Thames Water is currently trialling smart bugs grown in America which could enable it to treat more wastewater at its existing works.

Billions of the non-genetically modified micro-organisms are now being used as part of an innovative trial - the bugs have a super-sized appetite for ammonia, eating the toxic pollutant as it passes through the sewage treatment process. 

Traditional use of bacteria to remove ammonia from the wastewater treatment process is less effective in colder months. The highly-concentrated US-smart bugs, grown by Microvi Biotech, are expected to be more resilient and not drop the pace, potentially consuming double the amount as the current treatment. The trial started in June and results so far have been positive, meaning the company could soon be able to treat more wastewater within its existing infrastructure.

Housed in a capsule made with advanced polymers, they currently eat the ammonia as it flows through a research and development miniature plant in Sherfield-on-Loddon.

If successful, the new method of removing the noxious compound from the waste water process could be rolled-out wider across the Thames Valley and London, where population growth is twice the average for the rest of the country. Currently the water company removes a total of 4.4 billion litres of wastewater from 15 million people every day.

Eve Germain-Cripps, wastewater research, development and innovation manager, said:

“We need to innovate and invest ahead of time to ensure we have capacity for more people in the future. These hungry smart bugs feed on ammonia and are speeding up an essential process for us. They were literally made to do this job.

“We’re always looking for new ways to be more efficient and resilient in the way we care for the precious environment in which we operate, while managing the impacts of climate change and population growth, and I’m excited to find out if the bugs still have the same appetite when the temperature drops over the winter.”