A national project set to improve the water quality of rivers in the North East and across the UK has successfully won £2 million worth of funding to progress.
Together with its partners, Northumbrian Water is creating the UK’s first, free, open-source digital tool, which will help people and organisations understand the health of the nation’s rivers and how to improve them.
The project, called OCI³ (Open Catchment Intelligence, Insights & Integration), secured support through water regulator Ofwat’s Innovation Fund, as part of its Water Breakthrough Challenge.
For the first time, OCI³ will bring together the data about rivers from water companies, regulators, citizen scientists and even satellites, all into one place - giving a clear, shared picture of how clean the rivers across the country are.
This will help identify potential issues, highlight what water quality data is already available and pinpoint any gaps. It will also allow different scenarios to be tested to understand where action could make the biggest difference, supporting organisations and communities to work together in a more targeted way to improve river health.
Currently, information about rivers sits across lots of different organisations and different systems, making it difficult to see the full picture or decide on the best course of action.
OCI³ will change that by creating one single, accessible platform that supports joint-decision making between water companies, environmental charities, the Environment Agency, local groups and catchment partnerships.
The collaborative project, led by Northumbrian Water and delivered with partners including ADAS, Cognizant, the Rivers Trust, Thames21, Water Research Centre (WRc), West Country Rivers Trust and Xylem, as well as several other UK water companies, supported by Spring Innovation and Stream, builds on earlier work from the award-winning River Deep Mountain AI (RDMAI) project.
RDMAI uses artificial intelligence and satellite data to spot pollution and understand river health in new ways. And while that work has created powerful tools behind the scenes, OCI³ will make them easier to use, by turning complex data into a simple platform that everyone can use.
George Gerring, OCI³ Programme Lead at Northumbrian Water, said: “Working with our partners to bring river data together is vital to building a clearer understanding of river health and how to improve it.
“By turning complex information into a shared, accessible digital platform, OCI³ has the potential to support better decisions, not just in the North East, but for rivers right across the UK.”
Work on the exciting project will continue at the North East water company’s 10th annual Innovation Festival in July – where the Collaborative Catchments innovation sprint, sponsored by Cognizant, WRc and Xylem, will provide valuable insights and ideas to help shape how the OCI³ platform can be utilised in the most effective way. The in-person sprint is free and open to attend, and attendance can be registered HERE.
The Ofwat Innovation Fund is a key pillar in Ofwat’s mission to drive innovation that ensures the water sector is ready for the challenges of the future and results in better outcomes for customers and the environment. It is delivered by innovation prize experts Challenge Works (part of the Nesta group), in partnership with Arup and Isle Utilities.
To find out more about all the Water Breakthrough Challenge winners, including the two other successful bids from Northumbrian Water, visit: waterinnovation.challenges.org.