The Water Efficiency Lab has awarded £5.2m to seven projects designed to help homes and businesses save water through smarter appliances, data-led insights and behaviour change.
Seven water efficiency projects have been awarded a share of £5.2m through the first round of the Water Efficiency Lab.
The winning projects include a 50 Litre Home pilot, a Royal Horticultural Society-led outdoor water-use project, a primary school education programme, business water monitoring schemes and a water-sector AI tool.
The Water Efficiency Lab is part of Ofwat’s wider Water Efficiency Fund and is delivered by Challenge Works, in partnership with Arup and Isle Utilities.
The first competition, WEL1, focused on actionable insights: projects that can help customers understand where water is being used or wasted and take practical steps to reduce consumption.
Water Efficiency Lab backs customer insight projects
The Water Efficiency Lab will award £25m over five competitions. Its first round has provided funding to seven projects aimed at homes, schools, workplaces, commercial buildings and outdoor water use.
The programme has been established as England faces a projected shortfall of around five billion litres a day in public water supply by 2055 if further action is not taken.
Water efficiency is increasingly important as climate change brings warmer, drier summers and wetter winters, affecting how much water is reliably available for homes, businesses and the natural environment.
The Water Innovation Fund said the winning projects will help customers use data-led insights to save water.
Paul Hickey, Managing Director of RAPID at Ofwat, said:
“These seven projects are designed to make water-efficient use the easy default in homes and businesses across England and Wales, through smarter appliances, better data and tools that put useful information directly into customers’ hands. This £5 million prize is the first tranche of £25 million that will be awarded through the Water Efficiency Lab over five competitions, supporting innovators whose work will help deliver more resilient water services for customers and the environment.”
50 Litre Home pilot receives £1.5m
The largest award, £1.5m, has gone to the 50L Home England Pilot, led by Northumbrian Water.
The project includes partners such as Electrolux, Barratt Redrow, IKEA, Groundwork, Waterwise, the University of Surrey and the World Economic Forum.
The pilot will test water-efficient appliances, fixtures and everyday products in existing and new UK homes.
Technologies include dishwashers designed to remove the need for pre-rinsing, washing machines that clean effectively in cold water and high-pressure low-flow showers.
The project will combine these products with behavioural science and data-driven insights. It aims to show that household water demand can be reduced by 30% to 40% while improving quality of life and reducing bills.
The wider 50L Home initiative aims to make 50 litres of daily water use per person feel like 500 litres, while supporting lower-carbon living.
RHS project to examine outdoor water use
Helping Homes Save Water Outdoors, led by the Royal Horticultural Society, has been awarded £1.1m.
The RHS is working with Affinity Water, Severn Trent, Thames Water and other partners to provide water companies with a clearer picture of garden and outdoor water use.
The project will use smart meter data at scale to identify patterns showing when and how households are watering outdoors.
These insights will be combined with in-home flow monitoring and behavioural research to help water companies provide seasonal and practical advice to customers.
Examples include prompts on the best times to water and advice on using harvested rainwater more effectively.
Nicholas Cryer, Senior Scientist at the Royal Horticultural Society, said:
“Outdoor water use peaks in summer, but who uses it, where, and why remains unclear. Our project combines smart meter data and in-home monitoring with behavioural insights to quantify and untangle the many water uses, supporting water efficiency and resilience. This is crucial as climate change brings hotter, drier summers.”
Projects target schools, workplaces and customer data
Water Warriors, led by the Water Research Centre, has been awarded £365,000 to bring water science into primary classrooms.
The programme is designed around the Key Stage 2 curriculum and will embed water topics across science, maths, English and art.
Joe Cahill, Head of Water Efficiency at the Water Research Centre, part of RSK Group, said:
“This funding will empower a new generation of Water Warriors, inspiring children to champion water-saving values and habits in their communities. By embedding water efficiency across the curriculum (from Maths and English to Science and Art) and equipping teachers to bring these lessons to life, we aim to inspire lasting behaviour change across schools, homes and communities throughout England and Wales
Two projects will focus on commercial and workplace water use. The WIN Initiative, led by Quensus, has been awarded £495,000 to install more than 1,000 sensors across 30 commercial buildings.
The project will tackle water lost in commercial settings through leaks and continuous flow. It will also test whether linking water efficiency to insurance premiums could encourage stronger water management by building owners, with Aviva exploring a possible Water Management Plan standard.
Workplace Water Wins, led by Waterscan, has been awarded £677,000. Partners include Anglian Water, Greene King, John Lewis Partnership, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, the University of Surrey and others.
The project will install sub-metering across pubs, supermarkets, hospitality and leisure sites to help businesses identify where water is used and take targeted action.
AI and behaviour projects complete first winners
Laundry Behaviours Lab has been awarded £210,000 to identify the motivations that already lead people to wash less often, run fuller loads and choose gentler cycles.
The project is led by Weir The Agency, in partnership with Anglian Water, Southern Water and others.
MyWaterGPT has been awarded £860,000 to build a sector-specific large language model for the UK water industry.
The conversational AI tool is intended to let customers ask questions about their water use in plain language and receive personalised, actionable answers.
Where smart meter data is available, the model will be designed to spot leaks, explain unusual usage and provide household-specific insights without requiring personally identifiable information.
MyWaterGPT is led by Advizzo, part of Calisen Group, in partnership with South West Water, Spring Innovation, Waterwise and others.
The second Water Efficiency Lab competition will focus on innovations to reduce customer-side leaks in homes and businesses. It is due to open for entries on 3 August.
For more coverage of water innovation and demand management, visit H2O Global News’ Water Management section.
Source: Water Innovation Fund; Ofwat
