- Ofwat’s Water Breakthrough Challenge has awarded £1.5million to four Thames Water led projects which will help customers, communities, and the environment
- The projects will focus on incentivising community rainwater management, standardising digital technology, seasonal forecasting tools and using robots in pressurised sewage systems
- The Water Breakthrough Challenge is designed to drive innovation and collaboration in the water sector
- Thames Water’s £1.5million award is part of the £39million Water Breakthrough Challenge fund being issued this year. Further projects to receive funding will be announced in the Spring
- This project will trial robots to carry out inspections in pressurised sewage pipes to help prevent bursts and pollutions.
- This project will create a reliable weather impact modelling and forecasting system which will help water companies forecast weather events beyond 10-14 days to 4-6 weeks. This will help the water industry better manage its resources and operational management capabilities for dry and wet weather events.
- This project will trial community incentivisation schemes for rainwater management, to help stop excess surface water from entering the sewer network.
- A ‘digital twin’ is a virtual representation of a water company’s physical assets or processes, for example a digital version of its pipe network and water treatment process. Water companies use these digital twins to unlock new data-driven innovations, which can improve their services and how they manage their networks for the benefit of customers. More companies are using digital twins but there is no agreed standard model and process for creating them, which has the potential to create inefficiencies, reduce the value delivered by these systems and increase costs. This project will create standards to support consistent digital twins throughout the industry.
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