WIREDGOV

Nineteen pioneering solutions to some of the biggest challenges facing the water sector have been awarded £58 million, as the winners of the sixth Water Breakthrough Challenge are announced. 

• Pioneering innovation projects have been awarded £58 million by the Water Innovation Fund.
• The sixth Water Breakthrough Challenge sought bold solutions that tackle the water sector’s biggest challenges.
• Winners include fungi that clean water, AI-enabled microphones to monitor river life, 3D printed concrete infrastructure to cut the cost and emissions of upgrades, and AI wastewater monitoring to alert the NHS to superbugs.
• Winning partnerships see water companies working with multi-sector partners, including the King’s Trust, NHS, National Trust, Thames 21, SUEZ, and 11 of the UK’s leading universities.

The successful projects, which span technological, engineering and nature-based approaches, will receive the funding from Ofwat’s Water Innovation Fund, which is investing £600 million between 2020 and 2030 to advance and scale innovative projects in England and Wales that can help to achieve net zero, protect natural ecosystems, and prevent leaks and pollution.

Each project sees water companies work in collaboration with a diverse set of partners – from environmental charities and leading universities to technology and engineering companies – with the purpose of changing how the water sector operates to transform its impact for customers, communities and the environment.

The winning projects include Mycofiltration: Using Fungi as a Natural Way to Improve Water Quality, which has been awarded £1.5 million to trial fungal-based filters at storm overflows and run-off sites to remove pollutants from river water in a low-carbon, cost-effective way.

Mycelia are exceptional at filtering water – a process known as mycofiltration – due to their dense, fibrous structure, which acts as a physical mesh, and their ability to secrete powerful enzymes that chemically break down contaminants including heavy metals, insecticides, and bacteria – turning them into harmless compounds. The project is led by Anglian Water, in partnership with Spore & Anvil, Flete Field Lab, Barhale, University of Essex, Imperial College London, South East Water, Spring Innovation and others.

Good Vibrations: Ecoacoustic river health monitoring has been awarded £1.5 million to develop technology that uses acoustic signals and AI to listen to the health of rivers. Healthy rivers are rich in life, which in turn produces sound and this project will use underwater microphones to capture these acoustic signals. AI will then analyse the recordings and translate them into insights about river ecosystem health. This solution overcomes challenges faced by traditional monitoring techniques, which offer only occasional snapshots of river health. It is led by Severn Trent Water, in partnership with SUEZ, the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, and others.

Tackling the challenge of upgrading infrastructure and building additional capacity in the water system, Printfrastructure 2.0 has been awarded £1.9 million to advance 3D concrete printing for wastewater infrastructure to enable onsite construction of larger storage tanks using low-carbon, water-approved materials. Building on earlier success in Water Breakthrough Challenge 3, which demonstrated up to 50% reduction in CO2e for concrete infrastructure while cutting construction costs by 8%, Printfrastructure 2.0 aims to speed up delivery, cut costs and carbon, and reduce pressure on constrained supply chains. It is led by Northumbrian Water, in partnership with Changemaker 3D Limited and others.

£2 million has been awarded to a 12-month pilot project in Leicester to monitor wastewater in the city for antibiotic resistant infections – also known as superbugs. Smoke in the Water: Uncovering Public Health Data in Sewers, will combine AI, clinical data, and in-sewer monitoring to identify resistance trends – working to support public health protection across the UK. It is led by Severn Trent Water in partnership with the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Kando Environmental, Resistomap and others.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is the ability of bacteria to resist antibiotics – it is a silent pandemic predicted to kill 10 million people a year by 2050 globally. Wastewater monitoring can be used to detect AMR within populations earlier, since antibiotic resistant microbes are discharged into wastewater from people taking antibiotics who have drug resistant bacteria.

Jo Jolly, Director, Innovation, Ofwat, yesterday said:

“The water sector is going through its biggest transformation in 30 years. We have to make sure these changes drive far better outcomes for society and the environment. Multiple urgent challenges must be solved. And, importantly, our mindset must change. So that’s our mission: bold, innovative solutions that take a long-term approach to the health of our vital water system and the impact of the water industry on environments and communities. This line-up of winners shows us just what can be achieved when we set our minds to it.”

Phil Buckingham, Head of Research and Innovation, Anglian Water, lead partner of Mycofiltration: Using Fungi as a Natural Way to Improve Water Quality, yesterday said:

“This funding will play a pivotal role in expanding natural technologies across the water sector. It will enable us to scale up our innovative approach: harnessing the filtration superpower of mycelia to enhance water quality, which will have a direct benefit on local wildlife and ecosystems, as well as the communities who use these environments day-to-day. Our immediate focus is to trial our fungal-based filters at storm overflows and run-off sites and gather the evidence needed to scale what works.”

Dr Lori Lawson Handley, Senior Freshwater Molecular Ecologist UK at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, partner of the Good Vibrations: Ecoacoustic river health monitoring project, yesterday said:

“Our project is a unique opportunity to combine eco-acoustics with environmental DNA analyses to provide detailed, real-time insights into how river biodiversity responds to stress from pollution and climate change. This helps us to understand the health of our rivers and showcase their biodiversity, which is normally hidden from view. With the £1.5 million that we’ve received through the challenge, we will ground truth and upscale emerging technologies to have a far-reaching impact on river biodiversity monitoring, while delivering benefits to the water sector and communities nationwide.”

Other winners include Headstart: unlocking the value of headwater catchments, which is led by Anglian Water in partnership with the National Trust, Freshwater Habitats Trust, Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, Nottingham Trent University and others. It has been awarded £7 million to test practical upgrades to treatment works and nature‑based solutions in headwater catchments – which is where rivers and streams begin.

Community Water Enterprises: Local People Caring for Local Nature and Water, led by Wessex Water in partnership with the King’s Trust, National Trust, Thames 21, Rivers Trust and others, has won £5 million to bring together customers, communities, utilities, councils, charities and beyond, to look after and maintain nature-based water management solutions such as rain gardens and wetlands.

I’m a P-Leaver: Utilising Biochar for Phosphorus and PFAS removal, led by Severn Trent Water in partnership with Harper Adams University, the University of Exeter, Shropshire County Council, Nijhuis Saur Industries and others, has been awarded £1.6 million to engineer a circular solution to remove PFAS and phosphorus from wastewater using biochar made from pyrolysed sewage sludge.

The Water Breakthrough Challenge is delivered by innovation prize experts Challenge Works (part of Nesta), in partnership with Arup and Isle Utilities, and funded by Ofwat’s Water Innovation Fund. The seventh Water Breakthrough Challenge will open for entries on 7 September 2026.

The Water Innovation Fund is a key pillar in Ofwat’s mission to drive innovation that ensures the water sector is ready for the challenges of the future and results in better outcomes for customers and the environment.

To find out more about all 19 winners of the sixth Water Breakthrough Challenge or to discover previous winners, visit waterinnovation.challenges.org

Notes to Editors 

For all media enquiries, please contact Andrew McKay, Bella Weetch and Ted Mackey on waterinnovation@seven-consultancy.com or call +44 (0)20 7754 3610

Full List of Water Breakthrough Challenge 6 winners

Carbon Harvesting for Energy (CH4NGE) – led by Yorkshire Water Services in partnership with Xylem Water Solutions, Cranfield University, Thames Water and United Utilities – £1,632,265. Treating wastewater produces sludge and other waste byproducts which is disposed of, despite it containing resources that could create value. This project is trialling a new way to treat wastewater in order to capture and reuse more valuable carbon-based resources such as nutrients for agriculture, produce more renewable energy and reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions from the current sludge treatment process. The project will use Xylem’s filtration system to capture real-world data, in a bid to help the water sector achieve net zero.

Chemnovate – Circular and Low Carbon Chemical Solutions for Drinking Water – led by Anglian Water in partnership with Cranfield University, Essex and Suffolk Water, Northumbrian Water, Scottish Water and Spring Innovation – £1,931,201. Developing a holistic approach to reduce the chemical, waste and energy burden of UK drinking water treatment, which currently costs over £60m a year and generates 60,000 tonnes of CO₂e. The project will test innovative, low‑energy techniques to recover and reuse water treatment chemicals, cutting waste, costs and carbon emissions.

Community Water Enterprises: Local People Caring for Local Nature and Water – led by Wessex Water in partnership with the King’s Trust, National Trust, Thames 21, Rivers Trust and others – £4,982,762. This locally-rooted project is bringing together customers, communities, utilities, councils, charities and others to look after and maintain nature-based water management solutions such as rain gardens and wetlands. These create greener spaces that soak up rain, reduce flood risk, ease pressure on sewers to reduce overflows, and protect rivers – helping the water sector to combat its key challenges.

Good Vibrations: Ecoacoustic river health monitoring – led by Severn Trent Water in partnership with SUEZ, the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Yorkshire Water, United Utilities, and Anglian Water – £1,567,846. A new way to monitor river health by ‘listening’ to rivers. Healthy rivers are rich in life, much of which produces sound – this project will use underwater microphones to capture these acoustic signals. Artificial intelligence will then analyse the recordings and translate them into insights about the health of rivers and the life they support.

Headstart: unlocking the value of headwater catchments – led by Anglian Water in partnership with the National Trust, Freshwater Habitats Trust, Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, Nottingham Trent University and others – £6,954,765. Developing practical framework to help water companies improve river health by focusing on headwater catchments – the location at which rivers and streams begin. The project will test practical upgrades to treatment works and nature‑based solutions. In each demonstration, a small wastewater treatment works upgrade will be combined with practical nature-based actions in the headwaters, such as improving land management, restoring streams and creating ponds and wetlands. The results will be used to create a web-based tool which helps water companies decide where treatment works upgrades will most improve headwater quality, where headwater restoration will deliver the biggest benefits for biodiversity and ecosystem services, and to identify which types of measures will deliver the most benefits in a catchment.

Hydrothermal Oxidation – led by Anglian Water in partnership with AtkinsRealis, Cetogenix, Cranfield University, Severn Trent Water, Northumbrian Water, Spring Innovation and others – £9,240,088. Burning waste to destroy harmful substances produces harmful emissions – but what if you could destroy harmful substances without burning them? This project is developing a commercial-scale process that breaks down organic waste using water at very high temperature and pressure. Oxygen is added, causing the materials to oxidise within water, in the same way they would oxidise when burnt, converting harmful substances into carbon dioxide (which can be captured), water, and salts. This project aims to replace the current practice of spreading sewage sludge to agricultural land, instead converting wastewater into useful bioresources.

I’m a P-Leaver: Utilising Biochar for Phosphorus and PFAS removal – led by Severn Trent Water in partnership with Harper Adams University, the University of Exeter (CREWW), Shropshire County Council, Nijhuis Saur Industries and others – £1,628,842. Engineering a circular solution to remove PFAS and phosphorus from wastewater using biochar made from pyrolysed sewage sludge. The project will test whether modified biochar can capture chemical pollutants and fertilisers for reuse, helping to protect rivers, cut costs, support farming, and boost sustainability.

Mycofiltration: Using Fungi as a Natural Way to Improve Water Quality – led by Anglian Water in partnership with Spore & Anvil, Flete Field Lab, Barhale, University of Essex, Imperial College London, South East Water, Spring Innovation and others – £1,522,159. Mycelia are exceptional at filtering water – a process known as mycofiltration – due to their dense, fibrous structure, which acts as a physical mesh, and their ability to secrete powerful enzymes that chemically break down contaminants including heavy metals, insecticides, and bacteria, turning them into harmless compounds. The project will trial fungal-based filters at storm overflows and run-off sites to remove pollutants in a low-carbon, cost-effective way – harnessing the filtration power of fungal mycelium to improve water quality and improve river health.

OCI3 (Open Catchment Intelligence, Insights and Collaboration) – led by Northumbrian Water in partnership with Xylem, Water Research Centre, Rivers Trust, Cognizant Ocean, Thames21, Westcountry Rivers Trust and others – £1,997,820. Providing the UK’s first free, open-source tool to understand river health. The Cunliffe Review calls for a more collaborative approach, shared evidence, shared decisions and a clearer understanding of where effort will make the biggest difference. To support that shift, we need a tool that brings all this information together and shows a single, accessible picture of catchment health. That is what OCI 3 will deliver. The project will combine data from regulators, water companies, citizen scientists, and satellites into a live model, showing water quality and sector performance. The result is a shared, trusted evidence base that supports clearer decisions, better investment targeting and most importantly, healthier rivers.

PipeUP: Pipe Universal Portal – led by Yorkshire Water Services in partnership with RPS Environmental Management Limited – £1,571,565. Around a fifth of drinking water in the network is lost to leaks. This project is focused on creating a secure, shared platform for water companies to access combined and standardised knowledge, information, and data. By linking fragmented data and improving access, the project will help the sector innovate faster, detect leaks sooner, reduce wasted water, and improve customer service.

Printfrastructure 2.0 – led by Northumbrian Water in partnership with Changemaker 3D Limited, United Utilities, Scottish Water, Anglian Water and others – £1,911,437. The water sector is embarking on one of its biggest investment programmes ever, needing to replace ageing infrastructure and expand network capacity at pace. Advancing 3D concrete printing for wastewater infrastructure enables onsite construction of larger storage tanks using low-carbon, water-approved materials. Building on earlier success achieved in Water Breakthrough Challenge 3, which demonstrated up to 50% reduction in CO2e for concrete infrastructure while cutting construction costs by 8%, the project aims to scale the technology to speed up delivery, cut costs and carbon, and reduce pressure on constrained supply chains.

SCWO With the Flow: Supercritical Water Oxidation for a Cleaner Future – led by United Utilities in partnership with General Atomics, Cleanfields Technologies, Queen’s University Belfast, Yorkshire Water and others – £611,012. Developing Supercritical Water Oxidation (SCWO) as a future treatment option for biosolids and wastewater sludge. SCWO uses water at extremely high temperature and pressure, with oxygen, to break down organic waste into simpler substances while enabling resource recovery. The project will demonstrate its potential and develop a roadmap for future scale-up and adoption across the UK water sector.

SI12 Challenge: Rethinking Interruptions, Unlocking Innovation, Minimising Impact – led by Thames Water in partnership with Yorkshire Water, United Utilities, South West Water, Sutton and East Surrey Water and others – £150,000. Testing whether planned water supply interruptions of up to 12 hours could unlock faster, lower-impact pipe repair methods. The project will explore innovative in-pipe technologies such as advanced lining and robotic tools that could reduce costs, carbon, road disruption, and noise. Customer feedback will help assess whether this approach is acceptable and beneficial.

Smart Alarm Management (SAM) – led by Northumbrian Water in partnership with Softwire Technology Limited, the Engineering, Equipment and Materials Users Association (EEMUA), Wessex Water and Anglian Water – £1,661,838. Improving how water industry control rooms handle alarms by using AI and machine learning to prioritise issues and identify root causes. The system will help operators respond faster and more effectively, improving decision making. Clear, standardised guidelines will support consistent alarm management across the sector so it can identify and fix problems faster.

Smart Watch – Your Catchment Companion – led by Affinity Water in partnership with SatSense, Prifysgol Aberystwyth, Dwr Cymru Cyfyngedig (Welsh Water), Wessex Water, South West Water and others – £1,035,000. Developing new ways to detect and identify risks to drinking water quality using remote sensing in water company catchments – the areas of the country in which rainwater falls and is collected before being used by each water company. The project aims to create automated, high-frequency detection tools and make the outputs easy to use, to provide a step change in how quickly management teams can identify issues with drinking water quality so that they can be addressed.

Smoke in the Water: Uncovering Public Health Data in Sewers – led by Severn Trent Water in partnership with University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Kando Environmental, Resistomap  and others – £2,000,000. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is the ability of bacteria and funguses to resist antibiotic and antifungal drugs – it is a silent pandemic predicted to kill 10 million people a year by 2050 globally. Wastewater monitoring can be used to detect AMR within populations earlier, since antibiotic resistant microbes are discharged into wastewater from people taking antibiotics who have drug resistant bacteria. Through a 12-month pilot in Leicester, the project will combine AI, clinical data, and in-sewer monitoring to identify resistance trends – working to support public health protection across the UK.

Splitting Biogas, Multiplying Value – led by United Utilities Water in partnership with Tarmac, Levidian Nanosystems, Concretene, Severn Trent Water and others – £8,922,380. Transforming wastewater biogas into clean-burning hydrogen and graphene to unlock greater value from bioresources. Building on earlier research, the project will scale up its technology and assess its carbon impact, commercial potential, and practical applications.

SuDS through Streetworks Market (SSM) – led by Thames Water, in partnership with Greater London Authority (GLA) – £6,869,054. Developing a market-based approach to install Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) such as raingardens during streetworks and reduce flood risk from heavy rainfall. The project will connect organisations that require flood resilience with utility companies already carrying out excavations, improving the efficiency and scale of SuDS delivery by integrating them into post-excavation restoration and repair plans. It aims to create a framework that could be applied more widely across the UK to benefit communities across the country.

Waste Not Want Not: Water Coagulant Recovery for Chemical Resilience in Waste – led by Severn Trent Water in partnership with  Nijhuis Saur Industries, WRM, Yorkshire Water, Dŵr Cymru Cyfyngedig, and others – £1,701,203. To turn raw water into purified and safe water for drinking, the treatment process uses coagulants like iron and alum to remove impurities. The resulting chemical residues are filtered out along with solid contaminants like silt, clay, and organic matter – a mixture called drinking water treatment sludge (DWTS). The project aims to recover iron-based coagulants from DWTS for re-use to strengthen chemical resilience in wastewater treatment. And as phosphorus removal (which also relies on coagulants) increases across the sector, the project will pioneer a circular solution that could enable water companies to self-supply coagulants at less than half the cost and carbon of commercial products.

About the Water Innovation Fund

The Water Innovation Fund aims to grow the water sector’s capacity to innovate, enabling it to better meet the evolving needs of customers, communities and the environment. It is encouraging new ways of working that go beyond business-as-usual innovation practices in the water industry, in particular increasing and improving collaboration and building partnerships from within and outside the water sector. It is delivered by challenge prize experts Challenge Works in partnership with Arup and Isle Utilities.

Through the Water Innovation Fund, Ofwat is investing £600 million over 10 years in ambitious projects to tackle the water sector’s biggest challenges. The innovation fund is central to Ofwat’s mission to improve water sector performance. It helps to accelerate solutions to its biggest challenges, delivering better outcomes for customers, communities, the environment, and the economy.

Through multiple competitions, the Ofwat’s Water Innovation Fund has awarded almost £250 million since 2020 to 128 projects involving 323 partners to improve the water sector’s capacity and capability to innovate and meet the evolving needs of customers, communities and the environment.  The Water Innovation Fund forms part of Ofwat’s approach to innovation in the water sector. Ofwat with the Environment Agency and Drinking Water Inspectorate also runs StreamLine, a joint service for innovators and businesses to get informal regulatory advice. To contact Ofwat’s press office, please call 0121 644 7700.

Brokerage service for innovators: Do you have an existing solution, technology or other innovation you’re looking to introduce to the water sector? Reach out to the team at Spring – the water sector’s innovation hub. Spring’s Brokerage Service may be able to help introduce your solution to the water industry if it aligns with a water company’s innovation priorities. Brokerage connects water companies with suppliers and innovators who can provide solutions to water industry challenges. Visit https://spring-innovation.co.uk/ or fill in the typeform https://form.typeform.com/to/qLSzjSH1?

About Challenge Works

Challenge Works designs and runs challenge prizes to spark innovation in science, technology and society. We are part of Nesta, the research and innovation foundation. In the last decade, we have run over 100 challenge prizes awarding over £327m, on behalf of public, private and philanthropic funders around the world.

About Arup

Dedicated to sustainable development, Arup is a collective of designers, consultants and experts working globally. Founded to be humane and excellent, we collaborate with our clients and partners using imagination, technology, and rigour to shape a better world. Together we help our clients solve their most complex challenges – turning exciting ideas into tangible reality as we strive to find a better way and shape a better world. With a community of over 1700 water professionals, Arup is leading global thinking across key areas like innovation, resilience, net zero carbon and sustainable water management. Find out more: www.arup.com

About Isle Utilities

Isle is a global team of independent scientists, engineers, business and regulatory experts with a common drive to make a positive environmental, social and economic impact through the advancement of innovative technologies, solutions and practices. Our passion and expertise in technology and innovation enables us to connect expertise, investment and inspired ideas across the globe. At the core of all our activities is our ambition to make the world a better place. Find out more: www.isleutilities.com