Water Industry Awards 2021: winners revealed

The winners of the this year’s Water Industry Awards have now been unveiled, recognising the best and brightest projects and people the industry has to offer.

Hundreds of entries were received across 21 categories, including new awards for Woman of the Year, Water Retailer, Outstanding Contribution to Environment and Water Efficiency.

Winners included design and build contractor MWH Treatment, which won the Contractor of the Year award after boosting its order book through retaining framework clients and winning new contracts throughout the Covid pandemic.

Meanwhile, Wessex Water took home the award for Most Innovative Technology of the Year, after exploiting machine learning technology to analyse hyperlocal rainfall patterns and predict the effect on sewers, pipes and pumps “six hours into the future”.

Northumbrian Water Group won in the Asset Optimisation category, after a team of staff  ( as part of the company’s InvestQuest innovation competition) developed the idea of mobile “Site Wastewater Analysis Trailers”.

The two units can be taken to sites to conduct in-depth online analyses when required, at a far lower cost than installing permanent monitoring equipment.

The campaign to develop the “Fine to Flush” certification for wet wipes and other consumer products gave the Water Research Centre and Water UK the award for Outstanding Contribution to Environmental Improvement.

This years awards were sponsored by trade association British Water, contractors Galliford Try and NMCN, and water efficiency not-for-profit group Waterwise.

To assess the entries, 20 judges were drawn from across the sector, including universities, consultancies and regulators Ofwat and the Drinking Water Inspectorate.

The full list of winners, and descriptions of their projects, can be downloaded by filling in the form below.

Stantec, London Fire Brigade and Thames Water won Health and Safety Initiative of the Year for their work predicting flow capacity for fire-fighting; Thames Water also won in the Water Efficiency Category, after developing an app that helped customers with above average water use to reduce consumption.

Anglian Water was voted winner in the Net Zero Initiative of the Year category, for its continued work in exploiting alternative energy sources on its sites (including solar and Combined Heat and Power) and investment in battery storage technology.

United Utilities won Customer Initiative of the Year for its Multicultural Awareness initiative for frontline customer-facing staff, while Anglian Water’s group treasurer, Jane Pilcher, took home the Woman of the Year Award for her work embedding “green finance” across its operations.

The Award for Drinking Water Initiative of the Year went to Typhon Treatment Systems and United Utilities, who together nurtured an UV LED disinfection system from the research lab to an onsite application in Cumbria.

The use of AI and predictive analytics to forestall problems on its Combined Sewer Overflows gave Yorkshire Water and Siemens the prize for the Data Analytics, Cloud and AI project of the year.

Other winners include Isle Utilities, for Consultant of the Year; Anglian Water information services degree apprentice Elysia Moore, who won Rising Star of the Year, and Yorkshire Water and Morrison Water Services for its cloud-based learning platform, winner in the Skills and Workforce category.