There has never been a better time for collaboration on climate issues, writes Susan Davy, Chief Executive Officer of South West Water.
In March, we made history with the launch of our £30 million research centre in partnership with the University of Exeter.
The Centre for Resilience in Environment, Water and Waste (CREWW) is a first-of-its-kind partnership between South West Water, the University of Exeter and Research England which will tackle global environmental challenges.
CREWW brings together experts from South West Water and academics under one roof to explore how to manage our precious natural resources in ways which are sustainable, innovative and resilient.
CREWW’s research will future-proof water systems to cope with floods, droughts, and pollutants including microplastics, and make a real difference to people’s lives and the environment regionally, nationally and globally.
Collaborating to tackle climate issues
In my mind, the launch of CREWW could not come soon enough. There has never been a better time for collaboration on tackling climate issues.
Only those who have spent the whole of last month indoors or on the other side of the world will have failed to spot we’ve just had the wettest February ever.
Climate change is unfolding before our eyes. It is a sobering statistic that five of the 10 warmest February’s ever have happened in the past five years, and in Devon and Cornwall in 2022 we had the hottest, driest period year on record – that culminated in a year-long drought.
Climate change, population growth and water scarcity
Climate change is also affecting the world’s water in complex ways.
From unpredictable rainfall patterns to shrinking ice sheets, rising sea levels, floods and droughts – most impacts of climate change come down to water – whether a cause or an effect.
Every single day, about two billion people worldwide don’t have access to safe drinking water and roughly half of the world’s population is experiencing severe water scarcity for at least part of the year. These numbers are expected to increase, exacerbated by population growth.
Today, only 0.5 per cent of water on Earth is useable and that’s reducing. Over the past 20 years, water storage – including soil moisture, snow and ice – has dropped at a rate of 1 cm per year, with major ramifications for water security.
Water quality is affected by climate change, as higher water temperatures and more frequent floods and droughts are projected to exacerbate many forms of water pollution – from sediments to pathogens, microplastics and pesticides.
Climate change, population growth and increasing water scarcity will also put pressure on food supply as most of the freshwater used, about 70%, is used in agriculture.
So, if we ever needed a reason to back CREWW, that reason is here today.
Welcome to CREWW
CREWW is the first Net Zero in-operation research centre to be co-funded and co-created with an institution of higher education and water industry partnership.
It’s amazing to be part of this pioneering work which is happening right here in the South West.
Through CREWW, we are developing a methodology for analysing microplastics in the water cycle, and how we tackle them, looking at ways we can alleviate groundwater infiltration into sewers which will reduce the use of storm overflows, amongst other important projects.
This way of working rests on the foundation of many years of collaboration between South West Water and the University and is a partnership of great importance, bound together by some truly talented people, delivering some amazing projects.
The catchment improvement work, first pioneered in 2006 by our respective teams, was trail-blazing. It acted as a beacon of change for the sector, which others have followed.
And with this new collaboration, we’re setting our sights higher, turning projects into viable solutions internationally and globally, and in turn driving commercial benefit, and investment back into the South West – and delivering on our true potential.
Working together to make a difference
As CEO of one of the largest employers in the South West, with over 4,000 people (and double that if we include our supply chain partners), I recognise that if you truly want to make a difference to the world, investments can not only be about places and fantastic facilities such as this, they need to be about people and helping and encouraging people to work together too.
Having a space in which diverse minds can flourish, collaborate and innovate to solve some of the world’s most pressing water and waste and environmental challenges is not a choice, it’s a necessity. Because as we know, water and climate change are inextricably linked.
Seeing first-hand the progress already made, I am clear, that if there’s a collaboration that can fix even one of the challenges we face, it’s this one.
