Satellites, robots, drones and AI are among the pioneering technological solutions to have won a share of more than £42 million from water industry regulator Ofwat as it looks to tackle some of the biggest challenges facing the water sector today.

The latest winners of the Ofwat Innovation Fund’s Water Breakthrough Challenge include sixteen projects from across different sectors and around the world, with the £42.7 million in award money being earmarked to help scale their solutions for the wider water industry.

Among this year’s cohort is the Smart Skies, Healthy Waters project, which has been awarded £6 million for its project to create a ‘lab-in-a-box’ using automated drones, robotics and cutting-edge sampling techniques to provide near-real-time, on-site results and lab-grade analysis of coastal bathing water quality.

If successful, the project will significantly increase monitoring and sampling frequency of coastal waters, cutting the time to see results from three days to a matter of minutes, meaning customers can access near live updates on bathing-water quality rather than having to wait.

“This project will be a world first and a step change for our sector, helping to ensure healthier waters for our customers communities and our environment,” said Richard Warneford, wastewater director at Northumbrian Water, one of Smart Skies, Healthy Waters lead partners.

Meanwhile, a further £1.3 million has been awarded to Space Eye to transform the use of satellite technology for the water industry. The project will include the design, launch and operation of micro-satellites to provide continual imaging of the entire UK water pipe network.

Using machine-learning algorithms, Space Eye will be able to quickly locate leaks in pipes that become visible by rising to the surface, identify water wastage from unauthorised or unnecessary water use, and analyse surface water to check whether harmful chemicals are impacting water quality.

It could also be used to help water companies fix problems quickly, resulting in fewer delays for customers affected by water supply issues and minimise disruption.

Another winning project, SandSCAPE has received £2 million to test tank-like robots up to 5 metres in length that make chemical-free ‘slow sand filtration’ more efficient. 

While slow sand filtration is a highly effective, nature-based solution for cleaning water, it has a built-in inefficiency because of the need to regularly stop and drain the sand filters when making the water fit to drink. 

The robots being tested by SandSCAPE will trial underwater cleaning of sand filters while in operation, with the chemical-free alternative for water purification benefiting the environment while maintaining the highest water quality standards for consumers.

Another £1 million will go to TORCH, led by Anglian Water, to use AI to enable heat recovery from sewers and wastewater facilities for re-use in district heating networks, providing lower cost heating, cutting carbon emissions and helping to improve the performance of sewer assets.

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“Water underpins our society and economy, and the water sector faces a range of challenges requiring urgent solutions,” said David Black, CEO of Ofwat.

“The level of ambition of this year’s winners – including deploying robots, drones, satellites and state-of-the-art artificial intelligence – is remarkable. The 16 winning projects involve 15 water companies working with 70 partners – from world-class universities to engineering powerhouses, environmental charities and even NASA. 

“We are supporting these projects to prove their impact so that they can be scaled, not only here in England and Wales, but exported around the world as a driver of economic growth”.