UKWIR launches major research drive

UK Water Industry Research (UKWIR) has today announced its latest compendium of Expressions of Interest (EoIs). The UK's leading water sector research organisation invites the research and supply chain community to bid on 11 critical projects designed to redefine the sector’s approach to climate change, emerging pollutants and infrastructure resilience. 

As the water sector in the UK & Ireland strives to meet increasing expectations, whilst efficiently delivering the significant expenditure programmes in the face of climate threat, and England navigates the most substantial system reform in a generation, this research cycle supports a more integrated, system-wide approach. By strengthening the shared evidence base for cleaner water, improved resilience and water security can be achieved alongside better asset health and outcomes that customers can trust.   

“This programme cycle marks a shift from theory to scalable practice, bringing systems thinking to life through sector-wide insight,” said Mike Rose, chief executive, UKWIR. “The data and learning from these projects will provide the shared technical evidence needed to make effective, outcome-based decisions that benefit customers, communities the environment and support growth during a period of profound change.”  

Key research pillars in the 2025/26 cycle  

Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction   

A suite of high-impact projects focusing on the next frontier of decarbonisation: 

• Greenhouse gas (GHG) prevention and removal (CL1211): A pathfinder project to define and identify technologies for carbon capture and removal specifically relevant to water assets. 

• Minimising greenhouse gas emission impacts from capital investment (CL1212): Investigating how to scale-up lower-carbon construction materials and nature-based solutions to reduce embodied carbon. 

• GHG emissions from preliminary, primary and tertiary wastewater treatment (CL1214): Developing a standardised monitoring protocol for methane and nitrous oxide emissions from often-overlooked primary and tertiary treatment stages. 

Hazardous and Emerging Pollutants  

In line with the growing focus on ‘forever chemicals’, UKWIR’s research cycle supports the evidence, monitoring and decision-making needed to understand and reduce risks from PFAS and other emerging pollutants: 

• Understanding the carbon impact of water (CL1215): Quantifying the energy and process trade-offs involved in removing PFAS, microplastics and pharmaceuticals from wastewater, supporting clearer decisions on treatment pathways and outcomes. 

• Root causes of potable water coliform failures (DW1285): Leveraging historical UKWIR data and innovative tools to help water companies identify trends and root causes for elusive coliform detections, ultimately enabling more effective preventative actions. 

• Liable to contain hazardous pollutants in trade effluent sectors (WW1284): The project’s first phase establishes a comprehensive reference tool to help the water industry and industrial sectors identify, monitor, and mitigate hazardous pollutants (HPs) in trade effluent - creating a flexible framework for future monitoring, data-sharing and stakeholder engagement. 

Systems Thinking 

• Use of AMI meter data to distinguish internal and external leak types (L1229): Using machine learning and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) data to automatically distinguish between internal plumbing losses and external supply pipe leaks, ensuring more accurate regulatory reporting. 

• Drainage & Water Management Plans (DWMPs) - how to understand ecological/chemical status: urban and transport reasons-for-not-achieving-good (RNAG) status (SW1241): Developing a unified methodology and report for managing urban pollutants across the UK and Ireland, aligning with updated legislation to transform how sewer systems and transport infrastructure are jointly managed. 

• Unlocking global insights - Applying best practice to replacement rates (SW1243): Investigate global best practice in managing asset renewal rates, and regulatory frameworks to highlight the service and financial impacts of underinvestment; proposing data-driven improvements for deterioration modelling across the UK and Ireland. 

• Evidence of international approaches to managing rainwater where it lands (SW1245): Provide evidence to support UK and Irish governments in the development of legislation and regulation that promotes, supports and encourages managing rain better - from both a rainwater reuse and rainwater disposal point of view - near where it lands. 

• Assessing the costs and benefits of non-essential use bans (NEUB) (WR1252): To establish a commonly accepted and documented NEUB cost benefit analysis (CBA) methodology which may be considered for industry and regulatory adoption 

Upcoming EoIs that will be launching soon:  

• Blockages caused by wet wipes – economic and environmental evidence for change - industry-wide estimate 
  A new project to quantify the true system costs and impacts of wet-wipe related blockages—bringing together operational, customer and environmental evidence to support more effective prevention and intervention. 

Relaunch of the National Failures Database 
A project to modernise and relaunch UKWIR’s National Failures Database—unlocking sector-wide insight on asset health and failure patterns across water and wastewater infrastructure to support better, evidence-led decisions. 

How to apply 

UKWIR welcomes proposals from across academia, technology providers, environmental consultancies and the wider innovation community. We are especially interested in collaborative bids that bring diverse perspectives and innovative approaches, advancing research at the leading edge to generate insight the sector can use in practice. 

• View the full compendium: https://ukwir.org/express-interest-in-ukwir-projects 

• Submission deadline: 27 March 2026