Australian - British Utilities Partnership

Partnerships Between Water Utilities and Academia in Australia and the Uk are Developing Innovative Solutions to Water Scarcity Problems

An experiment is currently underway at a wastewater treatment plant on the edge of Melbourne, Australia. Covering the surface of two vast tanks of untreated water runs a thick layer of algae. Scientists from Flinders University are monitoring the algal ponds closely in the hope of eventually generating liquid biofuel.

The potentially breakthrough project is just one of over 230 other industry-oriented research initiatives to receive funding from theSmart Water Fundover the last decade. Set up in 2002 by order of the government of the Australian state of Victoria, the fund receives AU$1m (£550,000) a year from each of Melbourne's four major water utilities.

"The Fund was pulled together at a time of water scarcity problems and was looking for innovative research outcomes," says Damien Connell, who manages Melbourne Water's involvement in the Fund, which has generated AU$33m in direct investment so far and unlocked a further AU$32m in in-kind and cash funding.

Another cutting-edge project currently financed by the Fund is the development of a miniature, low-cost detection device to identify the presence of recycled water in the mains water supply. TheHawk Measurement Systememploys an electric conductivity sensor to provide real-time alerts of cross contamination. Aparallel research project, led by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, is looking to develop a similar sensor using ultra-violet absorbance or fluorescence techniques.

Prototypes of the two sensors are being trialed at Yarra Valley Water's Brudley Creek recycled water plant. Two of the projects' other industry partners, Western Water and South East Water, will also undertake field trials to test the prototypes' real-world application.

"It's progressing quite well. They've come up with the technology, the algorithms and the metres to test the [system's] sensitivity… We actually don't know if anyone in the world has done this. It's certainly an Australian first," says Connell.

The Smart Water Fund's portfolio of projects isn't just focused on technology, engineering and other hard sciences. Among the research streams undertaken by Melbourne's half-dozen or so universities via the Fund are examples of "softer" science too. One notable project, for instance, looks at how water utilities canbetter serve vulnerable customers. As a direct result, the participating utilities have tweaked their billing systems and introduced specific training for customer service contacts.

"Companies in the water industry typically don't have their own big research areas, so they actually rely on universities to be making these discoveries and then bringing these latest ideas and thinking back to us," Connell explains.

UK: playing catch-up

The Australian example is not without precedent. Prior to the privatisation of the UK's major water utilities under Margaret Thatcher, industry funding of university research was similarly mandated in Britain. Over the last two decades, however, cross sector collaboration between the UK water sector and academia has grown far more piecemeal and ad hoc.

"It's difficult to find a good point of entry with many companies", says Duncan Thomas, a water specialist at Manchester Business School. He describes the relationship between the water sector and academia as "poorly financed", "poorly organised" and "low-level compared to the challenges" facing the water sector.

"Turning research into something commercially useful is not a straightforward or short process", he adds. "They [UK water companies] have been quite short-termist. Even though they submit to the regulators 25-year business plans, they're not binding and they don't tend to outline research plans."

A squeeze on public funding, however, means that the UK's research community is increasingly anxious to partner with business. It's not just about corporate cash. Industry partnerships facilitate exposure to "more interesting, real world problems," says Thomas.

To that end, Leeds University is pooling together water expertise from across all its departments toshowcase its innovation capacities. The university, which counts 150 academics working on water-related themes, already has a strategic partnership with engineering firm Arup. Manchester University has a similarpan-campus networkon water.

One UK university that has had more success than most is Bath. The West Country university has just agreed a £3m partnership with the regional water utility Wessex Water, resulting in the newWater Research and Innovation Centre. Due to officially open on 17 November, the centre will have 17 core academic staff, plus links to around 35 other full-time researchers across the university.

Source: The Guardian

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• Waste Water Treatments
• Research
• Water Utility