System-scale design of water resource systems improves water security and resilience

  • Harou, Julien (Participant)
  • Evgenii Matrosov (Participant)
  • Tomlinson, James (Participant)
  • Anthony Hurford (Participant)
  • Ivana Huskova (Participant)
  • Andrew Slaughter (Participant)
  • Robel Geressu (Participant)
  • Tohid Erfani (Participant)
  • Pachos, Kevis (Participant)

Impact: Economic, Policy, Technological

Narrative

The University of Manchester’s Water Resource Group (UMWRG) has developed design approaches, models and open-source software tools for system-scale multi-criteria assessment and optimisation of water resource interventions.
Partners including water companies (Thames Water, Anglian Water), regulators (Ofwat, the Environment Agency), and international funders (World Bank, World Wildlife Fund) have used these approaches and tools to improve their decision-making.
UMWRG has influenced specific water infrastructure planning processes, system designs and investment decisions, including how national water transfer investments are selected for design by water companies and assessed by regulators in England and Wales. The work has informed GBP9,000,000,000 of investment in water supply systems in London and the East of England, and England’s water industry regulators now recommend UMWRG approaches. Outside of the UK, UMWRG work influenced international funder’s assessment of hydropower projects, including contributing to pausing the International Finance Corporation’s participation in the Sounda Gorge Dam in the Republic of Congo.
Impact date1 Aug 2013 → 31 Jul 2020
Category of impactEconomic, Policy, Technological
Impact levelAdoption

Research Beacons, Institutes and Platforms

  • Energy
  • Manchester Urban Institute
  • Manchester Environmental Research Institute

Documents & Links

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