Author: WIRe CDT

Meet Jade Rogers

Email: [email protected]
Academic and Industrial affiliations: The University of Sheffield, Scottish Water
Title of research project: Managing biofilms and disinfection residuals to protect drinking water safety

Disinfection residuals are common place in UK drinking water distribution systems (DWDS), used to control microbiological degradation of drinking water. Water utilities are increasingly switching disinfection residuals from chlorine to chloramines in order to minimise the formation of regulated disinfection by-products (DBPs). This will affect DWDS biofilms (microbial communities present at the pipe wall) and bulk water chemical interactions, potentially leading to adverse water quality impacts such as discolouration and nitrification. The interactions between biofilms, bulk water chemistry and physical disturbances are poorly understood in regards to disinfection changes, yet such understanding is essential to improve DWDS management and asset performance. This project aims to determine how disinfection residuals, in particular, chloramination can be better managed to reduce adverse water quality impacts. Critically, the project will consider chemical, physical and biological processes in combination, through the use of two pipe loops located in the DWDS, to understand the uncertain impacts of chloramination upon biofilm structure and behaviour, such as growth rates and bulk water quality exchanges.

Meet Harry Nicklin

Email: [email protected]
Academic and Industrial affiliations: Cranfield University, Reckitt Benckiser
Title of research project: Understanding Domestic Water Use Behaviour

Freshwater demand in the UK is expected to outstrip supply by over 1 billion litres per day by 2050, so water demand must be managed more sustainably. Despite technological innovations in water efficiency, per capita water demand has increased in recent years, hovering around 140L per person per day. Household water use behaviour needs to be addressed since we remain wasteful even with more water-efficient products available. To aid with this, smart water meters collect and transmit household water use data to water companies and consumers in real-time, supporting water resource planning decisions and informing consumers about their water usage. This research project investigates the impacts of smart water meters on domestic water use behaviour. By installing smart water meters in campus residence halls and exploring the prolonged impacts of different behavioural interventions on water consumption, this research builds evidence informing the most effective strategies for influencing water use behaviour over the long-term. The overarching aim is to generate prolonged water and energy savings and elevate understanding of the role of smart meters in household resource conservation for the benefit of generations to come.

Meet Edward John

Email: [email protected]
Academic and Industrial affiliations: The University of Sheffield / UK Water Industry Research
Title of research project: Understanding how the deterioration of cast iron pipes evolves into leakage

In the UK, around 22% of all drinking water produced is lost via leakage in the distribution system. A model that is able to predict how long after installation a pipe is likely to start leaking would enable pipe replacement programmes to target pipes that are predicted to be leaking, and therefore help reduce network leakage levels. However, a thorough understanding of the physical processes that cause a leak to initiate is required to create an accurate predictive model. The UK water distribution network contains pipes manufactured from a wide range of materials, and each material deteriorates and develops leaks in different ways. This project aims to identify and understand the mechanism by which leaking cracks form in the barrel of grey cast iron water pipes. These pipes were installed from the mid-1800’s up until the 1960’s and still make up a major part of many networks, but grey cast iron pipes also have some of the highest leakage and failure rates of all pipe materials making them a priority for investigation.

Buried water pipes are subject to an array of cyclic loads including: pressure transients, diurnal pressure variation, vehicle loading, soil swelling, and thermal contraction. Additionally, grey cast iron is highly vulnerable to corrosion by saline soils which can cause severe corrosion pitting of the external surface of a pipe, reducing the pipe’s wall thickness and creating stress concentrations. This combination of cyclic loading and geometric stress concentrators makes it highly likely that leaking cracks in pipe walls can form through a fatigue cracking process, however, this has not been confirmed by in-field or experimental observations. Therefore, this project aims to use highly controlled experiments to subject pipe specimens to cyclic loads representative of in-service conditions and observe how, and when, leaking fatigue cracks form, and what factors promote their formation.

Meet Charalampos Ntigkakis

Email: [email protected]
Academic and Industrial affiliations: Newcastle University
Title of research project: Groundwater modelling to simulate groundwater/surface water interactions

Groundwater flooding is a term used to describe the emergence of groundwater at the ground surface or manmade subsurface structures, away from any surface water bodies. Especially for urban areas, groundwater flooding can cause significant economic and social disruptions and therefore can play a major role in determining the water resilience of urban areas. Subsurface infrastructure is particularly at risk, as the effects of groundwater flooding in these assets can occur long before the water breaks the ground surface. Ultimately, groundwater flooding can be described as part of a wider water management problem and modelling the interactions between groundwater and surface water is key to understanding the risks that groundwater flooding poses to flood resilience.

This project will apply script-based groundwater flow models to appraise model performance, as well as urban conceptual model design to quantify water store fluxes within an urban groundwater system. It will develop a framework that will allow the assimilation of remotely sensed information into urban groundwater. It will also take advantage of recent modelling developments that allow for more flexibility and thus the application of more advanced calibration and validation techniques. Given the special complexity of urban environments, the assimilation of remotely sensed data will allow to spatially constrain recharge patterns to drive groundwater flow paths. This, combined with advanced calibration and validation approaches, will allow the identification of areas prone to groundwater flooding. The output of this project could then be used to better inform water management decisions in terms of groundwater flooding protection.

Meet Anna Laino

Email: [email protected]
Academic and Industrial affiliations: Newcastle University, Scottish Water, Northumbrian Water Ltd.
Title of research project: Quantification of wastewater treatment resilience metrics

The purpose of this project is to develop a metric (or metrics) to quantify the resilience of wastewater treatment plants. This research project aims to understand how wastewater treatment systems will cope and recover under extreme events. Initially, a baseline resilience will be established and, after identifying resilience risk, the water companies will be able to develop interventions to mitigate for, adapt to, or cope with future challenges. Climate change is expected to influence variability in environmental conditions, influencing both the wastewater network and treatment systems. It is recognised that both stress and shock events, driven by climatic change, population growth, ageing infrastructure etc. will increase the variability of flows and loads of influent entering treatment works, and will increase the occurrence of internal asset failures. The current asset base and system operation may be incapable of responding to these events in order to prevent failure, and as such these events have the potential to cause service disruption and environmental pollution. These are the impact factors requiring solutions. Climate change will impact the environment where the water will be discharged, for example a river, because a longer period of low river flow, in addition to increasing water temperatures, will reduce dilution capacity and so water quality. More resilient treatment processes should be able to of coping with fluctuating flows and loads, with a reduction in final effluent failures due to shocks and stresses, and consequently there would reduce impacts on the environment.

Meet Ali Leonard

Email: [email protected]
Academic and Industrial affiliations: Newcastle University, United Utilities, Water Resources West
Title of research project: Multi-scale water resources planning in England and Wales

Green Infrastructure can be defined as an interconnected network of greenspace that provides multiple benefits within socio-economic and environmental contexts, it is threatened by climate change and the constrains of the urban landscape around it. The importance of connectivity between Green Infrastructure components and the surrounding landscape in relation to functionality will be considered along with issues such as access. Experiments will provide an assessment of the performance of different vegetative species and their response to drought and

Some parts of the UK are projected to have water deficits by to 65% by 2065. This reflects the fact that, although the UK is known for being wet, rainfall is unevenly distributed, and the most populous regions are also the the driest. Water resources planning needs to ensure a resilient water supply that is able to provide for a growing population under future drought conditions in a way that supports the environment. 

In light of the projected deficits, regulators have called on water companies to reduce leakage and encourage demand reduction as well as to invest in new infrastructure such as new reservoirs, desalination, inter-basin transfers, and effluent re-use schemes. 

Some of the schemes proposed require collaboration across current planning boundaries. To meet this challenge, five regional groups were established in 2020. For the first time, the regions must devise and align their water resource plans to close the projected national deficit. Ideally the preferred plan represents “best-value” across scales, is robust in the face of future uncertainty, and is transparent and easily understood when communicating with consumers and stakeholders. 

However, aligning the higher level, regional plans with zonal and local level planning presents a challenge. Local planning considers a wider set of problems at a more granular level. The differences in aims, objectives, strategies, values, and working practices may lead to tensions between the different scales of decision-making. 

This research project will evaluate how multi-scale water resources planning is developing under new regulatory expectations between 2020 and 2023 and explore how decision making methods can help enable the alignment of plans across multiple scales. The project will work in close alignment with Water Resource West and its members throughout to evaluate the approaches being used and develop methods that can be applied in a real world setting. 

Meet Alethea Goddard

Email: [email protected]
Academic and Industrial affiliations: Newcastle University and Stantec working in partnership with Northumbrian Water 
Title of research project: Promoting High Quality Green Infrastructure and the delivery of Multiple Benefits through Improved Connectivity, Maintenance Regimes and Vegetation Specification

Green Infrastructure can be defined as an interconnected network of greenspace that provides multiple benefits within socio-economic and environmental contexts, it is threatened by climate change and the constrains of the urban landscape around it. The importance of connectivity between Green Infrastructure components and the surrounding landscape in relation to functionality will be considered along with issues such as access. Experiments will provide an assessment of the performance of different vegetative species and their response to drought and flood conditions, allowing for recommendations related to longevity and resilience. Lastly, this research will aim to address the concern surrounding the current structures (or lack thereof) for the management and maintenance of Green Infrastructure incorporated into new and existing developments. 
The research will primarily focus on the performance of Green Infrastructure in relation to stormwater management; encompassing Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS). The investigation will focus on a local perspective, using case studies from the city of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and the work of Northumbrian Water Limited. Experiments will be carried out at the National Green Infrastructure Facility. 

Meet Daniel Ruth

Email: [email protected]
Academic and Industrial affiliations: Cranfield University and Scottish Water
Title of research project: Rapid process optimisation procedures and process selection methods for natural organic matter removal from drinking water.

Natural organic material (NOM) is commonly found in water sources and leads to increased colour and turbidity and can cause taste and odour issues in drinking water. The presence of NOM in water during disinfection can also lead to the formation of disinfection by-products (DBPs), some of which have been linked to negative human health impacts.  It is therefore vital to reduce the amount of NOM present in the drinking water to reduce these effects. The bulk of NOM is generally removed in the coagulation stage where a positively charged coagulant is added to the water which neutralises the negatively charged NOM. This allows for the NOM to flocculate together and be removed more easily.  Currently, the methods we use to monitor water quality are unable to effectively account for the rapid changes in NOM that can occur. This can lead to process deterioration. More advanced characterisation tools can have long lag times between analysis and coagulant dosing and the results from the analysis can have varying recovery rates.
The aim of this project is to determine the optimal parameters to measure to allow for more informed coagulation treatment. The coagulation process is directly related to the charge of the organic matter. Therefore, measurements such as charge density and zeta potential may provide the information needed for this process. These analysis tools will then be integrated into control systems at a live drinking water treatment works (WTWs) to allow for real-time monitoring and control as the water character changes. It is the ambition to use this data to develop artificial intelligence algorithms that will correlate the data with coagulant information and final water quality to determine the optimum coagulant dose. This will improve the resilience of the water treatment process, ensuring it is reactive to any changes in the water occurring in the future.

Meet Rowan Pearce

Email: [email protected]
Academic and Industrial affiliations: Cranfield University, Anglian Water, Northumbrian Water, Scottish Water and Thames Water
Title of research project: Delivering a Resilient Approach to Tertiary Phosphorus Removal from Wastewater

Phosphorus is widely considered to be the limiting nutrient in freshwater systems and therefore the main contaminant of concern regarding eutrophication.  Wastewater treatment plant discharges are a key point source of phosphorus, and therefore subject to regulation.  To maintain good ecological status of rivers in line with the water framework directive, discharge consents are being lowered in many cases to below 1 mg/L TP (total phosphorus), and potentially as low as 0.1 mg/L TP.  Current understanding and operational methods of standard treatment processes employed are insufficient to consistently achieve these targets in a sustainable and affordable manner.  
Historically, phosphorus within wastewater has been characterised by a divide into “soluble” and “particulate” fractions based upon passage or retention respectively through a 0.45μm filter, and then into fractions of reactivity based upon digestion steps prior to addition to a molybdenum blue reagent.  Standard treatment processes have been shown to target SRP, the most common fraction in wastewater, but to have a much lower effectiveness in targeting other fractions of phosphorus present in wastewater.  While this has not been an issue when targeting consents above 1 mg/L, when subject to tighter consents removal of the more recalcitrant fractions becomes necessary.   
There is currently very little data available on processes to remove these fractions, and indeed these fractions are currently seldom reported at all in wastewater treatment literature.  Generating data on removal efficiencies for these non SRP fractions will be vital for gaining an understanding in how to optimize processes to allow for their removal to allow for the meeting of tightening TP consents in future.  The project will focus on generating this data and optimizing processes to allow for the meeting of these tight consents in a way that is environmentally and fiscally sustainable. 

Meet Christos Iliadis

Email: [email protected]
Host: Newcastle University
Title of research project: Improved flood modelling for the built environment and infrastructure – Achieving urban flood resilience through hydrodynamic models 
Supervisors: Dr. Vassilis Glenis & Prof Chris G. Kilsby

The extent and severity of the damage caused by urban floods is a product of both the intensity and duration of the rainfall and its interaction with the complex flowpaths of a city, on the surface and below ground. There is a great need to understand and improve how hydrodynamic models can represent urban features and be used to manage flood risk in the built environment. The current methods are currently blocked by the lack of a realistic approach to represent buildings in hydraulic models. Resilience Flood Protection planning in cities is the major topic due to climate change and the increase of the urbanization. This project will focus on urban flood modelling, the realistic representation of urban features in flood models, the reduction of damages from floods, new methods to increase the resilience of buildings, the path to blue-green infrastructure, and the definition of the water flow path in urban areas.
The main aim is to understand and improve how hydrodynamic models can represent urban features and be used to manage flood risk in the built environment.
The outcomes will be:

• The most appropriate and realistic representation of urban features into the hydrodynamic models.
• The Resilience Protection of buildings against flooding, and the reduction of damage inside them.

The image shows 5 flood maps in central Newcastle upon Tyne derived from two different approaches for the representation of urban features: a) the Building Block (BB) approach and b) the ‘Stubby Building’ (SB) approach. The BB approach is shown in figure 1 and the SB approach is shown in figure 2. The differences between the two approaches are evident when zooming in on the Merz Court Building (Newcastle University) as shown in figures 3 (BB) and 4 (SB). The results from the SB approach show that the Merz Court Building is flooded, and this is not correct. Figure 5 shows the flow paths using the SB approach and the flooded building are coloured in red.