TWENTY 65: Tailored Water Solutions for Positive Impact

人人有水是这个联盟的目标。未来几十年，英国水务行业将面临巨大挑战：人口增加、基础设施老化，以及在气候变化不确定的情况下需要更好地保护自然环境。仅应用传统的以技术为基础的解决方案不是前进的道路。我们建议使用“量身定做的解决方案”来应对这些挑战，将适应特定情况和限制的措施结合起来，以实现灵活和适应性强的供水系统。该项目将进行8个技术主题的研究，每个主题分别提出颠覆性问题，展示转型的潜力，并引领转型。然而，他们不会被孤立地看待。当从系统的角度综合考虑时，它们可以合并为更广泛的量身定制解决方案的“银篮”，能够协同现有和新的基础设施，以实现变革性的影响。定制水解决方案并不意味着为社会不同部门提供更低质量的水服务；相反，它意味着适合自然环境、人口分布和遗留基础设施变化的公平、量身定做的解决方案。通过这种方式，该项目将解决所有人的用水需求。我们的财团是围绕以Pennine Water Group(PWG)为基础的核心建立的，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基础上，通过专注于城市水资产管理的多学科方法。该联盟扩大了PWG的范围，纳入了新的专业知识，以提供量身定做的水解决方案，产生积极影响。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家庭和社区规模用水效率的国际领先专家，帝国理工学院处理和新兴污染物的专家，曼彻斯特的社会实践专家，纽卡斯尔的气候变化影响专家，风险建模和城市/基础设施集成专家，以及集水过程的雷丁专家。所有成员都带来了广泛的国际合作网络，这些网络将与提供定制解决方案银篮所需的科学和工程研究联系在一起。要实现设想的转变，需要时间，并逐步改变英国水务部门识别、开发和应用创新的方式。利益相关者需要走出传统的孤岛，进行协作，创造性地共同创造知识和行动。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开展工作，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。在一个不习惯合作、对如何应对重大挑战没有共同愿景的部门，协作尤其相关。该联盟的一个独特之处是开发了Hub，这将彻底改变向英国水务行业提供创新的方式。该中心旨在提供变革性的领导，并通过合作伙伴关系在整个水务部门共同生产知识，加速和支持创新。在世界级科学和工程研究的支持下，该中心将促进英国水务行业共享的有远见的路线图的制定和交流，激励和展示应对重大挑战的新的量身定做的方法，创建一个流程，根据路线图选择潜在的变革性定制社会技术解决方案，并使整个英国水务行业加速产生协作的、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.