New technologies that improve water quality, reduce pollution, and help customers have received a multi-million cash boost.

Ofwat, the water regulator in England and Wales, has awarded £5.2 million to a number of innovative, water company-led projects including a DNA test for water, a designer pipe-liner and mini robots that can prevent sewer pipes from bursting.

The awards are part of Ofwat's Water Breakthrough Challenge - a series of competitions from run by Nesta Challenges with innovation consultancies Arup and Isle Utilities. They are designed to drive innovation and collaboration in the sector in a way that benefits individuals, society and the environment.

Improving water and river quality

Several innovations to improve water quality have been awarded prizes.

UK water company Severn Trent, working with California-based Microvi Biotechnologies and Cranfield University, has been awarded £760,000 to begin work on a “biocatalyst solution” that uses microorganisms to remove ammonia from wastewater without generating nitrous oxide emissions - a gas 300 times more potent than CO2.

“Tapwater Forensics” is a consortium of seven water companies and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology. They have been awarded £370,000 towards establishing the UK as a leader in genetic sequencing of drinking water to revolutionise the ability to monitor and investigate water quality failures in the same way DNA testing revolutionised medicine and scientific research.

And £446,000 has been awarded to “SuPR Loofah” by Northumbrian Water, Welsh Water, the University of Newcastle and the University of Northumbria.

The project removes and recovers phosphorous run-off from agricultural fertilisers using engineered micro-algae. This prevents it causing damaging algal blooms and uncontrolled outbreaks of weeds in watercourses which can suffocate natural ecosystems. Phosphorous is an essential but finite energy-intensive chemical resource which is diminishing – this new circular approach would see it re-used as fertiliser in agriculture. It can also reduce imports of phosphorus for farming and its associated emissions from mining and transportation.

Fixing leaks and preventing pollution

Projects that could prevent leaks from water pipes and sewers, and keep repair costs down received £400,000.

The first was Yorkshire Water’s “Designer Liner” - which can be retrofitted into existing water pipes to prevent leaks and extend the life of the UK's water infrastructure. This in turn reduces the amount of water abstracted (removed) from watercourses- which should also reduce environmental impact while cutting energy usage and costs for customers.

Meanwhile, “Pipebots” from Thames Water, the University of Sheffield and Synthotech Ltd are robots that can monitor sewer rising mains from the inside. Too often, rising main faults only come to light should they burst. The robot monitors enable preventative inspections while the pipe is in use to minimise the risk of pollution spills by identifying faults before a pipe ever fails.

The second Water Breakthrough Challenge is a £39 million competition, which aims to bring forward industry-leading innovation that deliver benefits for water customers, society, and the environment, split into two streams, the £5.2m Catalyst Stream and the Transform Stream which will award up to £34m.