TWENTY 65: Tailored Water Solutions for Positive Impact

人人享有水是该联合会的目标。英国水务部门在未来几十年面临着巨大的挑战：人口增加，基础设施老化，以及在不确定的气候变化条件下更好地保护自然环境的需要。仅仅应用基于传统技术的解决方案并不是前进的方向。我们建议使用“量身定制的解决方案”来应对这些挑战，结合措施，以适应具体情况和限制，以实现灵活和适应性强的供水系统。该项目将在8个技术主题中进行研究，每个主题都单独提出颠覆性问题，展示潜力并引领转型。然而，我们不会孤立地看待这些问题。如果从系统的角度综合考虑，它们可以作为“银篮”组合在一起，形成更广泛的量身定制解决方案，能够为现有和新的基础设施协同工作，以实现变革性影响。量身定制的水解决方案并不意味着为社会不同部门提供低质量的水服务;相反，它意味着公平，定制的解决方案适合自然环境，人口分布和传统基础设施的变化。这样，该项目将满足所有人的用水需求。我们的财团是围绕着奔宁水务集团（PWG）的核心而建立的，自2001年以来，该集团一直得到三个EPSRC平台赠款的支持。PWG的实力和国际声誉建立在基础研究和应用研究的平衡之上，通过多学科方法专注于城市水资产管理。该联盟扩大了PWG的范围，包括新的专业知识，以提供量身定制的水解决方案，产生积极的影响。在谢菲尔德，这将包括与能源系统、机器人、自动化和管理方面的专家进行新的合作。在外部，该联盟包括来自埃克塞特的家庭和社区规模用水效率的国际领先专家，帝国理工学院的处理和新出现的污染物，曼彻斯特的社会实践，纽卡斯尔的气候变化影响，风险建模和城市/基础设施整合，以及阅读的集水过程。所有成员都带来了广泛的国际合作网络，将与提供定制解决方案的银篮所需的科学和工程研究联系起来。为了实现设想的转型，需要时间和英国水务部门识别，开发和应用创新的方式的步骤变化。利益攸关方需要走出传统的孤岛，进行合作，创造性地共同产生知识和行动。学者，科学家和工程师必须在知识生产过程中跨学科和阶段工作，以提供应对英国水务部门面临的挑战所需的复杂社会技术解决方案。在一个不习惯于合作、对如何应对重大挑战没有共同愿景的部门，合作尤其重要。该联盟的一个独特之处在于该中心的发展，这将彻底改变英国水务部门的创新方式。该中心旨在提供变革性领导，并通过合作伙伴关系加速和支持创新，以共同生产整个水行业的知识。在世界一流的科学和工程研究的支持下，该中心将促进英国水务部门共同愿景路线图的开发和沟通，刺激和展示新的定制方法来应对重大挑战，创建一个选择潜在变革的过程符合路线图的定制社会技术解决方案，并加速产生协作，在英国水务部门进行负责任的创新。

Water for all is the aim of this consortium. The UK water sector faces grand challenges over the coming decades: increasing population, ageing infrastructure, and the need to better protect the natural environment all under conditions of uncertain climate change. The application of traditional technology-based solutions alone is not the way forward. We propose the use of 'tailored solutions' to address these challenges by combining measures to suit specific circumstances and constraints to achieve flexible and adaptive water systems. The project will undertake research in 8 technical themes, each of which individually pose disruptive questions, demonstrate the potential for, and lead transformation. However, they will not be viewed in isolation. When considered in combination, taking a systems view, they can be combined as 'silver baskets' of broader tailored solutions able to work synergistically for existing and new infrastructure in order to achieve transformative impact. Tailoring water solutions does not mean lower quality water services for different sectors in society; rather, it means fair, bespoke solutions appropriate to variations in the natural environment, population distribution, and legacy infrastructure. In this way the project will address the needs of water for all. Our consortium is built around a core based on the Pennine Water Group (PWG) which has been supported continuously by three EPSRC platform grants since 2001. The PWG's strength and international reputation is founded on a balance of fundamental and applied research via a multi-disciplinary approach focusing on urban water asset management. This consortium broadens the PWG to include new expertise to provide tailored water solutions for positive impact. At Sheffield, this will include new collaborations with experts in energy systems, robotics, automation, and management. Externally, the consortium includes internationally-leading experts from Exeter for household and community scale water efficiency, Imperial College for treatment and emerging contaminants, Manchester for social practices, Newcastle for climate change impacts, risk modelling and cities/infrastructure integration, and Reading for catchment processes. All members bring wide international collaborative networks that will link with the scientific and engineering research needed to deliver the silver baskets of tailored solutions.To achieve the envisioned transformation requires time and a step change in the way in which the UK water sector identifies, develops and applies innovation. Stakeholders need to move out of traditional silos and collaborate to creatively co-produce knowledge and action. Academics, scientists and engineers must work across disciplines and stages in the knowledge production process to deliver the complex socio-technical solutions needed to meet the challenges facing the UK water sector. Collaboration is especially relevant in a sector that is not accustomed to working together and does not have a shared vision of how to meet its grand challenges. A unique feature of this consortium is the development of the Hub that will revolutionise the way innovation is delivered to the UK water sector. The Hub aims to provide transformative leadership and accelerate and support innovation through partnerships for the co-production of knowledge across the water sector. Underpinned by world class science and engineering research the Hub will facilitate the development and communication of a shared visionary roadmap for the UK water sector, stimulate and demonstrate new tailored approaches to address the grand challenges, create a process for selecting potentially transformative tailored socio-technical solutions in line with the roadmap and enable the accelerated generation of collaborative, responsible innovation across the UK water sector.