What’s next in the UK water sector

Water companies already apply asset management rigour to pipes, pumps, and treatment works. The same discipline, applied to data, would change how they plan investment, defend regulatory submissions, and absorb the demands of AMP8. Here is how to get started.

Xylem is contributing to two successful projects selected through Ofwat’s sixth Water Breakthrough Challenge, supporting innovation in both river health intelligence and low-carbon wastewater treatment.

For most industries, June's World Environment Day was a prompt for climate action. For water, it was a reminder that we already are acting - and that it still isn't enough.The question isn't whether the climate is changing. That's obvious. The question is: how do we turn climate anxiety into operational readiness, and keep clean, safe water flowing in an environment that is making it harder to do so?

Adam Cave from Murray McIntosh shares his thoughts on the UK water sector not having enough engineers to deliver AMP8. Drawing on 12 years of recruitment experience, he unpacks the structural workforce crisis that a recent panel discussion didn't fully confront.

The government's 1.5 million homes target has a water problem. Research by Public First for CIWEM found that water scarcity could leave 61,600 homes unbuilt across the East and Southeast alone – a £25 billion shortfall. In Cambridgeshire, the constraint is already live: 9,000 homes delayed and counting.

The FOG Network 2026 brought the sector together to explore how fats, oils, and grease can be kept out of sewers, traced through the system, and recovered as a useful resource.