Articles

Ahead of the World Water-Tech Innovation Summit, Shaunna Berendsen, Chief Innovation Officer at Anglian Water, gives a quick overview of cost-efficient practices on water reuse.

Read full transcript below:

Louise Crauet: Hi, I'm Louise. The conference producer for the World Water-Tech Innovation Summit. Taking place in London on February 25th and 26th, 2025. And today I'm joined by Shaunna Berendsen, the Chief Innovation Officer at Anglian Water. Hi, Shauna.

Shaunna Berendsen: Hi. Nice to see you.

Louise Crauet: So good to have you here. And Shaunna, today I wanted to talk a little bit about water reuse and was wondering if you could tell us more about how you're navigating as a utility navigating the resource intensity, trade-offs that come with water reuse practises that we hear today. You know, including the energy, some of the chemicals and even the infrastructure required for treatment.

Shaunna Berendsen: Yeah. It's a really great question. So, the resources required for reuse are identified and feed directly into our decision making for options of how we manage supply supply demand deficits. So, our water resources management plan, which is known by most of the sector as the WRMP takes the best value approach to planning. And that means that evaluates the performance across a wide range of metrics like cost carbon environmental improvement benefits for customers and communities. So the ones that you absolutely mentioned.

Louise Crauet: And what technologies or innovation are showing cost-efficient and practically operable outcomes for water reuse? Are you seeing anything or using anything yourselves?

Shaunna Berendsen: Yeah, I am seeing more and more innovations coming through in this area simply because the demand gap is getting even greater, so supply options are becoming less expensive and in some in some cases more expensive. So we're looking at innovations such as the use of LEDs for treatment that could potentially replace some of the chemicals within the processes whilst reducing cost and maintaining safety. But that's why events like this are so great because it means that we get to learn from others both on this panel and in the event that are perhaps more ahead of us in terms of that curve.

Louise Crauet: You're totally right. I think we're bringing quite a lot of people as well that are probably leading in some of those innovations and maybe in LED as you've mentioned. And I was wondering as well as the current water distribution infrastructure in the UK, but also in other countries doesn't necessarily allow for reuse at scale. What solutions do you think are adaptable to the existing infrastructure and also to the environment?

Shaunna Berendsen: Yeah, it's a really good point. I think there are a lot of opportunities that are associated with reuse per se that have the potential application on, on many varieties of scales. So you know you've got indirect reuse which is moving recycled water to locations where they can be abstracted for potable treatment along with nature based solutions type treatments where we're proposing one in Colchester that can supplement resources in our existing distribution infrastructure. So the release of grey water effectively from sinks, showers, baths, those kinds of things could be employed economically within new developments and that's through some of the work that we're doing on our enabling water smart communities project, which was one of our luckily funded off what off what bids through the Ofwat Innovation Fund.

Louise Crauet: Oh, thank you so much. Thanks for sharing some of the ongoing projects and thank you again as well for taking the time to answer a few questions and I think, yeah, we can't wait to hear more from when you take the stage. And yeah, talk about water reuse and seeing what possibilities are next for the sector. So thank you so much again, Shaunna.

Meet Shaunna at the summit in London and join her in the session 'Water Reuse: Scaling Circular Solutions for Long-Term Safe Supply' at 9.55am on February 26.