection of storm overflows.

The possible costs and carbon emissions were estimated through a modelling exercise. Installation of disinfection on WwTWs could result in a cost of ca £4.3 billion. These costs increase to £93 billion if intermittent discharges are considered but if pre-treatment is required, these rise to ca £213 billion.

Associated carbon emissions with UV or chemical options were 85 and 53 million tonnes CO2-eq respectively.

Recommendations included: Research into microbial reduction achieved across wastewater treatment works; Determination of the efficacy alternative approaches; Engagement with key stakeholders.

The outputs will inform and influence policy decision makers on a proportionality to the benefit they deliver.

Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are of emerging concern both due to their potential toxicity to humans and their persistence in the environment. This literature review was required to give the water industry a better understanding of which PFAS will be of most concern (there are 4,700 potential PFAS to consider) on the basis of production, use, and toxicity. The work also looked to anticipate possible regulatory scenarios; and finally by understanding the potential impacts and obligations on the water industry, to make recommendations to inform our responses to these pressures (both financial and regulatory).

Lead in tap water continues to be an important issue for UK water utilities. However, the mechanisms of lead release from lead water pipes are not well understood. This study investigated the structure of the mineral scale on lead water pipes from customer properties and lead pipe rigs that had been exposed to phosphate dosed tap waters. A total of 51 pipes from 10 water utilities were investigated. The techniques included infrared spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The study revealed new insights into the way in which lead is released from lead water pipes and provided more information about how phosphate works and its efficacy. However, there are still many areas that remain unexplained. The subject is more complex than originally thought and therefore, more research is needed before recommendations can be made that will reduce the concentration of lead.

This project forms part of UKWIR’s Asset Management Big Question of ‘How to continue creating positive value through Asset Management decision making?’. The project focuses on the objective of developing an overall idealised design of a risk framework which considers the elements of asset risk, the system the assets operate within and the system of system risk.

Using principles of co-creation and iterative solution generation, the project used workshops, desk research, and interviews to develop the idealised asset risk framework or ‘vision for the future’. This involved investigating risk management approaches within the UK water sector, internationally as well as comparing against various other sectors.

Through this, the Idealised Asset Risk Framework was developed to provide a diagrammatic tool which organisations can use to describe a system of interest, explore the risks and risk dependencies across/between asset groups, and therefore structure risk analysis using both existing and in-development approaches/techniques.

Cryptosporidium oocysts and viruses present in drinking water supplies pose a significant threat to public health worldwide. Presence of emerging contaminants such as microplastics is also an area of growing concern for the water industry, regulators, governments, and consumers. The aim of this study was to facilitate maximising the safe recycling of recovered process water streams at WTWs. This goal was achieved through delivering:

• A detailed review of the best available techniques (BAT) to detect, monitor and remove Cryptosporidium, viruses and microplastics from recovered process water streams.
• A gap analysis of the expert reports by Badenoch and Bouchier to highlight monitoring, treatment and control advancements made since 1998.
• Expert recommendations for systematic minimisation of operational and control risks associated with the safe recycling of recovered process water at WTWs, and
• A cost-quality model, to assist water companies with treatment technology comparison and selection for recovered process water treatment and recycling.