Mushroom and AI-focused startups secure £58m for water innovation

UK STARTUPS specialising in water and wastewater treatment have secured a massive £58m (US$78m) in investment from Ofwat’s Water Innovation Fund.

From mushroom-based filters, to river acoustics, 19 businesses have been awarded a share of funding to scale their technologies as part of the Water Innovation Fund’s sixth Water Breakthrough Challenge.

The Fund has set the plan to invest £600m between 2020 and 2030 in technologies that can improve the water sector.

Water innovations

Among the winners of this year’s challenge includes Anglian Water’s mycofiltration project, where mycelia, a root-like fungi, is being used to manage storm overflows. The fungi is “exceptional” at filtering water - using enzymes to break contaminants, including heavy metals and bacteria, into harmless compounds.

Anglian Water, which has collaborated with Spore and Anvil and Imperial College London on the project, was awarded £1.5m.

Another winning startup includes Severn Trent Water and SUEZ’s “Good Vibrations” project which is using AI to listen to river acoustics to monitor their ecosystem health. Also awarded £1.5m, the technology works on the basis that healthy rivers produce a lot of sound.

Lori Lawson Handley, the senior freshwater molecular ecologist UK at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, and partner of the project said: ““Our project is a unique opportunity to combine eco-acoustics with environmental DNA analyses to provide detailed, real-time insights into how river biodiversity responds to stress from pollution and climate change.”

Long-term UK investment

The Water Innovation Fund has so far invested more than £190 million across 109 projects through the Innovation in Water Challenge, Water Breakthrough Challenge and Water Discovery Challenge competitions.

With a focus on net zero, the fund was started to scale technologies that manage pollution and leaks in England and Wales, with a priority in protecting ecosystems.

Jo Jolly, the director of innovation at Ofwat, said: “The water sector is going through its biggest transformation in 30 years. We have to make sure these changes drive far better outcomes for society and the environment. Multiple urgent challenges must be solved. And, importantly, our mindset must change.

“So that’s our mission: bold, innovative solutions that take a long-term approach to the health of our vital water system and the impact of the water industry on environments and communities.”