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CRU Water Services Innovation Fund

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CRU Water Services Innovation Fund

The Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) Water Services Innovation Fund is an exciting development enabling Uisce Éireann to invest in innovative projects designed to deliver benefits for customers.

The Innovation Fund explained

As part of the revenue review process Uisce Éireann's regulator, the CRU, created the Water Services Innovation Fund. The fund allows Uisce Éireann to invest funding in innovative projects in order to explore novel technologies and operating arrangements designed to deliver benefits for customers.

Investing in innovative projects

Investing in innovative projects

Improved operating arrangements

Improved operating arrangements

Exploring and researching novel technologies

Exploring and researching novel technologies

Project objectives

These innovative projects must be designed to further at least one of the following objectives:

  • Provision of safe, secure, and reliable water services
  • Increased understanding of customer behaviours and their drivers and effective customer engagement 
  • Enhanced energy savings in the provision of water services
  • Achievement of relevant environmental standards and the objectives of the Water Framework Directive
  • Mitigation of negative climate change impacts
  • Provision of water services in an economic and efficient manner
  • Improved conservation of water resources

Our vision

We value water as a precious, natural resource on which the quality of life depends. Through responsible stewardship, efficient management and strong partnerships, we strive to have a world class water infrastructure that ensures secure and sustainable water services, essential for our health, our communities, the economy and the environment.

Our vision is underpinned by the Government’s Water Services Policy Statement. This sets out key principles and policy objectives across the key thematic areas of quality, conservation and future-proofing between now and 2025.

Water Services Innovation Fund projects

Complete

Investigate technologies appropriate to the metering of multi-unit developments or ‘MUDs’ (such as apartment blocks).

View report

Complete

Promote sustainable household water consumption by building an evidence base for future water conservation programmes.

View report

Complete

Identify the catchments in Ireland most sensitive to climate change from a water resources/drought perspective by developing & applying an innovative assessment methodology.

View report

Complete - project completion date Q2 2020

This project aims to characterise trade effluent from industry sectors in Ireland that produce high risk trade effluent (the food and drinks, waste, and pharma-chemical sectors) and to identify markers that Uisce Éireann can use to monitor its network for trade effluent from these industries.
 

Ongoing - project completion date Q2 2022

This research project proposes to validate if and how Aerobic Granular Sludge (AGS) grown within dedicated Uisce Éireann AGS Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) can be used in non-AGS WWTPs to increase their capacity or improve treatment performance.

Ongoing - project completion date 2023

This research project will examine the technical feasibility and the potential scope of opportunity to deploy STRBs to manage Alum sludge on IW assets. If successful, it is envisaged that required upgrades will be possible at a similar capital outlay to conventional sludge management solutions but with very significant opex reductions.

Complete - project completion date Q1 2023

This project will investigate and pilot the potential benefits of deploying advanced, highly sensitive, cloud based Acoustic Logging (AL) networks () within the GDA to inform a potential transformational change in Uisce Éireann’s Find and Fix strategy.
 

Complete - project completion date 2021

This collaborative research project with a number of UK water/wastewater utilities will assess the range of techniques applicable to manhole inspection and rehabilitation and to develop best practice and provide industry specifications to improve the operational efficiency via their use.

The outputs of this project will enable Uisce Éireann to:

  • Review the available manhole inspection techniques and rehabilitation techniques and their suitability for the UK & Uisce Éireann industry and its particular requirements.
  • Have confidence in the choice of manhole rehabilitation solutions.
  • Use selection criteria for investing in rehabilitation products that are both fit for purpose and cost effective.
  • Define best practice guidance on manhole rehabilitation for IW staff and contractors.
  • Develop an industry specification in their correct use for use in procurement events and to meet BIM requirements.
  • Provide IW with evidence of robust technology testing which will inform IW specification and the tender & procurement process, allowing us to promptly procure innovative solutions (not considered/utilised to date) to drive business efficiencies. The project outputs being applicable to many of the wastewater current wastewater network capital programmes and projects.

Findings of this research will assist Uisce Éireann in:

  • Technology evaluation and assessment of capabilities;
  • Testing procedures; and
  • Develop an industry specification for their use.

The outputs of this project will be further developed to produce an IW Manhole Rehabilitation Specification which will standardise manhole rehabilitation design, installation and quality assurance across wastewater network capital programmes and projects. This will assist in promptly procuring innovative solutions (not considered/utilised to date) to drive business efficiencies.

Lessons learned:

  • UK Water Utilities face the same challenges in relation to assessing, prioritising and repairing manholes.
  • Detailed manhole assessments/surveys and good quality data capture are key to investment decisions.

Due to commercial sensitivity of this project, we are unable to publish the research outputs.

Complete

This collaborative research project between Uisce Éireann, a number of UK water/wastewater utilities and Cranfield University looked at the use of TW’s for the removal of P.  The project focused on summarising the available evidence base to act as common ground for industry-wide evaluation of TWs for P removal. The key hypothesis was that the performance of TWs for phosphorus removal can be quantified and predicted based on water quality and wetland design and operation criteria.

The project will enable IW to endorse and seek to deliver a relatively simple low tech and sustainable solution to address P removal through full or partial upgrades deploying suitable TW treatment elements at some of our conventional plants. In addition, TW solutions may offer significant additional benefits, namely:

  • Increase robustness and resilience of overall treatment process;
  • Improve capability of dealing with flow variations;
  • Require lower operator attendance than alternatives;
  • Can be designed and delivered relatively easily and at low cost where land is available or can be acquired at reasonable cost;
  • Added without disruption to existing treatment train;
  • Reduce carbon footprint and contribute to overall sustainability aims;
  • Eliminate or reduce chemical usage and associated costs and environmental and operational risk;
  • Provide enhanced treatment and reduced effluent discharge in the case of ICW’s when receptor is most under pressure;
  • Inform operational activities such that optimum performance can be attained from existing assets;
  • Possible circular economy potential; and
  • Provide measurable biodiversity, amenity, carbon sequestration and ecosystems services benefits.

Findings of this research will assist Uisce Éireann in:

  • Confidently designing and implementing TW systems along with determining the suitability for potential wider applications across IW’s asset base
  • Conducting further research, including full-scale trials in existing and future sewage treatment schemes in the short to medium term (<10 years)
  • Developing design standards and guidance for TW P removal applications, resulting in a more sustainable method of wastewater treatment

Lessons learned:

  • Uisce Éireann is well placed to partner with other water utilities in further developing our understanding of TW performance
  • The main conclusion from this work is that surface flow wetlands can capture phosphorus from wastewater but the study identified gaps in understanding the long-term storage mechanisms resulting in significant uncertainties regarding achievable effluent quality for secondary treatment applications, with lower risk for polishing applications. 

Due to the commercial sensitivity of this project, we are unable to make the project report public. However, a publically available framework (infographic) was developed which focused on the use of surface flow TW for P removal. Moreover, an open-access position paper is under preparation and will be updated shortly.

Ongoing - project completion date Q1 2023

This project aims to understand how Uisce Éireann can re-engage with our domestic customers, who we no longer bill. A key element of this project is to understand what would be of interest to customers and how we can be responsive to their needs.