Future Water Association announces Water Dragons winners

The Future Water Association (FWA) has announced the winners of its annual Water Dragons awards.

• Water Dragons – VAPAR. Matt Foster of sponsor Hydrosave said: “VAPAR’s innovation in the rapid assessment of video recordings of internal sewer condition has immense potential to help the water industry get a grip on understanding the condition of its sewer assets. It will revolutionise what has hitherto been a labour intensive and slow process by using AI and Cloud-Based technology and could yield 1,000-fold efficiency savings in time and improve forward planning for investment in the country’s sewerage infrastructure.”

• People Category – Simon Bennett, head of wholesale services, Bristol Water.

• Emerging Talent Category – Laura Conroy, innovation programme manager, United Utilities.

• COVID-19: Above & Beyond Award – Kirsty Ayres, senior engineer, WSP and Rowan Speers, AVK UK.

Water Dragons has been running since 2008 and is based on the TV series where businesses pitch their products to a panel of judges and an audience firstly in regional heats and then a grand final.

• The FWA has launched a Virtual Networks Group for water and supply chain companies to share knowledge and collaborate on network issues such as leakage and smart sewers. Chair James Hargrave, from Anglian Water, said: “The virtual nature of the network is very much around removing the water company boundary lines and creating a UK sector physical network that is virtually managed by way of a 'collective' that steers the trial of technology and sharing of data / outputs so we benefit as a collective and reduce waste by recreating the wheel every time.”