Grant News
Ofwat has launched a £5 million challenge-led competition to fund innovations that reduce water use across England and Wales.
The Water Efficiency Lab competition, part of Ofwat's £100 million Water Efficiency Fund, is designed to help build a more resilient and sustainable water system.
The theme of the competition (WEL 1) is Actionable Insights – using data to inform customers and change behaviours.
Applicants can request between £150,000 and £1.5 million per project to support new technologies and data-driven tools that help people and businesses understand their water consumption and takes steps to lower it.
Potential solutions could include:
- Customer-facing solutions that provide deeper insights from existing smart meter data, combined with real-time behavioural nudges and incentives—for example, linking insights to water usage during extreme weather conditions, or using social norms and business benchmarking to shape incentives
- Granular monitoring systems for fixture-level usage tracking (showers, taps, outdoor use)
- DIY sensors kits for mass deployment across households and businesses
- Alternative monitoring solutions for unmeterable, hard to meter and low priority for metering properties
- Combined leak detection and consumption tracking systems with built-in behavioural feedback
- Unified platforms that integrate data from various sources, such as different types of hardware or energy sources.
The competition is open to all UK-based innovators, and international applicants partnering with a UK lead entrant, from any sector, including water companies, behavioural science firms, tech companies, software developers, hardware manufacturers, consultancies, non-profit organisations, and universities.
Partnerships and consortia are encouraged.
Entries requesting between £100,000 and £150,000 are also eligible provided that they are digital-led and will complete within 12 months.
10% match funding is required.
The deadline for entries is 1pm on 10th March 2026.
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