Water Utilities

A listing of research examples that have benefited the water utilities industry.

Pipe Dreams - what's in the pipeline?

The challenge

Enabling a transformation in the operation and management of buried water distribution system infrastructure, maximising performance to meet the combined impacts of climate change, increasing societal demands for water quantity and quality, ensuring the delivery of safe wholesome water for public health and well being throughout the 21st Century and beyond.

Reducing risks from emerging contaminants in water

The challenge

There has been mounting unease about the risk of synthetic chemicals to the environment and human health, particularly with regard to emerging contaminants like pharmaceuticals, personal care products and endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). While the occurrence of these contaminants in the water environment is usually very low, there may still be significant and widespread adverse environmental and human health consequences (e.g.

Removing endocrine disrupting chemicals and pharmaceuticals during wastewater treatment

The challenge

The presence of pharmaceuticals and endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and their potential to cause adverse effects in the aquatic environment has been the subject of increased scientific and public interest. The great diversity of these substances that are increasingly being found in the environment, their potential to have detrimental impacts even at very low concentrations and the great uncertainties that exist regarding their fate and true impacts warrant concern.

How can we prevent dryland reservoirs filling with sediment?

The challenge

Build a dam, interrupt the movement of water and, inevitably, the reservoir will fill with sediment brought down feeder rivers during floods.  The rate of fill varies with the condition of the water catchment ‘commanded’ by the impounding dam and especially with the amount of vegetation and any changes in landuse.  In drylands, with their sparse vegetation cover, reservoir ‘half-life’ – the lapse from the time of dam closure to that point at which half the capacity is lost – can be as little as 10-15 years.

The Mires-on-the-moors project: Can restoring moorlands enhance water supply, improve water quality and store more carbon in the landscape?

The challenge

On the uplands of Exmoor and Dartmoor, generations of peat-cutting and the creation of drainage ditches has caused the mires to dry out, which reduces the water-holding capacity of the moors. This increases the fluctuation in river flows throughout the year, making flooding more likely and decreasing the reliability of water supply in dry periods. In addition, soil erosion and the associated loss of soil carbon makes river water more expensive to treat.

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