The £600m Ofwat Innovation Fund has published its latest learning report, From source to sea: harnessing nature and communities for whole catchment innovation.
The new report uncovers insights from eight pioneering nature-based projects backed by the Ofwat Innovation Fund since 2020. By sharing lessons learned, it aims to inspire the wider water sector to build on each project’s success and fast-track solutions to some of the sector’s most pressing challenges
Nature-based solutions take advantage of natural systems to solve challenges such as climate change and pollution, aiming to protect, conserve, restore or sustainably manage natural environments.
Between them, the projects have been supported with more than £18 million of funding. Led by six different water companies, the consortia behind the winning projects involved 77 partners ranging from the Rivers Trust and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) to technology companies, engineering consultancies, universities and local governments.
They include citizen science initiatives, projects to integrate sustainable drainage systems (SuDs) into urban neighbourhoods and programmes identifying how to scale nature-based solutions at landscape level.
These solutions are informing the sector’s “source-to-sea” approach, demonstrating the interconnectivity of the UK’s water systems, from upstream catchment management to water reuse and flood mitigation.
Dr Jo Jolly, Director, Environment and Innovation, Ofwat, said:
“Our water sector needs innovative solutions, and the culture to enable it, to navigate the crises we face – from climate change and biodiversity loss to rapid population growth. Right across the sector, we need to collaborate at pace and drive a major shift towards nature-based solutions The Ofwat Innovation Fund has been a vital part of initiating this transition, and our ambition for ever more urgent progress is a central part of our new action plan for 2025-30.”
Marking the launch of the report, Jo Jolly will chair a panel session about nature-based solutions at the European Wastewater Management Conference & Exhibition on 18 June, speaking with Jack Spees (Ribble Rivers Trust, a partner in Mainstreaming Nature Based Solutions and CaSTCo), Bridget Woods Ballard (HR Wallingford, a partner in SuDS-iQ: A National SuDS Collaboration & Evaluation Platform) and Matthew Whaley (Greater London Authority, a partner in Developing a market-based approach to deliver SuDS through street works).
The report highlights projects like Mainstreaming Nature-Based Solutions, led by United Utilities with partners including The Rivers Trust and WWT. Awarded £8 million through the Water Breakthrough Challenge 3, the project tackles flooding, drought, and water quality at a landscape scale by removing barriers to adopting nature-based solutions.
Another standout project, CaSTCo (Catchment Systems Thinking Cooperative), received £6.3 million to transform environmental monitoring. Led by United Utilities and partners like the Rivers Trust, Earthwatch and ZSL, it’s creating a national framework for standardised data collection to improve river health.
Thanks to this work, over 6,600 people joined the first Big River Watch, and 2,630 took part in the Great UK WaterBlitz across 1,300 locations. CaSTCo has also supported habitat restoration, including hedge planting, pond building, and river work across the UK.
Jack Spees, CEO, Ribble Rivers Trust, a partner in Mainstreaming nature-based solutions to deliver greater value and CaSTCo, said:
“Nature-based solutions have the potential to provide multiple socio-economic and environmental benefits by tackling flooding, drought and water quality issues at landscape scale. However, there are systemic barriers currently preventing wider adoption and the benefits of nature-based solutions from being fully maximised, such as: fragmented or siloed investment, lack of standardisation and regulatory restrictions. Being part of the Mainstreaming Nature-based Solutions programme allows us to tackle these issues by working collaboratively with multi-sectoral expertise. Thanks to the Ofwat Innovation Fund, we are creating and testing new solutions that will help work towards removing the barriers, and mainstream nature-based solutions to deliver greater value for society and the environment for the future.”
The report also spotlights two projects pioneering Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS). SuDS-iQ: A National SuDS Collaboration & Evaluation Platform is led by Southern Water in partnership with HR Wallingford, CIWEM, and others, The project was awarded over £950,000 as part of Water Breakthrough Challenge 4 to create a national online collaborative platform focused on helping stakeholders plan, design and evaluate SuDS.
Developing a market-based approach to deliver SuDS through street works is led by Thames Water in partnership with Greater London Authority, Transport for London and others. The project was awarded £1.3 million as part of Water Breakthrough Challenge 4 to create a mechanism for integrating SuDS into routine street works.
Bridget Woods Ballard, Technical Director, Flood and Water Management at HR Wallingford, a partner in SuDS-iQ: A National SuDS Collaboration & Evaluation Platform said:
“Effective collaboration between stakeholders is crucial to the successful planning and delivery of nature-based surface water management solutions – particularly those retrofitted into existing urban space. By funding SuDS-iQ, the Ofwat Innovation Fund is giving us the opportunity to develop simple, accessible SuDS planning and evaluation tools embedded within a collaboration platform. This will help improve collective understanding of SuDS performance, support stakeholders who don’t have access to modelling software to compare options and improve communications during the scoping phases of a project.”
Alex Nickson, Head of Partnerships & Catchment Planning at Thames Water, the lead company for Developing a market-based approach to deliver SuDS through street works, said:
“The risk of surface water flooding in London, as with many places, is growing because of climate change, the loss of permeable surfaces and more people living in areas of risk. A key part of managing this risk is to reduce the rate and volume of stormwater trying to enter the drainage systems through Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS). Through the Ofwat Innovation Fund, Thames Water and the Mayor of London have secured funding to develop and test a market-based approach to incentivise utility companies undertaking street works to install SuDS when completing their works. Given the 165,000 major street works in London every year, if even a small percentage of these holes could be refilled with SuDS rather than road or pavement, this could meaningfully contribute to the reduction of surface water flood risk whilst also reducing disruption to road users and communities.”
From source to sea: harnessing nature for whole catchment innovation is the fourth in the Ofwat Innovation Fund’s learning report series. It was preceded by “Circularity in water”, “Supporting water-efficient communities”, and “Rethinking wastewater systems”.
The Ofwat Innovation Fund is investing £600 million over 10 years between 2020 and 2030 in collaborative projects which see water companies working with promising innovators from across different sectors globally to develop and deploy solutions to the water sector’s biggest challenges. It is delivered by innovation prize experts, Challenge Works (part of the Nesta group), in partnership with Arup and Isle Utilities.
The fund was previously highlighted by the Chancellor of the Exchequer as one of a number of promising ways in which regulators are supporting the Government’s plan for economic growth.
The sixth Water Breakthrough Challenge, rewarding collaborative innovation to tackle the large challenges facing the water sector, will open for entries in early autumn 2025, encouraging ambitious entries from consortia led by water companies, including further nature-based solutions.
For more information visit waterinnovation.challenges.org.
