Anglian, Northumbrian, Scottish and British Water have come together to form ‘The British Pavilion’, a collaboration to help represent Britain’s water industry at the International Water Association (IWA) World Water Congress & Exhibition in Copenhagen, Denmark between 11th-15th September.
Alongside Arup and other sponsors, the three water companies will be highlighting issues at the forefront of the industries agendas such as leakage, net zero carbon, environmental resilience and social mobility.

With over 10,000 leading water professionals and companies expected during the six-day event, the water companies will be featuring keynote speeches from their respective CEOs, case study demos and hosting multiple networking events to showcase British innovation, providing a stage and opportunity to learn from others.
Heidi Mottram, CEO of Northumbrian Water said “Over the past few years, we have all faced so many different difficult challenges. At Northumbrian Water Group we have always been advocates for innovation and we strongly believe that it is much better, faster and stronger when we work together. That’s why projects such as the British Pavilion are so important.”

Simon Parsons from Scottish Water said “After 2 years of collaborating online I am really looking to joining the IWA Congress – it is a real opportunity for us all to meet global colleagues, make new colleagues and be inspired by the amazing work that goes on across the world.”
With the British Water industry leading the way with commitments on climate change such as Net Zero carbon by 2030, Peter Simpson, CEO of Anglian Water said “Anglian Water is proud to be participating in this year’s World Water Congress. The British water sector is more collaborative and innovative than ever and exhibiting at the British Pavilion in Copenhagen ensures that we all share our innovations and learnings and continue to bring best practice back to the UK”.
This year the IWA event will focus on the water sectors progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With an emphasis on SDG6, dedicated to water and sanitation, the Congress will also highlight and access the interwoven relation of water with all 17 Global Goals.
Participants will analyse, discuss, and highlight solutions at high-level summits, cases-study presentations and examples of implementation and cooperation towards the fulfilment of the SDGs.

For more information on the British Pavilion or to get involved, please visit https://thebritishpavilion.com
For more information on the congress visit worldwatercongress.org

A UK industrial filter maker has appointed two strategic hires, in Malaysia and the United States, to help spearhead its drive into global markets.

Both Nizam Mohamed and Silas Kirst join Amazon Filters as Business Development Managers tasked with pursuing and delivering the company’s growth ambitions.
    
Nizam is based in Kuala Lumpur and is responsible for sales and market development in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region while Silas will support plans for North, Central and South America from an office in Houston, Texas.
  
Both new recruits come to Amazon Filters with impressive track records in senior-level sales roles.

Nizam, whose career experience includes leading teams in sectors such as oil and gas, steel manufacturing, automotive and marine, said: “Amazon Filters is widely recognised as a leading filter manufacturer that invests substantially in its products and services on behalf of customers.

“I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to play my part in its continued growth into new markets.” 
  
Silas has more than 13 years’ experience in sales management directly focused on filtration technologies in different industries. 

He said: “I will be applying my experience to cultivate lasting relationships with our customers, distributors and partners across the entire region from Argentina, Brazil and Chile in the south all the way up to the United States and Canada.”

Amazon Filters Managing Director Neil Pizzey said: “Diversification is key to us, both by sector and geography.

“On sector, we service an ever-growing list of global industries that rely on processing engineering. 

“They include municipal water, the oil, gas and renewable energy sectors, food and beverage, and the manufacturing of biopharmaceuticals, chemicals and liquid coatings. 

“And on geography, we continue to do more business in sales territories beyond our traditional heartlands of the UK and Europe.

“As well as welcoming Nizam and Silas, we have recently appointed new area distributors in Latin America and Asia.

“Strengthening our presence in new markets makes a lot of sense. 

“Customers appreciate someone ‘on the ground’ they can actually meet and who has local knowledge, and it means we can respond more quickly to customer demand.” 

Northumbrian Water have been awarded over £6m worth of funding for projects which will help to reduce leakage and enable innovation across the utilities sector. 

The funding has been granted to two separate projects; The National Leakage Research and Test Centre (NLRTC), which was awarded £5.3m, and Stream, which was awarded £880k. 

It comes as part of the second round of the Water Breakthrough Challenge, an innovation competition ran by water regulator Ofwat and innovation foundation Nesta.

The incredible amount of funding will be used to make services more efficient for customers – and will also help to detect and repair leaks faster. 

The National Leakage Centre project will see the creation of a large-scale five kilometre-long buried water network and control room, which will be used to help accelerate the development of leakage detection and repair solutions. 

Innovators and inventors will be able to use the site to test out their leakage solution ideas without interruption to customer supplies or risk to water quality.

It will be possible to deliberately insert leaky sections of pipe to see how effective the repair solutions under test are, and any leaked water will be collected and recycled.

Not only will this project help to reduce leakage, but it will also create three jobs for staff who will eventually work in the control room once the build has been completed. 

The second project, known as Stream, will see the development of a new open data-sharing platform for the water industry and beyond. 

This platform will eventually allow all of the UK water companies to share data with one another, other utilities companies, and the wider public. 

These new cross-sector data sets will provide innovators both within and beyond the sector to develop richer insights, make more informed decisions, and further improve services. It will also ensure that data is shared safely and in line with regulations.

Stream will transform customer services by increasing transparency and efficiency between companies, which will help to stimulate innovation.  

Angela MacOscar, Head of Innovation at Northumbrian Water Group, said: “I am incredibly proud that we have managed to secure funding for not one, but two of our projects.

“In the last round of the challenge, we won funding for customer-focussed projects – and whilst these projects will help our customers, they will also boost innovation and provide environmental benefits too.

“I particularly love these projects because they are real enablers that will speed up the development of innovative products and solutions in the water sector.”

“I can’t wait to see how both of these projects develop.” 

For the NLRTC, the full list of partners involved in the project includes WRc, H R Wallingford, Anglian Water, Dwr Cymru Cyf, Irish Water, Northern Ireland Water, Portsmouth Water, SES Water, Severn Trent, Southern Water, South East Water, Thames Water, United Utilities, Wessex Water, Yorkshire Water, Sheffield Uni, Southampton Uni, British Water and Isle Utilities.

For Stream, the partners involved are Anglian Water, Dwr Cymru, Scottish Water, SES Water, Severn Trent, Southern Water, South West Water, Thames Water, United Utilities, Yorkshire Water, Aiimi, Costain, ODI and Sia Partners. 

Some of the ideas funded were developed during Northumbrian Water's Innovation Festival – which is returning in July 2022.

To register for the festival, go to – www.innovationfestival.org/register

For more info on Ofwat’s Water Innovation Fund and the Water Breakthrough Challenge, go to – https://waterinnovation.challenges.org/