Innovating with world-first water treatment process

His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales visited our Cumwhinton Water Treatment Works, near Carlisle, to see how ultraviolet LEDs are making ripples in the field of low energy water treatment. Developed by Penrith firm Typhon, the technology is the only one of its kind capable of disinfecting drinking water supplies on a large scale.

Ultraviolet (UV) light is widely used in the drinking water treatment process to remove bacteria or tastes and odours caused by algae. However, until now, UV LED treatment systems had only been effective at treating small amounts of water for very low flows or domestic use. This project, two years in development, sees the world’s first ever municipal UV LED disinfection system in operation at the site.

His Royal Highness met employees from both Typhon and United Utilities and discussed how the awardwinning system, with its advantages of superior safety, energy efficiency and low running costs, could help address safe access to water globally.

Typhon CEO, Matt Simpson, said: “We were honoured that His Royal Highness was interested to come and learn more about this hugely important leap for UV technology in the water industry. It was wonderful to be able to share the story of how a small local firm and the local water company have worked together to take the idea all the way through from demonstration scale to a marketable industrial application right here in Cumbria.

“We explained how the process works, the challenges involved in developing such a unique disinfection solution, and the potential future benefits for the water industry globally and for high skilled employment opportunities in the North Lakes area.”

Our head of innovation, Kieran Brocklebank, said: “United Utilities is proving to be quite a force for innovation in the UK water sector thanks to our Innovation Lab programme, where we identify and incubate the best emerging technologies. Our relationship with Typhon is a real success story and we were delighted to help showcase what can be achieved when industry fully invests in the next generation of talent and ideas.”