• Services
  • Process Solutions: Drinking Water Treatment

Process Solutions: Drinking Water Treatment

From raw water challenges to final treated water and beyond

Dr Tom Bond is our expert in Drinking Water Processes

Get in touch Get in touch

We help you solve the most difficult problems

Emerging contaminants, such as PFAS and microplastics, pose new water quality challenges. Furthermore, established pollutants such as lead, nitrate, taste and odour causing compounds, pesticides and disinfection byproducts have not gone away. WRc has nearly 100 years' experience solving the most difficult problems for the water industry. Our team of expert scientists and engineers have decades of experience, spanning both academia and industry. They bring knowledge of solving water treatment challenges you can’t buy anywhere else.

    Meeting the challenges of industry

    As a critical industry, we are being challenged by the impacts of climate change, extreme weather events, increasing demand for resources and aging infrastructure. To these can be added the day-to-day responsibilities of ensuring compliance with regulatory standards, meeting Ofwat requirements, and fulfilling customer expectations. Moreover, there is an expectation for higher operational efficiencies and water quality in the context of achieving net zero. We can support you to select and evaluate solutions to these challenges.

      Process modelling

      We can help you model the removal of chemical and microbiological contaminants by various water treatment processes, allowing process optimisation under representative water treatment conditions, and reduction of operational costs.

      Technology evaluation

      WRc are independent and trusted consultants with a 100-year track record in research, innovation and technology development. We help you navigate potential water treatment products and recommend process solutions that best match your project budget and scope.

      Sustainability

      Water is a precious resource, which no-one can afford to waste. We can help with initiatives such as minimising run-to-waste, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and making smart investments for operational improvements and new capital projects.

      Client centred

      We will work to co-design a solution matched to your needs and expectations, and discuss progress through the evolution of the project, culminating in a clear, concise report documenting our findings and recommendations.



      • On-demand services
      • Drinking Water Treatment Plant Audits
      • Optimisation
      • Water Safety Plans
      • Reviewing treatment strategies

      Whether you are concerned about improving water quality, regulatory scrutiny or compliance failures, we can offer an independent and trusted opinion.

      We audit existing water treatment processes, investigate the root causes of compliance failures or suboptimal performance, and recommend operational changes for improved removal of aquatic pollutants.

      Optimisation is about saving costs and/or boosting performance while reliably meeting quality standards. We can propose, evaluate and compare process solutions, supported by rigorous process modelling and experimental testing.

      We have wide expertise in developing, reviewing and improving water safety plans to effectively manage and balance the chemical and microbiological risks, from source to tap, in a drinking water supply system.

      WRc have experience of reviewing existing approaches for operational control of key water treatment processes, such as coagulation-flocculation sedimentation and filtration. We can evaluate existing procedures and assets against industry leading practice and technologies, including the potential for cost saving using automation.

      Case Studies

      Investigating the root cause of microbiological failures

      We visited a UK water treatment plant which had experienced a series of microbiological compliance failures. We discussed possible causes, including ingress and shielding, with water company staff and reviewed the robustness of treatment and disinfection steps. We recommended potential interventions to achieve improved regulatory compliance.

      Disinfection Forum

      Now entering its 15th year, the Disinfection Forum is a constructive space for water companies to learn of latest technologies and research findings, and to share best practice. Forum members have access to WRc’s renowned Ct Toolbox, which supports improved affordability by providing the capability to avoid regulatory penalties, optimise disinfection processes and determine the most cost-effective set of treatment processes for capital projects.

      PFAS control strategies

      We have worked with multiple water utilities to evaluate the efficacy of differing strategies for controlling PFAS in finished drinking water. These include catchment management approaches, blending of water supplies and treatment processes, including activated carbon adsorption. Our recommendations have supported clients to comply with regulatory limits for PFAS.

      Created by potrace 1.16, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2019

      Get in touch

      If you would like more information about any of our products or services, or have a question please don't hesitate to get in touch. One of our friendly team will get back to you promptly.

      Start a conversation

      Full name
      Email address
      Company name
      How can we help?

      Can we stay in touch?

      Your details will be stored within our CRM to allow us to handle your enquiry. We'd love to keep in touch and send you our newsletters and other notifications we think may be of interest to you. Please let us know if we have your permission for this.

      --- No text here

      Fill in the relevant text in the <> brackets in the Lead Magnet 'Name', 'Email Subject' and 'Content'. In 'Content', upload the file after the colon by clicking the 'File' icon > 'Browse Files' > select folder 'user-downloads' and click the 'Upload Files' icon. For help. see our Website Manual section on uploading files.

      No text under 'GDPR Opt in' below. Do not change the 'Success Message'.

      Remove this text ---

      Full name
      Company name
      Email address
      Phone number

      Can we stay in touch?

      Your details will be stored within our CRM to allow us to handle your enquiry. We'd love to keep in touch and send you our newsletters and other notifications we think may be of interest to you. Please let us know if we have your permission for this.

      Dr Tom Bond

      Principal Consultant

      Dr Tom Bond is a Chartered Civil Engineer and a Principal Consultant on Water Treatment at WRc, based in the Water, Environment and Scientific Services Directorate. Previously he worked in academia for over 15 years, researching various aspects of controlling the impacts of hazardous aquatic pollutants. Before joining WRc he was a Senior Lecturer in the School of Sustainability, Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Surrey, with particular interests in microplastics, disinfection byproducts and micropollutants such as PFAS. He has worked on projects funded by organisations including EPSRC, UK water companies and Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) / Defra, and has published extensively in leading journals in the area of water quality engineering. He has also worked at Imperial College London and the University of KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa). He is a Chartered Engineer and Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers (MICE) and holds a MSc and PhD from Cranfield University. During the latter he investigated the treatment of disinfection byproduct precursors, while his first degree was in chemistry from the University of Bristol.

      Get in touch