United Utilities’ 14 week Innovation Lab ends with positive feedback for Atmos
The fifth Innovation Lab, an idea development program headed up by United Utilities in partnership with L Marks, has come to an end with Atmos receiving positive feedback from United Utilities on the solutions we developed.
The 14 week program aims to launch innovations that will transform the water industry. In an application process that saw pitches from over 200 suppliers, Atmos was selected as one of six suppliers to launch innovations that will transform the water industry.
Figure 1: The installation of Atmos’ hardware that supports single ended water leak detection using less instrumentation
Atmos’ innovation for the program was a multimethod approach to provide both pre and post-pipeline failure analytics within rising sewer mains, which have a high burst rate frequency. Atmos sat within the highly competitive dynamic network management category, with other categories featured in this year’s Innovation Lab including better rivers, low carbon construction, water efficiency and a wildcard.
Atmos was praised for our ability to not only present a preconceived idea, but our ability to adapt it throughout the program into a solution that can be catered to United Utilities’ needs.
Figure 2: The fully installed Atmos Eclipse connected to a rising sewer main pipeline
The 14 week program culminated in a demo day, where suppliers were invited to present on their respective companies, the idea they’d developed through Innovation Lab, a reflection on how they progressed and what their next steps were.
Despite extreme weather conditions causing delays in site deployment, some of which were even named by the Met Office, Atmos was able to demonstrate progress during the 14 weeks, with clear next steps to allow the trials to be concluded.
Speaking on the Innovation Lab, Atmos’ Business Development Director for water Martin Duff said:
“I’d like to extend my gratitude to United Utilities and L Marks for working with Atmos in this year’s Innovation Lab.
Early signs are promising for the rising sewer mains solutions we’re developing and they indicate great long term potential, allowing United Utilities to quickly improve their rising sewer main performance as well as meeting longer term wastewater network resilience goals. There’s potential to scale the solution across into clean water network applications.”
Technical Manager at Atmos Phil Edwards said: “Going on a water utility site to trial our hardware instrumentation and software for the water industry has been a great opportunity for providing a multimethod approach to improving the performance and monitoring of wastewater pipelines.”