Research Gets £3.9m Funds to Tackle Water Challenges

A NEW £3.9million research project involving Newcastle University and Northumbrian Water will help ensure the UK maintains a clean, sustainable water supply for the future

Named TWENTY 65 (Tailored Water to ENsure sustainabiliTY beyond 2065), the new project announced today (October 16) by Mr Johnson is part of a wider £21 million programme led by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to meet the engineering challenges of the future.

TWENTY 65 will involve six universities and 26 companies from across the UK water sector, led by the University of Sheffield. The project aims to help the sector tackle key challenges, including population growth, ageing infrastructure and climate change, to ensure the UK maintains a clean, sustainable water supply for the future.

The universities involved – Sheffield, Exeter, Manchester, Reading, Newcastle and Imperial College London – will undertake research across eight technical themes: demand-based technologies, social practices, water energy systems to minimise carbon emissions and the use of robotic autonomous systems for infrastructure inspection and repair. Through these, the TWENTY 65 project aims to ensure flexible and adaptive water systems by developing multiple solutions and technologies that can be tailored to suit specific circumstances.

TWENTY 65 will also bring ten water companies, their supply chains and academic researchers together in a hub to encourage shared idea generation, strategic roadmapping, networking, innovation stimulation and research leadership.

Universities and Science Minister, Jo Johnson, said: “This £3.9 million investment will bring Sheffield’s researchers together with researchers across the nation to address some of the most pressing engineering challenges we face, help tackle our ageing water infrastructure to improve the lives of millions of people around the world.”

Professor Joby Boxall, from the University of Sheffield’s Faculty of Engineering and Director of Sheffield Water Centre, who will head the project, added: “Water supply is the foundation of society, but a service we are privileged to be able to take for granted in the UK. Our vision is that by 2065, collaborative innovation will have generated a water sector that is delivering sustainable, tailored water solutions that positively impact on public health, the environment, the economy and society."

New approaches and models for collaborative working across the water sector are an essential part of the project. “This is a truly unique and exciting opportunity to take a long-term view of how we can develop and implement technology to deliver transformative change,” said Professor Boxall. “We have support pledged from over 50 partners and will be looking to get more organisations on board.”

Earlier this year EPSRC set out four Engineering Grand Challenges facing the UK: Sustainable engineering solutions to provide water for all; cities of the future: restoring the balance between engineered and natural systems; identifying and building risk resilience into engineered systems and applying engineering across length scales from atoms upwards.

Source: Energy and Environment

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