Ofwat’s Water Breakthrough Challenge 5 has awarded almost £2M to fund the SandSCAPE project which will trial robotic underwater skimming machines as a way to clean slow sand filters (SSF) without draining them of water. This novel approach preserves the unique biology of the system, improving performance and resilience, and thus benefiting both the public and the environment.
The project is based on work carried out by Dr Francis Hassard and colleagues at Cranfield University: details of the original publication are given below, with updates on two more in a recent EBNet News item. The funding is awarded to a consortium of water companies led by Thames Water and including Affinity Water, South West Water and Northumbrian Water Group.
The potential of SSF was the subject of a recent very successful workshop led by the Water Biofilms WG – see here for full details of the report and other outputs. The novel SSF technique also appears in the WG’s SSF Animation (also available with subtitles)
It’s great to have some positive news on the water sector for once, and our warmest congratulations to Dr Hassard and the team.
Predicting the impact of underwater skimming on dissolved oxygen consumption in slow sand filters for potable water treatment. Elemo, T., Chipps, M., Graham, N., Turner, A., Jefferson, B. and Hassard, F., 2024. Science of the Total Environment, 954, p.176730.
