New flood of investment for UK water research facility

New investment worth £3.7 million has been announced to investigate and develop innovative ways to tackle the UK’s deteriorating distributed water infrastructure. The University of Sheffield is to host the […]

New investment worth £3.7 million has been announced to investigate and develop innovative ways to tackle the UK’s deteriorating distributed water infrastructure.

The University of Sheffield is to host the ‘Distributed Urban Water Infrastructure’ facility as part of the UK Collaboratorium for Research in Infrastructure and Cities (UKCRIC) – a consortium of 14 universities.

The new facility will be used to study water and sewer pipes to investigate deterioration and failure mechanisms, in-pipe biological, chemical and physical processes, flooding and corrosion processes.

It will also deliver translational research and development to accelerate long term collaboration between water utilities and technology providers.

Simon Tait, Professor of Water Engineering at the University of Sheffield said: “The facility at Sheffield will be a national resource in which researchers will be able to come and develop new ideas and technologies to help the UK better manage its large distribution and sewer networks.

“These are key infrastructure systems that impact on the lives of everyone in the UK and they face pressure from an increasing population, a changing climate and physical deterioration.

The funding comes from the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) via the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

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