EPSRC launches £6M water research project
15 Jan 2000
To improve the standards of Britain's hard-pressed water industry, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is launching a £6 million, three-year, research programme into water main leakage and novel treatment technologies.
The Water Infrastructure and Treatment Engineering (WITE) programme is part of the EPSRC's flagship Quality of Life programme: Engineering for Infrastructure, the Environment and Healthcare. WITE was developed after consulting with utilities, academics and other funding bodies.
According to Waterfacts, published by the Water Services Association, since 1980, each person in the UK uses 30 per cent more water compared with a rise of 6.6 per cent across Western Europe.
EPSRC estimates that the effects of global warming and increased ownership of water-using appliances will increase the use of water by more than 15 per cent over the next 20 years.
The WITE programme aims to build on previous EPSRC support of over £4.8 million since 1992, and to encourage collaborations between universities and the water industry. This will help sustain a healthy and vibrant research community which the industry can draw on into the next century.
