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Scottish Water has formed a research and innovation partnership to better manage water resources to increase resilience against climate change and help achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2040.
Together with the University of Sterling, the water company has launched the Scotland Hydro Nation initiative to bring together researchers, industry and communities to harness technologies and build the infrastructure required to decarbonise Scotland.
Chair of the new association, Andrew Tyler, who is a professor at the University of Sterling, explained water holds many of the solutions needed to prepare for the changing climate.
He said: “How we manage Scotland’s seas, lochs, rivers and reservoirs can bolster our resilience to extreme events, restore biodiversity and increase our carbon storage – speeding up our journey to net zero.
“Water can also help us manage our resources better, allowing us to recover energy for example, contributing to a greener, more circular economy whilst creating jobs. But for this to happen, industry, research and communities must work together,” Tyler said.
Four areas of research focus will be eliminating emissions from infrastructure, driving down process emissions, enhancing the natural environment and embracing the circular economy.
George Ponton, head of research and innovation at Scottish Water, said: “The programme is intended to complement the excellent research and innovation initiatives and infrastructure in Scotland. It will play a leading role in maximising Scotland’s water research impact, bringing the transformative change needed to attain net zero emissions by 2040.”
The programme is part of the Scottish government’s initiative Scotland: The Hydro Nation to develop the value of water resources.
Environment minister Mairi McAllan said: “It is testimony to the efforts of everyone working in in the field that long-overlooked water issues now have their fully-deserved prominence in the global discourse on climate change. After all, it is through water that climate changes impacts are perhaps most keenly felt.”
Tyler will coordinate research opportunities across the water sector together with the universities of Heriot-Watt, Strathclyde and Glasgow Caledonian as well as the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology. The University of Stirling will work with supply chain partners to develop commercially viable solutions to water challenges.
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