Water-saving projects dominate Market Improvement Fund wins

Water efficiency projects have dominated wins in the latest (fourth) round of awards from the non-household retail market’s Market Improvement Fund.

Four winners took away £502,000 – which was only half the total available pot of £1m. A further nine bidders were unsuccessful in the competition, which was judged by a subset of the Strategic Panel.

The successful projects are summarised below. 

Calculating the cost of Water Scarcity on the NHH Market 

Applicant: Public First

Sponsor: South East Water

Delivery Partner: Waterwise

This project aims to assess the economic impact of reducing business water demand and the consequences of inaction. It will explore business attitudes towards water scarcity and its implication for commercial growth. By analysing water use trends, economic impacts and policy influence, the project seeks to create awareness and encourage regulatory action to support demand reduction.

NHS Direct General Hospitals Water Partnership Programme

Applicant: 20Fifty Partners

Sponsor: Business Stream

This project is a pilot initiative designed to address water resource challenges in UK hospitals. It aims to improve water management practices by identifying water risks and implementing data-driven solutions. Through structured workshops, data collection and risk assessments, the project will support hospitals in mitigating water related issues and ensuring a stable water supply for healthcare operations.

NHH Water Efficiency Collaboration Portal

Applicant: Save Water Save Money

Sponsors: TWRC and Wave

This project is a trial of an existing household digital platform, GetWaterFit, which curates water efficiency offers from different providers into a single system to improve customer engagement and effectiveness. It will deliver a customer-facing business water market portal, which will provide an assessment of water usage by a business based on self-certification and using a database of users defined by segmentation, numbers of taps, toilets and employees. It will also provide a proposal of solutions that might reduce demand.

Water Efficient Data Centres

Applicant: Water Research Centre (WRc)

Sponsor: MOSL

This project focuses on improving the water efficiency of cooling technologies in data centres. It aims to provide critical insights into water usage, identify sustainable cooling solutions, and establish a benchmarking framework. This will help data centres, retailers and wholesalers better understand and manage their water consumption.