UKCRIC: National Water Infrastructure Facility: Distributed Water Infrastructure

英国水务部门面临着非常重大的挑战：人口不断增加，客户期望更高，自然环境得到更好的保护，资源可获得性减少，气候变化不确定。在大多数英国公民居住的城市地区，这些压力尤其突出，这些地区的供水和排水系统庞大且越来越不可持续，而且缺乏灵活性。这些大型遗留系统是一项日益恶化的资产，其实际投资长期减少。在英国，推断的下水道和净水资产的设计寿命分别为800年以上和120年以上。然而，鉴于目前资产的平均寿命约为70年，我们已经经历了不可接受的服务水平。目前城市给水系统持续、逐步恶化运行的前提已经不能接受。如果我们希望避免未来大规模更新我们的水利基础设施的巨额账单，我们迫切需要了解恶化情况，并开发监测和干预的创新方法。自来水公司传统上是谨慎的创新采纳者，因为它们的行动对健康和环境有重大的潜在影响。认识到这一点以及英国(和国际)水基础设施系统面临的长期压力，很明显，迫切需要更科学的方法和更有证据的技术来满足未来的期望，而不会给水用户带来重大的经济负担。英国城市水研究中心将提高英国三个领先的城市水研究小组(克兰菲尔德大学、纽卡斯尔大学和谢菲尔德大学)在以下领域的研究能力，以解决这个问题。地表水管理和智能水系统(纽卡斯尔大学)：将提供一个新的地表水管理设施，以及同等的城市基础设施能源、交通和信息和通信技术试验台。该设施将是模块化的，因此组件可以进行隔离测试，串联以模拟城市水从屋顶流向河流。2.分布式水基础设施(谢菲尔德大学)：新的专门设计的水资产失效和劣化设施将使供水和下水道及附属结构能够进行全面实验，以研究劣化和失效机制、管道内的生物/化学和物理过程、洪水和腐蚀过程，以及在现实环境下对资产状况的评估。位于谢菲尔德的Pennine Water Group现有的世界领先设施将得到加强，测量能力将得到改善。3.废水和饮用水处理(克兰菲尔德大学)：新的饮用水试点大厅将加强现有的一套工业规模的试验设施。该设施将支持对治疗和分配过程之间的相互依存关系、状况监测和性能技术的研究。一个突破性的创新中心将为新型基础设施组件和子系统的设计、快速原型制作和测试提供灵活的空间，可视化设施将提供对来自校内外基础设施系统的传感器数据的访问，为分析和测试方面的进步提供机会。UKCRIC设施的目标是提供一个协作的世界级研究基础设施，使英国水务行业的研究人员和创新者能够聚集在一起分享想法，然后受益于世界级实验室来开发和演示这些概念，并使它们达到适合实施的成熟水平，从而对英国的水利基础设施产生长期影响。这种新的知识、证据和创新将通过降低故障风险、减少对环境的影响以及降低未来高得令人无法接受的投资的可能性，对我们当前的城市供水系统产生影响。

The UK water sector faces very significant challenges: increasing population, higher customer expectations, better protection of the natural environment, with reducing resource availability and uncertain climate change. These pressures particularly combine in urban areas where the majority of the UK's citizens live and which are served by large and increasingly unsustainable and inflexible "legacy" water and drainage systems. These large legacy systems are a deteriorating asset in which there have been long term reductions in real terms investment. In the UK, inferred sewer and clean water asset design lives are 800+ and 120+ years, respectively. Yet with the current average asset life of around 70 years we are already experiencing unacceptable levels of service. The current premise of operating urban water systems with continual, gradual deterioration is no longer acceptable. If we wish to avoid massive future bills for wholesale renewal of our water infrastructure we urgently need to understand deterioration and develop innovative ways of monitoring and intervening.Water utilities are traditionally cautious innovation adopters given the significant potential health and environmental implications of their actions. Appreciating this and the long term pressures facing the UK's (and international) water infrastructure systems it is clear that there is an urgent need for more scientifically based approaches and better evidenced technologies to meet future expectations without a significant economic burden on water users.UKCRIC will enhance research capacities in the following areas at three of the UK's leading urban water research groups (Cranfield, Newcastle and Sheffield Universities) to address this issue.1. Surface water management and smart water systems (Newcastle University): A new surface water management facility with equivalent urban infrastructure test-beds for energy, transport and ICT will be delivered. The facility will be modular so components can be tested in isolation, in series to model urban water as it moves from the roof to the river . 2. Distributed water infrastructure (University of Sheffield): A new specially designed water asset failure and deterioration facility will enable full scale experimentation of water and sewer pipes and ancillary structures to study deterioration and failure mechanisms, in-pipe biological/chemical and physical processes, flooding and corrosion processes and the assessment of asset condition under realistic environments. The existing world leading facilities of the Pennine Water Group at Sheffield will be enhanced with improved measurement capabilities. 3. Wastewater and potable water treatment (Cranfield University): A new potable water pilot hall will enhance the existing suite of industrial-scale test facilities. The facility will support research on the interdependencies between treatment and distribution processes, on condition monitoring & performance technologies. A breakthrough innovation hub will provide flexible space for design, rapid prototyping and testing of novel infrastructure components and sub-systems, visualisation facilities will provide access to sensor data from both on and off campus infrastructure systems providing opportunities for advances in analytics and testingThe aim of the UKCRIC facilities is to provide a collaborative, world-class research infrastructure that will allow UK researchers and innovators in the water sector to come together share ideas and then benefit from access to world class laboratories to develop and demonstrate those concepts so and to get them to a level of maturity appropriate for implementation to achieve long term impact on the UK's water infrastructure. This new knowledge, evidence and innovation will impact on our current urban water systems by reducing the risk of failure, reducing their environmental impact and reducing the likelihood of unacceptably high future investment.