News

The World Water Innovation Fund – a global partnership designed to encourage water companies to work together, has welcomed two new members on its first anniversary.

Almost one year on since the launch, the fund has gone from strength-to-strength, now boasting 12 global members, as PUB – Singapore’s national water agency and Aqualia from Spain are the latest water companies to sign up.

By joining the WWIF, PUB and Aqualia have pledged to work with other members from countries including the U.S, Brazil and Australia, sharing new technologies and best practice, with the shared purpose of protecting water for future generations.

The scheme now covers 60 million customers, 240,000km of pipes and 40,000 water industry experts. There are seven live trials currently on-going, focussing on new innovative ways to tackle leakage, pollutions, water quality, supply interruptions and discolouration, with many more planned for the future.

This major milestone for the fund was marked by Severn Trent hosting representatives from Aegea in Brazil and UK-based United Utilities recently. As part of the visit, they were given a guided tour of Severn Trent’s brand-new Resource Recovery and Innovation Centre outside Birmingham – a £5 million testbed to trial new approaches to sewage treatment.

Bob Stear, Chief Engineer at Severn Trent, said: “As a founder member of the World Water Innovation Fund, it felt only fitting to host members from Brazil and United Utilities recently, marking almost a year since it launched. In the spirit of sharing new technologies and best practice, we were proud to show off our new Resource Recovery and Innovation Centre, which will allow us to develop new ways of treating waste, featuring 16 plug and play locations and an onsite lab and classroom facilities.

“Announcing two new members to the fund – from Singapore and Spain, is the perfect way to celebrate its first birthday. Speaking on behalf of all the members, we’re delighted that they’ve joined us and we look forward to the exciting research and new ideas they’ll undoubtedly bring.

“Only recently, we published details of a new trial to detect leaks using fibre optic technology. This UK first trial forms part of the fund, so all of the learning we take from it will be shared with other members around the globe.”