In a UK first, Affinity Water is set to trial two novel Industry 4.0 (I4) applications using smart demand management for existing drinking water and rainwater storage systems. 

The project is one of Affinity Water’s two winning initiatives produced in collaboration with other water companies, UK Universities and government agencies to improve the efficiency and resilience of its water supplies.

The trial will seek to unlock ‘hidden gems’ by making the most use of existing water storage assets in a new way in order to build network resilience and pave the way for the industry to explore new solutions further.

Working in collaboration with the University of Exeter, Aqua Civils and technical consultants Affinity Water proposes to develop a ‘business model canvas’ for drinking water and rainwater storage tanks to harness real-time monitoring and control solutions to explore optimised strategies for real-time top-up control.

Affinity Water focussed the design of the proposal to target operational system resilience and Open Data themes.

Historically, decentralised water tanks, such as feeding tower blocks and rainwater harvesting tanks, automatically fill with mains water during peak water usage periods. In extended dry spells, rainwater harvesting systems fail to reduce demand on the potable network when they are most needed.

The outcome of the trial will quantify the scale of the opportunity to implement smart water tank control at existing customer assets to build operational resilience and reduce disruption to customers.

It will significantly enhance Affinity Water’s aim to improve the efficiency, flexibility and resilience of water networks for the benefit of customers in the future while protecting the environment.

Partners include University of Essex and Aqua civils along with a range of experts and consultants.

Seagrass project will use nature-based solutions

The water company’s innovative ‘Seagrass Seeds of Recovery’ project will form part of its activity to use Nature Based Solutions to help address the problems of both a nature crisis, and a climate emergency.

Seagrass meadows enhance the stability of coastal zones, locking carbon into the seabed at a rapid rate, improving water quality and creating habitat for hundreds of thousands of small animals - enhancing the resilience of coastal ecosystems.

In Essex and Suffolk, thousands of hectares of seagrass have been lost and restoration of seagrass will help to support the UK Government’s 25-year Environment Plan.

A consortium of ten partner organisations has been created to deliver this project and strong collaboration throughout will be maintained. These are: Anglian Water; Project Seagrass – lead delivery partner; Salix River & Wetland Services; Cefas (Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science); Environment Agency; Natural England; Department of Zoology and Wadham College, University of Oxford; Swansea University; University of Essex.

Affinity Water already undertakes significant nature-based activities through its long standing catchment management and river restoration programmes. The utility is already in the process of considering many more nature-based opportunities including planting at least 110,000 trees by 2030.