What’s next in the UK water sector

Eight finalists to receive £50,000 each from Ofwat’s Water Innovation Implementation Programme to explore expansion of UK-based Regulation 31 testing capabilities

The water sector has always relied on collaboration - between utilities, contractors, manufacturers and regulators. But AMP8 is raising the stakes. With record investment, tightening efficiency targets and pressure to deliver at pace, the relationships that underpin delivery matter more than ever.

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.

When a critical Scottish Water pumping station failed mid-maintenance, Xylem's Avensor real-time monitoring enabled controlled flow management, avoiding over-pumping and pollution risk.

With the UK government demanding a 50% reduction in storm overflow spills by 2029, the era of reactive management is over. Speaking in the House of Commons on 21 July 2025, environment secretary Steve Reed said, “This Government will cut water companies’ sewage pollution in half by the end of the decade.”

The water sector is approaching a turning point in cyber resilience. For years, much of the focus has been on compliance: frameworks, standards, reporting obligations, and security controls. Those foundations still matter, but they are no longer enough.

Water UK is changing the way it oversees and contributes to standards across the water industry. After many years of relying on the Water UK Standards Board, the organisation has decided to adopt a network‑based approach.