Catchments as the first stage of treatment

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Utilising catchments or raw water infrastructure as the first stage of treatment will support the UK Water industry's transition towards chemical-free water treatment, offsetting the need for operational expenditure and infrastructure investment and the related environmental impacts. This PhD project, led by Newcastle University, in collaboration with UK Water Industry Research (UKWIR) and the University of Sheffield, looks to advance nature-based and physical interventions in catchments as treatment stages to supplement other catchment management approaches within the UK and Ireland. Fieldwork at Newcastle University's two research farms and experiments at the National Green Infrastructure Facility (NGIF) will establish the benefits of soil amendments or specific vegetation in buffer strips to enhance nutrient/pesticide/solids retention, while features such as ditch barriers, ponds, and leaky dams will also be evaluated for their water quality impacts. Sheffield University will contribute expertise and equipment to characterise the hydrological performance (e.g. pollutant attenuation and retention time) of such features under different flow rates. Newcastle University will deploy its "Lab in a Van" for onsite analysis of chemical and microbial water quality. Taking a holistic view of the catchment system, results from fieldwork, experiments and literature will be used to identify combinations of catchment, water body and raw water infrastructure interventions which realize the full benefits of catchment-based solutions. A decision support tool will be co-developed with water industry and land management stakeholders to define climate change resilient catchment-based treatment solutions and maintenance regimes that protect biodiversity, enhance the public amenity value of catchments and improve the quality of drinking water resources.