WEL winners announced as heatwave drives demand surge

(by Karma Loveday)

Ofwat has awarded seven projects a share of £5.2m as the winners of the inaugural Water Efficiency Lab competition. The winners are detailed below.

Round one targeted solutions that provide tailored, data-led and actionable insights to customers, to help them take control of their water use. Four more rounds will follow over the rest of AMP8, with £25m in total available in the pot.

The news came ahead of the public launch tomorrow of a new £75m Water Efficiency Campaign, and as many parts of the country sweltered under red or amber heatwave warnings. Water UK reported 2bn extra litres of water were used across England and Wales last week. Several companies have found themselves supplying the equivalent of an entire additional city in extra water: Yorkshire Water, for example, enough to supply Leeds and Harrogate for a day, and Anglian Water enough to supply four cities the size of Milton Keynes.

Firms ramped up leak repair activity and ran treatment works at maximum capacity in response, alongside providing advice to customers on efficient – and in some cases only essential – use. South East Water imposed a hosepipe ban in Kent, enforceable from 3 July but urged to be heeded immediately.

This year also marks the 50th anniversary of the 1976 drought. A conference was hosted in London earlier this month to mark the occasion and review the pivotal change to water resources management that followed. 

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WEL winners: 

50L Home England Pilot: make sustainable living irresistible

Lead: Northumbrian Water

Value: £1,500,000

Details: The 50L Home England Pilot sets out to prove that saving water at home does not have to mean sacrifice. The project brings together innovative appliances, fixtures and everyday products designed to make water-efficient living feel effortless and even better than before. Dishwashers that remove the need to pre-rinse, washing machines that clean effectively in cold water, and high-pressure low-flow showers are among the technologies being trialled across existing and new UK homes. The pilot combines these products with behavioural science and data-driven insights to understand which routines deliver the biggest savings. Its goal is to demonstrate that a 30-40% reduction in household water demand is achievable while improving quality of life and cutting bills.

Partners: Affinity Water, Anglian Water, Arcadis, Barratt Redrow, Welsh Water, Electrolux, Procter & Gamble Technical Centres, Good Homes Alliance CIC, Groundwork UK, IKEA, Kohler, Procter & Gamble Technical Centres, Southern Water, Stonewater, Thames Water, Thrive Homes, United Utilities, University of Surrey, Waterwise, Wates Group, World Economic Forum, World Business Council for Sustainable Development. 

Helping homes save water outdoors with smart meter data, behavioural insights and targeted advice

Lead: The Royal Horticultural Society

Value: £1,127,664

Details: Gardens and outdoor spaces are among the biggest hidden drivers of summer water demand, yet they remain poorly understood by water companies. This project uses smart meter data at scale to identify the tell-tale patterns that reveal when and how households are watering outdoors. Those digital signatures are combined with detailed in-home flow monitoring and behavioural research to build a richer picture of who is using water outside, for what purpose, and how they might be persuaded to use less. The project will design and pilot targeted seasonal prompts and guidance encouraging more efficient watering practices and greater use of harvested rainwater. Its final outputs will include a practical playbook that water companies across England and Wales can use to engage customers and reduce peak summer demand.

Partners: Affinity Water, Artesia Consulting, Severn Trent, Southern Water, Thames Water, United Utilities, University College London, Watergate AI, Waterwise, Weir The Agency.

Laundry Behaviours Lab: identifying the motivations that make laundry naturally more water efficient

Lead: Weir The Agency

Value: £210,219

Details: Most people do not think about water when they do their laundry. This project aims to change behaviour without ever asking people to save water. Instead, it explores what already motivates people to wash less often, run fuller loads, or choose gentler cycles: saving time, protecting their clothes, reducing hassle, or simply getting fresher results. Using qualitative research with around 100 households across England and Wales, followed by creative concept testing with focus groups, the project will identify the most compelling messages for shifting laundry habits in a water-efficient direction. The outputs will provide water companies and the national Water Efficiency Campaign with evidence-backed messages and a clear case for scaling the approach, with implications for consumer labelling policy.

Partners: Anglian Water, Michelle Blake & Associates, Southern Water.

MyWaterGPT: get insights and control your water use easily at any time using a simple chat tool

Lead: Advizzo

Value: £857,873

Details: MyWaterGPT is a conversational artificial intelligence tool designed to help water customers understand and reduce their usage through a simple chat interface. Drawing on smart meter data where available, it delivers personalised, actionable insights without requiring any personally identifiable information. The system acts as a first point of contact for customer queries, helping people spot leaks, track consumption patterns, and take targeted steps to cut their water use. The pilot will run across the regions served by South West Water, SES Water and Bristol Water, and aims to reduce unnecessary calls to water companies whilst increasing customer engagement and trust. It represents the first sector-specific large language model of its kind in the UK water industry.

Partners: Calisen Group, South West Water, Spring Innovation, Waterwise, WRc (Water Research Centre). 

The WIN Initiative: enabling non-household water reduction through an innovative action-driven Water-Insurance Nexus (WIN)

Lead: Quensus 

Value: £495,527

Details: Commercial buildings across England and Wales lose 10-30% of their water to leaks and continuous flow, yet facility managers often lack the context to distinguish genuine operational use from avoidable waste. The WIN Initiative addresses this by combining fixture-level sensor technology from Quensus with occupancy and energy analytics from Direk, creating a fused data layer that turns raw readings into prioritised, actionable repair tasks. The 18-month trial will cover 30 commercial buildings fitted with over 1,000 sensors. A key strand of the project tests whether linking water efficiency to insurance risk and premiums through a new Water Management Plan standard could transform water saving from a voluntary commitment into a financially motivated one, with insurer Aviva exploring how the standard might unlock benefits for building owners.

Partners: Aviva, Direk, Everflow, University of Southampton, Waterwise, Wates Group, Weir The Agency.

Water Warriors: actionable insights to future customers

Lead: Water Research Centre

Value: £364,752

Details: Water Warriors places primary school children at the heart of household water saving. Designed around the Key Stage 2 curriculum, the programme embeds water efficiency across subjects such as science, maths, English and art, rather than treating it as a one-off lesson. Pupils investigate how water is used in their own homes, identify which everyday habits drive demand, and translate their findings into structured challenges for their families. The project draws on research showing that children can be effective agents of lasting behaviour change within households, creating an intergenerational loop that converts awareness into real reductions. By positioning water efficiency as a values-driven practice rather than a chore, the programme aims to build habits that endure well beyond the classroom.

Partners: Croasdell Consultancy, Pennon Group, Southern Water, University of the West of England, Yorkshire Water.

Workplace Water Wins: an insights-led approach to more water efficient business behaviours

Lead: Waterscan

Value: £676,816

Details: Workplace Water Wins targets water use in commercial settings by giving staff the insight and training needed to change their everyday behaviour. The project will install sub-metering across sites in three sectors (pubs, supermarkets, and hospitality and leisure) to build a detailed picture of where water is used and where savings are available. Two behavioural interventions will then be tested using randomised controlled trials: one providing real-time visibility of water use at the point of consumption, the other delivering structured staff training tailored to each business context. The trials are co-designed with major brands including Greene King, Whitbread, Morrisons and Sainsbury's, ensuring the findings are grounded in real commercial environments and readily transferable across the wider sector.

Partners: Anglian Water, Claremont Communications, David Lloyd Leisure, Greene King, John Lewis Partnership, Morrisons, Northumbrian Water, Sainsbury's, Stonegate, University of Surrey, Institute for Sustainability, Whitbread, WRc, Yorkshire Water.