Seven bids win Market Improvement Funding

Seven projects have been successful in the latest round of the non-household market’s Market Improvement Fund, which awards up to £200,000 to projects that will benefit the market, its customers and the environment.

The Strategic Panel awarded £753k of a possible £1m pot. An eighth bid remains under review. There were 15 bids in total.

The seven winners

• Project Concordia (Wave/InferSens) – concerning water demand reduction and Legionella risk management in non-domestic buildings.

• CATRID: Customer Access to Retailer ID (MOSL/CGI) – building a query engine on the Open Water website that will enable customers to find out the name of their retailer by inputting their postcode or meter serial number.

• Revolutionising Water Efficiency in Non-Household Customers: The ISO 46001 Implementation Framework (WRc/Waterscan/Waterwise) – exploring the underutilisation of ISO 46001 (the current standard for certifying water efficiency management systems).

• Identifying Opportunities to Strengthen Engagement with Non-Household Businesses (20FIFTY Partners/ Business Stream / Yorkshire Water) – on water stewardship practices. 

• An independent trial of Wizso tablets (Wizso / Southern Water / KR Social Research) – exploring behavioural change around toilet flushing.

• Ready to Read (Sagacity / Clear Business Water) – using AI to convert free text in CMOS into actionable data to support meter reading.

• Incentivising non-household water saving (Waterwise / Wave Utilities) – exploring appetite for an incentive scheme to encourage businesses to fit water efficient products.