FEATURES
Connecting the gaps: how satellite solutions can power AI water networks
Artificial intelligence has the potential to bring significant safety, sustainability and efficiency benefits to utilities. It can help operators detect leaks sooner, anticipate equipment failures, optimise water flows, and make better-informed decisions across increasingly complex networks, says Eric Verheylewegen,...
ZONESCAN HYDRO: Supporting water utilities in the drive to reduce water loss
Reducing leakage has become one of the biggest challenges facing water utilities across the UK. With growing pressure on water resources, increasing customer expectations, and stricter regulatory requirements, utilities are being asked to deliver significant reductions in water loss...
The missing data layer: scaling real-time DMA visibility for NRW reduction
Advanced NRW management and digital twins depend on continuous field data. Pydro’s self-powered PT1 is designed to remove the power, maintenance and integration barriers that stop real-time DMA monitoring from scaling.
TWater utilities must operate vast, ageing networks with greater...
Using satellites, AI and acoustic sensors to hunt down leaks as South-East drought intensifies
July 2026 was the driest in England since records began 190 years ago, according to the Met Office.
Thames Water is using AI, satellite data and tens of thousands of acoustic sensors to find and fix leaks faster, as drought...
Pinpointing leaks with greater efficiency
Finding a water leak is not always as straightforward as listening for it. As more of the UK water network transitions to plastic pipes and utilities face increasingly stringent leakage targets, operators need additional ways to detect leaks quickly...
Beyond accuracy: Why utilities are rethinking chemical dosing
By Mike St. Germain, Customer and Market Insights Lead: Industrial Sector at Watson-Marlow
Water and wastewater treatment plants are facing growing pressure to do more with less. Staffing shortages, rising operating costs and tightening environmental regulations are forcing operators to...
Water quality prioritised at UU treatment works
New infrastructure has been introduced at Over Kellet and Nether Kellet Wastewater Treatment Works, including new chemical dosing equipment.
The investment at the United Utilities sites, north of Lancaster, will reduce the phosphorus levels of effluent water and improve the...
Components and chemicals for water-treatment pumps
From power generation to wastewater treatment, when it comes to the handling of chemicals – including the most aggressive fluids – operators must make a number of vital considerations during pump selection to ensure components are compatible with the...
Granules to the rescue: How aggregating bacteria can make bioaugmentation work at scale
By Hansani Wahalathanthrige and Ian Williams, University of Southampton.
Bioaugmentation in wastewater treatment is the targeted introduction of pollutantdegrading or functionally specialised microbes into wastewater systems to increase removal rates, restore failing biological processes, or add capabilities that the native...
Setting the standard in chemical dosing
Chemical dosing may only be one part of a water treatment installation, but its performance has consequences in so many areas, particularly water quality, chemical use, compliance and asset reliability. At Liquid Metering Instruments (LMI), we provide a dosing...
Britain must believe that water is not a limitless resource
Cold, wet summers are becoming a distant memory. The recent run of UK summer hot, dry spells means that water usage restrictions, such as hose pipe bans and requests from water companies to minimise usage are becoming an annual...
Building water resilience through value engineering and asset optimisation
How do water companies deliver more for less? Matt Bateman, Water Sector Director, Costain, shares possible solutions.
Water companies are allocating record levels of investment to enhance water and wastewater infrastructure across the UK.
But there is a record number of...
Improving Actuator Reliability at Inlet Works
Practical approaches to reducing actuator failures and improving asset availability
Colin Borrows, Head of Sales, AUMA Actuators Limited
At wastewater treatment works, actuated inlet penstocks are among the most critical mechanical assets. As the first control point for incoming flow, failure...
Pennon places asset health and performance at heart of strategy
As water companies face increasing expectations around resilience, environmental performance and customer service, asset management has never been more important – and neither have the people behind it.
That’s the view of Ian Christie, who joined Pennon Group earlier this...
Triflex innovative inverted build-up enhances asset protection in the water sector
Innovation in the water industry is increasingly driven by the ability to adapt proven technologies to address persistent infrastructure challenges. One of the most critical issues is the management of thermal movement in large concrete water-retaining structures, where temperature...
Why the construction skills gap threatens AMP8 – and what we can do about it
More than a year into AMP8, too much of the sector remains stuck in first gear, and one issue above all is hampering progress, says Paul Curtis, Managing Director, Marshalls Civils & Drainage.
We all recognise that AMP8 is a...
Leadership skills shortage putting pressure on water projects
A shortage of people with the leadership skills needed to run complex water projects is emerging as one of the biggest workforce challenges facing the sector, according to new research.
‘Snapshot Survey of the Culture Shift in the UK Contract...
The water sector is investing in its future. Who will deliver it?
The water industry is entering one of the most significant periods of investment and change in its history. But infrastructure and technology alone won’t deliver that change – people will.
Ofwat’s PR24 programme represents £104 billion of expenditure between 2025...
Anglian Water’s @one Alliance building workforce to support £3bn AMP8 programme
The construction & infrastructure sectors are entering one of the most significant investment periods in recent memory.
And across the UK, billions of pounds are being committed to improving essential services, strengthening resilience and delivering the infrastructure needed for future...
Have your say in landmark water workforce report
Murray McIntosh has launched the 2026 Water Industry Labour Report survey as the sector grapples with skills shortages, growing public scrutiny and increased workforce demands.
As the water industry continues to face pressures and worker shortages, Murray McIntosh is launching the...
Are the new pension inheritance tax rules on your radar?
For employers across the water and wastewater sector, long-term planning is part of everyday working life. Asset investment, regulatory commitments, workforce resilience and customer outcomes all require decisions that balance today’s needs with tomorrow’s responsibilities. The same principle applies...
Using digital engineering to improve water system resilience & performance
By Caryn Novak, Senior Principal, Water Industry, Autodesk.
The resilience of the UK water sector is being tested. Utilities across the country are dealing with multiple, overlapping pressures at once, including ageing assets, population growth, tightening regulatory expectations, climate variability,...
Yorkshire Water scales AI-driven asset monitoring
Yorkshire Water is significantly expanding its predictive condition monitoring programme as part of its AMP8 investment.
Another 1,200 wastewater sewage pumping station assets and 300 clean water smart pumping assets will be monitored over the next 18 months.
The expansion is...
Our network heatwave failures aren’t just about infrastructure – it’s bad data
Water companies across the UK headed into another high-risk summer with a critical blind spot: not just in their pipes, but in their data. Nucleo CEO Bobby Brown – who has decades of experience working with national utilities –...
HARP: tunnelling into the future
The Haweswater Aqueduct – stretching from Cumbria to Greater Manchester – has long been recognised as a major feat of engineering. This vital gravity-fed pipeline is now undergoing a £3bn tunnel upgrade – one of the UK’s biggest ever...
What Makes Lead Pipe Replacement Projects Succeed?
The UK’s lead pipe replacement programme is, in theory, one of the most straightforward public health interventions imaginable: find the pipes, replace them, protect people. In practice, it’s proven stubbornly difficult to deliver at pace. Water companies are struggling...
Blasting Through the Nitrogen Removal Challenge in Wastewater
Wastewater treatment plants face increasing pressure to improve nitrogen removal. Under AMP8, water companies are expected to deliver significant reductions in both phosphorus and nitrogen through upgraded treatment processes, optimisation of assets, and wider environmental interventions. Nitrogen management is...
The solution to tightening phosphorus limits
Phosphorus is one of the most important issues in municipal wastewater treatment in AMP8. Here, Daniel Parry, Head of Sales – Municipal and Industrial, Water Tech, at Veolia, outlines what this means for operators and the technologies available to...
New insight reveals declining phosphorus levels in English rivers
The Environment Agency and the University of Stirling have published a report on the links between phosphorus concentrations and ecology in English rivers.
Phosphorus remains one of the most significant pollutants in England’s rivers. In recent decades, the overall concentration of phosphorous in...
New MBR will be UK’s largest
The UK’s largest membrane bioreactor (MBR) is being installed by United Utilities at its Wigan wastewater treatment works.
The scheme – part of a £230m investment – aims to slash phosphorus, ammonia and iron levels in treated wastewater before it...
