United Water: Distributed systems and environmental technology

Established in 1996, United Water is the largest private water company operating in Australia and New Zealand, providing comprehensive water and wastewater services to more than 1 million people.

In Adelaide, South Australia, United Water is responsible for the management, maintenance and operation of six water treatment plants, four wastewater treatment plants, 130 storage tanks and 300 pumping stations, plus a 15,000km pipe network.

United Water also undertakes extensive research and development activities in both Australia and New Zealand to improve water and wastewater quality. United Water is a key node in the international research and development network of parent companies Thames Water and Vivendi Water. The company's research and development team is based in Adelaide.

UWI R&D is committed to exploring the application of high performance computing to enhance ongoing investigations into water distribution systems (optimisation of capital works programs as well as operations), reservoir modelling (pathogen fates and nutrient cycles), environmental biology (algal population modelling), computational fluid dynamics (water and wastewater treatment process design), and other areas of water resource and intrastructure management.

This committment is represented by a financial contribution to eResearch SA. Research and development is an essential component of United Water's success. The company conducts research internally to ensure that it is constantly innovative for its parent companies, Thames Water and Vivendi Environment, in the areas of water/biosolids reuse and management of algae and as contract researchers for a range of clients.

UWI partners include universities, cooperative research centres, government agencies, local councils, the Centre for Groundwater Studies, Thames Water, Vivendi Environment, other private utilities and the Australian Water Quality Centre. United Water's clients include local councils, state governments, private owners of systems and consultants.