Leading UK water technology provider Bluewater Bio is urging the UK water companies to highlight their efforts to introduce innovative technologies to reduce their operational costs in the face of recent pressure at both Government and regulatory level.

In an open letter sent to the Chief Eexecutive Officers of the UK water companies this morning, Daniel Ishag, CEO of Bluewater Bio has urged the water companies to publicise more widely how much they are already doing to invest in the adoption of cost‐ and resource‐efficient technologies for the future mitigation of domestic water bills.

In his view, the water companies are undoubtedly conducting numerous technology evaluations and trials which are not common knowledge because they are not referred to in the industry’s stakeholder dialogue with the press. As a result, the utilities’ investment in cost mitigation through technology adoption is poorly appreciated by the public at large.

Mr. Ishag has written to the utilities following the recent call from Environment Secretary Owen Patterson for the UK water sector to help customers - firstly by putting up domestic water bills next year by less than the regulator‐agreed amounts they are already allowed to, and secondly by finding ways to minimise the price rises they will request in customer bills over the industry's next five‐year budgeting period, starting 2015.

The Bluewater Bio CEO cites the uptake of its own technology by a number of the UK water companies, including Severn Trent Water, Anglian Water, Wessex Water and Thames Water as an example.

The letter states:

“Given the necessary slow speed of adoption, it is not that surprising that there are not that many promising emergent new technologies for UK water companies to choose from, but there are some and UK water companies are collaborating with technology providers to implement them.”

In addition to Thames Water’s current trials of Bluewater’s FilterClear technology at its Markyate wastewater treatment plant, Daniel Ishag also flags up the utility’s collaboration with Bucher Unipektin at Oxford Sewage Treatment Plant to dewater sewage sludge more effectively at the end of the treatment process and the adoption of Canadian water technology company Ostara’s Crystal Green fertilizer pellets at its Slough Sewage Treatment Works. The Ostara technology recovers phosphorus nutrients from the end of the wastewater stream, enabling Thames Water to save up to £200,000 a year at the plant.

Ishag makes the often-overlooked point that people unfamiliar with the industry are unaware that technology adoption is necessarily slow in the water sector because it cannot afford to make mistakes on issues of public safety. He also points out that modifications to water and wastewater treatment processes can take time to produce changes in the result, thereby slowing down the rate at which the utilities can move innovative technology out of ‘beta’, or trial mode.

The Bluewater Bio chief concludes that pressure on the water companies looks set to continue, commenting:

“It seems clear that the (Owen Patterson) letter marks the beginning of a new phase over the coming months which will see the Ofwat regulated Pricing Review ‘PR14’ much more highly politicised than in the past, and the industry treated as a political punchbag until the end of this process which sets water bill rises for 2015‐2020.”

“In the time between now and the Final Determination for PR14 when these future water price rises will be set in stone, the government can be seen to be talking tough with the water companies, largely irrespective of the actual eventual outcome.”