The latest collaboration opportunities from...CP586 Smart Comms for Smart Meters CP602 Energy-Efficient Operation of Rising Mains CP603 Preventing Invert Corrosion in Rising Mains

independent | trusted | innovative The latest collaboration opportunities from

WRc Treatment Processes and Asset Management Solutions

independent | trusted | innovative

© Water Research Centre Limited 2019

We are delighted to share with you latest research proposals from WRc’s Asset Management Solutions and

Treatment Processes teams. We have deliberately shaped our latest project offer in areas that are relevant and

topical and give you value in the short term at this critical point in your regulatory price control cycle.

These collaborative projects are due to commence delivery in September 2019 and will, on the whole, be

substantially completed by March 2020, with the exception of a small number that address longer-term

objectives. Whilst some projects are relatively modest in scale and therefore very competitively priced, following

positive feedback from the sector on our last brochure, we have continued to include a small number of

larger projects which make best use of our bespoke laboratory and physical test facilities.

In all cases, we continuously challenge ourselves to deliver efficiency and value from collaborative research and

ensure the pricing is reflective of organisational commitments for WOCs and WaSCs, without compromising the

effectiveness of the research.

We trust you find this brochure of value and look forward to discussing the projects below with you:

Introduction

Thank you for considering our Summer 2019 portfolio of collaborative research. We welcome any

feedback you might have. A member of our team will be in touch soon to discuss the portfolio of

projects and any related research needs you may have.

Asset Management Solutions Treatment Processes

CP378 Instrument User Group (IUG)

CP584 Societal Impacts Forum

CP586 Smart Comms for Smart Meters

CP602 Energy-Efficient Operation of Rising Mains

CP603 Preventing Invert Corrosion in Rising Mains

CP604 How Green Are Your Meters?

CP605 Are Your Meter Manifolds Up To Spec?

CP595 Explosive Atmospheres: A Definitive Risk

Assessment Manual for the UK

CP597 Increasing Resilience To Achieve

Phosphorous Compliance

CP598 Water Stress and Reuse Forum

CP599 Offsetting Capex and Compliance Risk via

Low-Build/No-Build Solutions

Matt Hart Head of Asset

Management Solutions

Richard Addison Head of Treatment

Processes

© Water Research Centre Limited 2019 3

Business Benefits

The outputs of this project will enable

companies to:

The Need

Solution Duration:

Price per company:

Why WRc?

CP378 Instrument User Group (IUG)

Reliable, robust and cost-effective instrumentation is

a critical element of water company operations. With

UK water industry AMP7 spend in the rapidly

evolving area of instrumentation set to exceed £250

million, sharing knowledge and experience to inform

testing, procurement and the adoption of best

practice operations has a fundamental role to play.

In 2009, in response to requests from the industry,

WRc launched the Instrument User Group (IUG).

12 months

£5,500

The IUG is the recognised group within the water

industry for expertise on instrumentation.

The IUG meets four times a year with a series of

presentations and discussion sessions. These

meetings are held either at WRc (Swindon) or

hosted by one of the participating companies to

allow viewing of relevant instrument applications etc.

The Group collectively agrees the themes/topics to

be covered and the involvement of others (e.g.

vendors, other industry sectors).

WRc Contact: Dr Leo Carswell

Email: [email protected]

Telephone: +44 (0)1793 865131

WRc has a long track record of working

across the water sector with water

companies and the supply chain on

instrumentation related challenges. Our

support spans developing strategy and

best practice through to practical testing

and evaluation.

• Improve decision making and adoption of

best practice

• Select appropriate instrumentation and

adopt best practice in its installation,

operation and maintenance

• Collaborate and share costs for piloting

and evaluating instrumentation

technology to deliver testing which

meets the industry’s needs

• Resolve issues with and provide

technical direction to the supply chain


Business Benefits


companies to:

The Need

Solution Duration:

Price per company:

Why WRc?

CP584 Societal Impacts Forum

Water network operators are being challenged by

regulators to improve standards of service to customers at

reduced whole-life costs. As companies strive to offer the

best value for money to customers, operational efficiency

is a top priority. However, this cannot come at a cost to

society, where the general public, business and the

environment could be affected by network activities.

Despite no single comprehensive framework for valuing

societal impacts, many companies implement schemes

and practices aimed at reducing these. There is a need

for a forum in which best practice, ideas and case studies

can be shared to allow a focus on continual improvement

in how societal impacts are managed.

12 months

£5,500

This collaborative forum will bring together people from

network operators seeking to improve service to their

customers by sharing knowledge and best practice

around the measurement, quantification, management

and mitigation of social impacts. As technical secretariat,

WRc will facilitate quarterly forum meetings where

members will have the opportunity to:

• Access horizon scanning activities identifying new

technology, services and approaches from across the

globe;

• Learn from a range of industry sectors;

• Identify and support research opportunities addressing

current knowledge gaps and priorities;

• Demonstrate clear commitment to enhancing customer

experience.

• Deliver improved customer experience

• Share case studies and approaches on

improving customer experience and reducing

societal impacts

• Learn from and share ideas with other

industries.

• Understand the latest market ready and near

market ready technology, systems and

approaches

• Identify and explore research opportunities

WRc Contact: Jo Hulance


Telephone: +44 (0)1793 865068

.

WRc is an independent centre of excellence

at the forefront of assessing and mitigating

the social impact of network operations.

Completed in 2018, their most recent work in

this area provided water and gas network

operators with an approach to quantify social

impacts caused prior to, during and following

network activities.


Business Benefits


companies to:

The Need

Solution Duration:

Price per company:

Why WRc?

CP586 Smart Comms for Smart Meters

Smart meters offer the potential to revolutionise many

areas of a water company’s operations including leakage,

billing, water balance, and customer experience – all with

slightly different requirements in terms of frequency and

granularity of data.

Whilst the metering technology is well established, the

options for getting data back from meters are expanding

rapidly. All offer different attributes and capabilities – e.g.

power consumption, coverage, efficiency in different

environments, and size of data packets.

How can water utilities make sense of this array of options

to choose the most effective mix of solutions that will meet

its business needs, now and into the future?

This project will provide an independent and pragmatic

view of the options for communicating with meters. We

will work with all stakeholder groups to:

• Identify the data needs of the industry and the ability of

the technologies to provide timely data flows to support

billing, leakage and smart networks, as well as

satisfying customer expectations such as

communicating with smart home devices;

• Understand the potential of emerging solutions such as

narrow band internet of things (NBIoT), networks such

as Sigfox and LoRa and the future 5G network;

• Determine the likely fate of 2G and 3G mobile

networks and the need for two-way communication for

re-configuration;

• Present and interpret case studies from the UK and

overseas.

• Reliably obtain data from smart meters that

meets all business needs

• Make informed decisions about the

appropriate mix of technologies for remote

meter reading now and into the future

• Develop the flexibility in their meter reading

solutions needed to encompass different

operating environments

• Future proof meter reading solutions

• Avoid getting locked in to inappropriate

single source solutions

WRc Contact: Andy Godley


Telephone: +44 (0)1793 865060

With long-term involvement in the

development of smart water metering in the

UK, WRc was one of the leaders in the

industry’s Intelligent Metering Initiative (IMI),

and also ran the Smart Meter User Group.

WRc has also tested and evaluated many

remote meter reading solutions.

WRc combines this technical knowledge with

a deep understanding of the water industry

and its drivers and how they translate into

business needs.

6 months

£8,000


Business Benefits

Duration:

Price structure:

The original 1993 guide provided a risk assessment

method for certain atmospheric conditions. This was

revised by WRc in 2004 to include a wider range of

sewerage and wastewater treatment plant scenarios

and included a risk assessment calculator.

Shortfalls with the previous reports include:

• Possible over-prediction of risk from sludges and

biogas in process and storage

• Limited basis of measurements for dried sludge

and sewages

• Lack of full-scale validation of the estimation

method

In addition, a number of changes have been

implemented since 2004 assessments and 1993

measurements were carried out:

• Changes in sludge treatment processes have

occurred, e.g. the introduction of a range of

advanced sludge digestion processes;

• Changes in sewer flows;

• Changes to asset design standards ;

• Changes to asset operation and maintenance

practices;

• Developments to instrumentation.

CP595 Explosive Atmospheres: A Definitive

Risk Assessment Manual for the UK Water Industry

6

Business Benefits The Need

Solution Duration:

Price per company:

12 months

£35,000

WRc proposes a new, definitive Explosive

Atmospheres Risk Assessment Manual and

calculator tool that will replace and update previous

reports. We will consult widely and host a series of

meetings and workshops, attended by project

participants, to review previous reports and shape the

content of the new Manual.

This project provides an opportunity to shape the

development of a national, definitive Explosive

Atmospheres Risk Assessment Manual to:

• Reduce risks associated with explosive

atmospheres

• Reduce costs by avoiding unnecessary

investment

• Increase confidence that the design,

installation and operation of assets are

appropriate for managing the risk relating to

explosive atmospheres, including biogas

• Underpin the management of Health & Safety

with respect to explosive atmosphere risks

WRc Contact: Richard Addison


Telephone: +44 (0)1793 865184

Why WRc?

WRc offers independent research and development

services including water and wastewater process

optimisation, technology evaluation, trials and process

modelling for water and wastewater companies and their

suppliers. Our research is valued across the industry,

enabling confidence in the outcomes we deliver for our

clients.

Shortfalls in the present guidance will be addressed by

the new Manual which will incorporate:

• The current range of commonly used processes /

technologies

• On-site measurements and in-lab systems to validate

estimation factors for methane and volatile organics

emissions

On-site measurements will be carried out as part of this

project to provide up-to-date data for the Manual.

The development of the Manual will be facilitated by the

steering group comprising water industry representatives

and other partners. The manual will be published, under

copyright, for use by project participant companies.


Business Benefits

Duration:

Price structure:

WRc offers independent research and development services

including water and wastewater process optimisation,

technology evaluation, trials and process modelling for water

and wastewater companies and their suppliers.

CP597 Increasing Resilience to Achieve

Phosphorus Compliance

7


Solution

UK water companies are investing significant funds to

upgrade wastewater treatment plants to provide the

required treatment capability to achieve compliance with

demanding effluent discharge limits for phosphorus.

Routinely achieving such demanding effluent discharge

limits for phosphorus (often in the order of 1 mg/l or less)

can be challenging, particularly if any elements of the

existing treatment processes are under stress or

performing sub-optimally. Associated effluent discharge

limits for metals can add to the compliance challenge.

A best practice approach to achieve phosphorus

compliance is needed, informed by site data and

experiences gained from the roll-out of phosphorous

removal solutions across the UK.

Duration:

Price per company:

9 months

£17,500

This project will provide water companies with the means to

optimise phosphorus removal performance at existing sites

and to inform investment decisions and approaches for

sites awaiting upgrade. It will include:

• A research review to capture recent P-removal research

and innovative technologies;

• A workshop to capture good practice, issues, challenges

and opportunities;

• Development of a best practice document;

• Creation of a live phosphorus removal solutions

database;

• Project stakeholder sessions at which alternative

approaches can be identified and shared and the design

of project outputs can be influenced;

• Insight into treatment optimisation opportunities;

• Refinement of WRc’s phosphorus removal model using

available data, including predictive data for different

types of dosing equipment and the inclusion of site-

specific factors;

• Identification of circumstances when high chemical

dosing rates reflect poor mixing, with opportunities to

reduce chemical and sludge handling costs.

The benefits of joining this project include:

• Improved investment decisions, underpinned

by UK-wide data

• Increased resilience / compliance for

phosphorus

• Gain insight into performance of UK-wide

phosphorus removal solutions

• Maximise cost efficiencies through

application of best practice approaches

• Influence the shape of the project, share

costs of the research / access shared

learning



Telephone: +44 (0)1793 865184

Why WRc?

A workshop will be held to capture good practice, issues,

challenges and opportunities. This information will be used to

inform the focus of the project. Issues and challenges will be

investigated through a combination of site visits, literature

reviews and modelling.

Performance capability at a selection of existing phosphorus

removal sites will be examined taking account of:

• Phosphorus removal processes employed

• Chemical and mixing devices used

• Dose control and location(s) of chemical dosing

• Impact on phosphorus removal of existing treatment

processes

Generic learning points will be captured alongside specific

performance data to develop a best practice approach to

phosphorus removal.

A live database will be built to capture performance data

which will be analysed and used as evidence to determine

best practice approaches to provide optimal phosphorus

removal performance. Data captured will be used to provide

further optimise guidance for optimum dosing and mixing

arrangements.


Business Benefits

Duration:

Price structure:

The Water Stress and Reuse Forum is the latest planned

addition to a series of successful user groups run by WRc.

Our forums offer opportunities to keep up-to-date with

technology and share best practice in specific technical

areas through regular meetings with peers in water

companies, regulators and the supply chain. Forum

members tell us that they particularly value the networking

opportunities and consider the groups to be a cost-effective

use of time and excellent value for money.

CP598 Water Stress and Reuse Forum

8


Solution

The UK population is predicted to reach 71.4 million by

2030. Drought periods will cause increasing stress on

water availability.

Further restrictions on licenced abstraction of fresh water

and more stringent regulations on wastewater discharges

are anticipated as a consequence.

The UK Government has published a draft National

Policy Statement for water resources infrastructure

demanding at least 3,300 MLD of additional capacity in

the water supply system to maintain the current level of

resilience.

Innovative approaches to mitigate the impact of

increased water stress are required to offset risks.

Duration:

Price per company:

12 months

£5,750

A forum co-ordinated by WRc to achieve the following:

• Improved awareness and knowledge of water stress /

reuse issues, opportunities and constraints;

• Gain an insight into technical innovations / supply

chain solutions;

• Share and adopt best practice for use of treatment

technologies;

• Bring knowledge from across the world to the UK;

• Networking opportunity with water industry

colleagues with an interest in water stress / reuse.

The Water Stress and Reuse forum will run for a period

of 12 months with four meetings scheduled over the

period. The initial meeting will be hosted by WRc in

Swindon. There will be an opportunity for subsequent

meetings to be hosted by participants to enable the

group to see examples of innovative water stress

management schemes and reuse initiatives at first hand

and to move the meeting to different parts of the country

to balance travelling requirements.

The Water Stress and Reuse forum will focus on key

water stress and reuse themes selected by the Forum

participants which will incorporate input from supply

chain representatives, regulators and other

stakeholders.

The benefits of joining this Forum include:

• Reduce water stress impact risks through

enhanced knowledge and understanding of

innovative mitigation options

• Improve quality of water stress management

outcomes through the development of best

practice approaches for the planning and

design of reservoir, desalination, water reuse

and water transfer schemes

• Coordination with Regional Water Resources

Groups in the UK



Telephone: +44 (0)1793 865184

Why WRc?

Each session will focus on a key water stress / reuse theme,

voted for by participants. Potential themes could include:

• Water re-use opportunities, constraints and risks

• Innovative technologies to reduce water stress

• Regional approaches to manage water stress

It is anticipated that the agenda will incorporate themed

presentation(s), group discussion of current experience and

recent initiatives; supplier presentations and demonstrations;

and site visits to bring water re-use initiatives to life.

Following each session, WRc will issue copies of

presentations and meeting notes (incorporating an overview

of site visits).

There will be an option to extend the scope of the project to

produce short insight reports which could, for example,

include the identification and evaluation of alternative

treatment technologies for adoption by UK water companies.

Any additional work would be optional and would be subject

to additional subscription costs for interested participants.


Business Benefits

Duration:

Price structure:

WRc’s independence and technical expertise is central to

our robust approach to testing and evaluation of

technologies, products and technical services. Through

our Portfolio collaborative research programme, we

enable the sharing of cost, risk and knowledge. Our

research is valued across the industry, enabling

confidence in the outcomes we deliver for our clients.

CP599 Offsetting Capex and Compliance Risk via

Low-build/No-build Solutions

9


Solution

Many wastewater treatment works across the UK are

currently operating outside of their design capacity /

capability and as a consequence present a significant

compliance risk. The cost of replacement or upgrade of

these assets using traditional approaches to mitigate

this risk may place an excessive demand on capex

funding and/or timing of investment.

Retrofit technologies and low build / no build solutions

that have the capability to enhance & extend

performance are required to offset capex and

compliance risk.

Duration:

Price per company:

6 months

£16,000

A low-cost solutions matrix will be produced which will

align solutions to a range of treatment scenarios for

both short and medium term applications. Participant

water company issues and challenges will be examined

to provide focus for the research:

• WRc-facilitated workshop to define challenges,

issues, needs and scope;

• Site visits to confirm current status;

• Identification and evaluation of no-build and low-

build solutions, including retrofit technologies;

• Creation of an unconstrained list of technologies /

no-build and low-build solutions;

• Evaluation and prioritisation of technologies / no-

build and low-build solutions;

• Creation of a low-cost solutions matrix.

This project will identify common treatment

performance issues and challenges and will examine

underlying causes of sub-optimal performance /

resilience issues to enable the identification of suitable

retrofit technologies and low-build / no-build solutions.

The benefits of joining this project include:

• Offset or negate capital investment through

delivery of a low-cost solutions matrix to

manage compliance risk

• Establish treatment specific retrofit

technologies and low build / no build

solutions for wastewater assets

• Achieve short-term compliance with

minimum investment

• Extend asset life through use of retrofit or

operational solutions

• Shared cost and learning opportunity



Telephone: +44 (0)1793 865184

Why WRc?

Site visits will be undertaken to examine a selection of

reported issues performance / resilience issues. Site

performance data from sample sites, where appropriate,

will be used to confirm understanding of issues.

Retrofit and low-build / no-build solutions will be identified

and evaluated to determine suitable solutions to resolve

prioritised issues / challenges.

On completion of this project, there will be an option to

extend the project to incorporate trials of the most

promising retrofit technologies / low-build / no-build

solutions. The scope of this further work would be flexible

but could potentially include:

• Trial design

• Creation of trial protocols

• Management of trials

• Evaluation of performance

• Technology adoption support

• Check whether this is valid can we add more benefits?


Business Benefits


companies to:

The Need

Solution Duration:

Price per company:

Why WRc?

CP602 Energy-Efficient Operation of Sewer Rising Mains

Friction in the pipeline is responsible for most energy

losses over long distances. Minimising flow velocities

reduces friction and in turn energy usage from pumping.

Most wastewater pumping stations in the UK operate

intermittently according to pre-set levels in the wet well.

This means that rising mains operate at much greater

velocities than if they were operated continuously.

Intermittent pumping also produces cyclic loading (and

pressure transients) which can significantly reduce the

asset life of certain rising mains. Continuous pumping

would extend the life of these more vulnerable assets. In

other European countries, continuous operation of pumps

is much more common and some rising mains are known

to operate without sedimentation at much lower velocities.

9 months

£15,000

WRc will:

• Review the literature on sediment transport in rising

mains to provide better guidance of determining

specific minimum velocities for each main, taking into

account local conditions;

• Identify the local conditions under which intermittent

pumping can be most harmful to neighbouring assets,

and determine feasible alternatives for a number of

case study sites;

• Produce guidance for companies to investigate the

feasibility of using continuous pumping at a site and to

estimate the energy, carbon and capital maintenance

savings that could arise.

• Achieve cost savings through reduced

energy use at wastewater pumping stations

• Reduce the risk of rising main bursts due to

pressure transients and fatigue failure of the

main

• Extend the asset life of some rising mains,

allowing companies to defer their

rehabilitation

• Learn from international practices on the

successful alternative operation of

wastewater pumping stations

WRc Contact: Peter Henley


Telephone: +44 (0)1793 865022

WRc has a strong track record in the

investigation of rising mains failures and

assisted in drafting the European Standard

EN 16932 on the design of wastewater

pumping stations.

We have also undertaken research for a

consortium of water companies and the

Carbon Trust investigating improved pump

management to minimise whole life costs by

optimising capital maintenance and energy

costs.


Business Benefits


companies to:

The Need

Solution Duration:

Price per company:

Why WRc?

CP603 Preventing Invert Corrosion in Rising Mains

Invert corrosion is an increasingly common failure

mechanism of ductile iron rising mains. Internal abrasion

and/or corrosion of a series of evenly spaced pits along

the invert eventually join up to form a slot which can

extend along the entire length of the main. The regular

pattern of the corrosion/abrasion raises many questions

as to the mechanism and why abrasion should take this

pattern only in rising mains. The presence of corrosion

also raises questions, as the rising mains generally have

low or no dissolved oxygen and corrosion takes place in a

part of the pipe which is not exposed to air. In order to

predict where these failures occur and to prevent them it

is necessary to understand the mechanism of failure.

Remediation is expensive but failures frequently cause

pollution incidents before a repair can be completed.

12 months

£25,000

WRc will:

• Undertake a detailed research review to ensure that

international evidence of similar failure modes is

captured;

• Replicate rising main flow conditions in a controlled

environment to investigate the mechanisms of

sediment transport in rising mains;

• Use a bespoke test rig to understand how abrasion by

bed load sediment movement leads to invert corrosion;

• Through laboratory testing, investigate the chemical

and biochemical composition of wastewater from

previously affected mains to determine the processes

by which chemical attack occurs.

• Prevent costly pollution incidents caused by

invert corrosion failures of ductile iron rising

mains

• Identify which parts of their network are at

risk of invert corrosion

• Inform proactive inspection and repairs

• Provide guidance on inspection techniques

to identify invert corrosion

• Identify suitable materials for repair or

renovation of mains that will be resistant to

invert corrosion so that repeat failures do not

occur

WRc Contact: Peter Henley


Telephone: +44 (0)1793 865022

WRc has a strong track record in the

investigation of failures in sewer rising mains.

WRc have undertaken a large number of

investigations of individual failures for clients.

In 2016-17 WRc undertook a major project

The Rising Main Doctor - to provide definitive

guidance on the investigation of rising main

failures.


Business Benefits


companies to:

The Need

Solution Duration:

Price per company:

Why WRc?

CP604 How Green Are Your Meters?

All water companies are expanding their metering

programmes, deploying more household water meters

and increasing the number of meters which can be read

by AMR, whether walk-by, fixed network radio or NBIoT.

Meters themselves have also been transformed in recent

years to meet the smarter agenda. Most small water

meters are now polymer, rather than brass bodied, and

incorporate electronics and radio transmitters powered by

lithium batteries with a finite life.

As companies install and replace more and more meters,

they need to account for their environmental and societal

impacts. They need to understand the scope for recycling

or materials recovery from new technology meters –

particularly when compared to older brass bodied meters.

6 months

£7,000

This project will map the life cycle of a modern polymer

bodied smart water meter with particular attention to end

of life. It will analyse the components within a typical new

smart meter – polymer bodied, battery powered,

electronic, comms enabled – and compare these with a

traditional metal bodied meter. This will take account of

the materials used, the addition of electronics and

batteries and the lifetime of the meter.

It will also explore the current position and trends in

regulations with regard to disposal of electronic equipment

and hazardous waste.

The output will be an evidence based methodology for

assessing the environmental impact of migration to smart

water meters.

• Demonstrate corporate social responsibility

• Account for the environmental and societal

impacts of deploying more and smarter water

meters

• Understand the environmental impacts of

moving from traditional brass bodied meters

to radio enabled plastic meters

• Ensure that environmental impacts are taken

fully into account during meter procurement



Telephone: +44 (0)1793 865060

WRc is in a unique position with experts in

both water metering who know and

understand the trends in meter technology

and deployment, and experts in waste,

recycling and resource efficiency. By bringing

experts from these teams together we can

provide a highly informed and independent

analysis of the environmental impacts of the

changes in metering technology.


Business Benefits


companies to:

The Need

Solution Duration:

Price per company:

Why WRc?

CP605 Are Your Meter Manifolds Up To Spec?

Around 85% of water meters are installed external to the

property in a boundary box, with the meter held in a

manifold (or carrier). In such a fitting, the meter inlet and

outlet are arranged concentrically such that water flows up

through an annulus, and out through a central connection.

The dimensions of the fittings are defined in the water

meters standard ISO4064.

However, in recent studies it has been shown that some

manifolds on the market, and installed, do not comply with

the standard. This means there is a risk that:

• Water can pass directly from inlet to outlet by-passing

the meter and not being recorded; and

• There can be increased stress on the meter body,

particularly plastic bodied meters, leading to premature

and catastrophic failure.

8 months

£9,800

This project will assess the extent of this problem and its

implications by:

• Surveying manifolds currently installed and held in

stores and measuring samples of new manifolds from

UK suppliers;

• Testing pressure tightness of the internal seal with

different meter / manifold combinations;

• Identifying variables that might impact on meter sealing

and quantifying their impact;

• Carrying out tests to measure the unrecorded water

through out of spec manifolds with different meter /

manifold combinations;

• Developing an easy-to-use QA tool to help identify out-

of-spec manifolds;

• Evaluating the risk of meter failure.

• Effectively engage with manifold suppliers

• Evaluate potential for unrecorded water due

to out-of-specification manifolds

• Mitigate against premature catastrophic

meter failure due to sub-standard manifolds



Telephone: +44 (0)1793 865060

WRc has a long history of work in water

metering. We have tested tens of thousands

of meters and understand metering

technologies. We have extensive test and

inspection facilities that will allow us to

provide an expert insight into the extent and

potential implications of this problem.

independent | trusted | innovative

© Water Research Centre Limited 2019

Your topic here

What would you like to see featured? Do

you want to help shape the future of the

water sector and environment?

Water is a societal issue. Water is needed and used by every person every day whether that is for drinking, cooking, cleaning, recreation or industry. So we

recognise that not all of our water-related research needs will be delivered by the water sector alone. Our new ‘Portfolio +’ series aims to bring together

collaborations across different sectors, and in partnership with different individuals, businesses, academic institutions and sector representatives to investigate and

provide solutions to some of the biggest problems facing society and the environment over the next 25 years. A flavour of just 2 of our planned research

programmes are provided here – do get in touch if you’d like to find out how to get involved.

Portfolio +

If you are interesting in helping to shape one of these multi-disciplinary, far-reaching and ambitious projects

with us please get in touch.

Contact: Simon Ayley, [email protected] or call 07540 892972

Responding to Microplastics Societal water use

Water is a prime vector for the spread of micro-plastic

pollutants and requires an integrated programme to

address the threat to both health and the environment.

This holistic programme of work will:

- Evaluate or develop sensors for use at all stages of

the water cycle to identify and quantify their

presence.

- Test treatment processes that seek to remove them

from raw water and wastewater, as well as exploring

the efficacy of removal at point of entry to the sewer.

- Explore options for energy efficiency processing,

reuse or recycling.

Water efficiency is a topic that needs to be addressed

at a societal, rather than household level, as our

behaviours and lifestyles evolve.

This ‘find-out and fix’ programme of work will:

- Explore where different life-stage segments spend

time, and use water in today’s society.

- Identify motivations and drivers for water use.

- Hold behavioural practice workshops to look at

alternative practices, and derive non-water based

interventions.

- Pilot and evaluate community based intervention.

- Consider the impact of life-style tariffs to support

water saving practices.

Facilitating the required training solutions to share,

develop and retain knowledge for the success and

improvement of the water and environment sectors

For more information please contact our Academy Training Coordinator at:

www.wrcplc.co.uk/academy [email protected]

Documents

The latest collaboration opportunities from...CP586 Smart Comms for Smart Meters CP602 Energy-Efficient Operation of Rising Mains CP603 Preventing Invert Corrosion in Rising Mains