Centre for Resilience in Environment, Water and Waste (CREWW)

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Pioneering new research centre

Together with the University of Exeter, we’ve set up the Centre for Resilience in Environment, Water and Waste (CREWW), where we’ll be researching some of the most important challenges faced by the water sector today. These include:

  • Protecting the water supply network
  • Maintaining a sustainable water supply-and-demand balance
  • Predicting and preventing pollutions
  • Safely treating and transporting wastewater
  • Understanding environmental resilience
  • Enabling a transition to Net Zero

CREWW projects bring together experts to further our understanding of these challenges, so we can improve services to benefit customers, grow our economy, and reduce our environmental impact.

A purpose-built centre on the University’s Streatham Campus is due to open in 2023, funded by a grant from Research England. Here, academics and our own experts will conduct world-leading research and analysis that will help achieve the goals of the programme. This research centre will be the first of its kind for the water sector.

Catchment Systems Thinking Co-operative (CaSTCo) Project

This is an exciting project that will transform our Natural Solutions strategy. Working with local partners including West Country Rivers Trust and Devon Wildlife Trust, and other water companies nationally, this project aims to create a decision-making model designed to identify the best natural solutions to area-specific issues (e.g. soil runoff, flooding etc). With this tool in place, we could make more effective project choices to help us achieve our aims in combatting climate change, achieving Net Zero, creating resilient infrastructure systems, and increasing our public engagement opportunities.

Leakage Prediction Project

This is a PhD research project that aims to drastically improve leak prediction. The project will draw together data about our drinking water infrastructure to produce a ‘heatmap’ model that will show high-risk areas on our network where leaks are more likely to occur. This is something that has not been available for our network until now. If successful, South West Water will implement this tool in their day-to-day operations to better find and fix the invisible, long-term leaks the network suffers from.

South West Water is investing £10.4 million into the project, and grant from Research England takes the total of this co-investment up to £20.9 million.

We are very excited for the potential this work has to bring vital improvements to our networks in the South West, across the UK, and in some instances, globally.

See more at www.exeter.ac.uk/creww/