The Centre for Resilience in Environment, Water and Waste (CREWW), the pioneering research partnership between South West Water and the University of Exeter, showcased its work to international delegates from across the water sector at the International Water Association (IWA) World Water Congress in Glasgow this month.
Visitors to the CREWW stand explored the partnership’s research projects which are working to address key challenges facing the water industry, including environmental resilience, leakage, water quality, catchment management and pollution reduction.
Projects on display included South West Water's Upstream Thinking programme, groundwater infiltration risk modelling, a machine learning tool to identify historic lead pipes, CREWW's microplastics laboratory and wider research into improving water quality and strengthening the resilience of water and wastewater systems.
The congress also provided an opportunity to showcase the PEDAL (Prediction and Early Detection of Algal Blooms) project, a £2 million Ofwat Innovation Fund initiative using innovative techniques to help predict and tackle harmful algal blooms in lakes and reservoirs. Members of both the South West Water and University of Exeter project teams attended the event to share insights from the research.
Alongside this, CREWW researchers presented work exploring the impacts of combined sewer overflows and surface water outfalls on receiving waters, contributing to discussions on water quality and environmental resilience.
Visitors also had the chance to listen to CREWW’s new innovative audio storytelling project, Storying Water, at the stand.
As part of the congress, CREWW hosted a well-attended Business Forum – Partnering with Nature – How Nature Based Solutions Make Business Sense, bringing together delegates from across the water sector to explore the role of nature-based solutions, catchment management and partnership working in protecting water quality and improving environmental resilience.
The session provided an opportunity to share lessons learned from more than a decade of collaborative work with farmers, land managers and local partners, while discussing how catchment-based approaches can help address shared environmental challenges facing water companies around the world.
The event highlighted the role of partnerships between water companies, researchers and industry in developing new approaches to challenges faced by the sector worldwide.
Carolyn Cadman, Chief Environment and Compliance Officer at South West Water and CREWW Board Member, said:
“It was wonderful to see such a high level of interest in CREWW’s work throughout the congress. It was a brilliant opportunity to share the research taking place through the partnership and demonstrate how it can help address practical challenges facing the water sector.
“CREWW’s Business Forum was also a great success and brought together a range of perspectives and expertise on the work we are doing through Upstream Thinking and catchment management, highlighting the value of collaboration in developing solutions that benefit customers, communities and the environment.”
Professor Ed Keedwell, Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Exeter and Co-Director of CREWW, added:
“The IWA World Water Congress was a valuable opportunity to showcase how CREWW brings together research, innovation and industry expertise to tackle some of the most pressing challenges facing the water sector.
"From using AI and data science to improve understanding and prediction, to exploring the potential of nature-based approaches to support water quality, our work demonstrates the importance of collaboration in developing practical, evidence-led solutions. As CREWW celebrates its fifth anniversary, it was particularly rewarding to share our progress with an international audience and explore how our research can help build more resilient water systems for the future.”
As CREWW marks its fifth anniversary, its presence at the congress provided an opportunity to share the progress of the partnership, connect with international water experts and build relationships to support future research and innovation.
For more information about CREWW visit www.creww.org.uk.