A project from United Utilities aims to combine nature-based wastewater treatment with monitoring, diagnostics and decision-support technology, in a bid to improve the predictability associated with such treatment systems, making them potentially more attractive targets for investment and deployment at scale.
The water company is seeking potential partners for a project called Living Logic: Nature-Based Wastewater Treatment and Intelligent Monitoring, which it is developing for entry into the seventh Water Breakthrough Challenge.1
The project appears to address one of the obstacles facing wider deployment of nature-based wastewater treatment: demonstrating that systems dependent on biological and ecological processes can perform with sufficient predictability, and be monitored with enough confidence, to take their place alongside conventional treatment infrastructure.
United Utilities said it is interested in working with suppliers, technology providers, research organisations and delivery partners offering both nature-based wastewater treatment technologies and associated monitoring, diagnostic and decision-support capabilities.
The stated aim is to support the wider adoption of what the company calls “living treatment systems” as “predictable, monitorable and investable wastewater treatment assets”.
Nature-based treatment can encompass approaches such as constructed wetlands and other systems that exploit biological, soil and plant processes to remove pollutants. Such approaches can potentially offer benefits extending beyond wastewater treatment itself, including habitat creation and improved resilience.
But their performance can also depend on variables such as temperature, rainfall, hydraulic loading and biological condition. The Living Logic proposition suggests that better sensing, diagnostics and decision-support could help reduce the uncertainty associated with these systems, allowing operators to understand how they are performing and potentially intervene before treatment deteriorates.
A move towards treating natural systems as infrastructure has been apparent in the water sector in recent years, with schemes including Yorkshire Water’s integrated constructed wetland at Clifton wastewater treatment works and Wessex Water’s constructed wetland at Cromhall Water Recycling Centre. Launching Water Breakthrough Challenge 7 in September, Ofwat director for natural assets, environment and innovation Dr Jo Jolly highlighted “nature as critical infrastructure” as one of the changes in thinking the competition hopes to encourage.2
Monitoring is likely to be important to that transition. If nature-based systems are to fulfil regulated wastewater-treatment functions, utilities and regulators need evidence that they are delivering the required performance – as well as information that can support operation, maintenance and investment decisions.
The latest Water Breakthrough Challenge will provide up to £50 million for collaborative projects addressing challenges facing the water sector. Its Catalyst stream, under which Living Logic is being developed, offers projects between £150,000 and £2 million, with winners due to be announced in spring 2027.3
Previous rounds have already supported projects combining natural treatment with digital and monitoring technologies. Winners of the sixth challenge, announced in May, included schemes investigating fungi for water purification, nature-based interventions in headwater catchments and AI-enabled monitoring of river ecosystems.4
United Utilities’ current exercise is preliminary market engagement rather than an award of funding. The company is seeking organisations able to contribute to development and delivery of the proposed Living Logic project, either financially or through benefits in kind.
If successful, the work could help answer a significant question surrounding nature-based wastewater infrastructure, namely whether its performance can be measured, predicted and managed with sufficient confidence for it to become a more established treatment asset.
Notes
[1] United Utilities Water Limited, “Living Logic: Nature-Based Wastewater Treatment and Intelligent Monitoring, preliminary market engagement notice”, 16 September 2026.
[2] Envirotec, “Water Breakthrough Challenge 7 will award £50m to accelerate transformational innovation”, 8 September 2026.
[3] Ofwat, Water innovation competitions, Water Innovation Fund.
[4] Ofwat, Water-purifying mushrooms, 3D printed infrastructure and AI-enabled microphones to monitor river life among winners of £58 million Water Breakthrough Challenge, 19 May 2026.
