Technology enabled universal access to safe water (TECHNEAU)
Summary
TECHNEAU is a large international EU funded project tasked with securing and improving the water supply both in the EU and developing countries. The University of Surrey team is responsible for the social science and policy aspects of this programme and is particularly concerned with consumer trust in the water supply and how users react to technological and regulatory innovations. Our work will be integrated with field trials of new supply systems in four countries.
Objectives
TECHNEAU's goal is to develop adaptive supply system options and new and improved treatment and monitoring technologies.
Future system options to be studied include flexible, small scale and multi-source supplies, utilising non conventional resources like brackish ground water, treated wastewater and urban groundwater. Treatment technologies include membrane and oxidation based multi-barrier schemes, providing safety against a broad spectrum of chemical and microbiological contaminants. Monitoring technologies will be developed to provide online and on-site information on water quality including risk of malicious contamination. The project will integrate and advance current work on modelling with the purpose of controlling and optimising supply systems. A framework for risk assessment/risk management will assist in integrating the project output into the practice of the water companies
Impacts
The project will enable end-users to make informed choices, appropriate to their own circumstances and constraints, for cost-effective and sustainable source-to-tap solutions for the provision of safe high quality drinking water that has the trust of the consumer. This step-change will be achieved by a critical mass of researchers, technology developers and users from across Europe and developing countries.
Funder
Team
Researchers
Dr Julie Barnett
Researcher
Dr Jonathan Chenoweth
Senior Lecturer, Director of Learning and Teaching for Environment and Sustainability
Biography
Jonathan Chenoweth is a senior lecturer in environment and sustainability and MSc Programmes Director in the Centre for Environment and Sustainability.
Jonathan’s conducts inter-disciplinary research on sustainable water and sanitation. He also researches on sustainable foods and diets.
Jonathan has an Honours degree in Environmental Planning and a PhD in Environmental Management from the University of Melbourne. Prior to working at the University of Surrey Jonathan worked as a research fellow in the Middle East. He is a full member of the Institution of Environmental Sciences and a Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv).
Professor Christopher Fife-Schaw
Emeritus Professor of Psychology
Biography
Chris has research interests in the promotion of healthy behaviours, recovery from stroke, health claims for food products and methods of online deliberative engagement. He has secured research grants from ESRC, Sport England, EU, the Wellcome Trust and various UK government departments and is most recently PI on an RCT evaluating sports-oriented exercise programmes as an alternative to GP referral for gym-based exercise. He has extensive experience of supervising trainee clinical psychologists’ major research projects and an interest in statistical methods. In addition to numerous journal articles and conference proceedings he has published a textbook on research methods for psychologists. He is the former Director of the ESRC’s Southeast Doctoral Training Centre and was Chair of the Association of Heads of Psychology Departments until May 2022 when he retired.
Dr Tanika Kelay
Researcher
Dr Walter Wehrmeyer
Reader in Environmental Business Management
Biography
After studying economics and business administration in Marburg, Germany, I did an undergraduate degree in development studies, followed by a PhD in industrial environmental management at the University of Kent.
I joined the Centre for Environment and Sustainability (CES) initially as the BG Surrey Scholar in Risk Communication, focusing on engagement strategies towards contaminated land remediation and management. After the successful completion of this project, I have worked as enior Lecturer and Reader in Environmental Business Management, of late looking at CSR and sustainability beyond 'environment'.
Outputs
Publications
Fife-Schaw CR, Barnett J, Morrison G, Åström J, Hartung J (2009) Enhancing consumer relations: The role of trust and confidence. In van den Hoven T, Kazner C (Eds.). TECHNEAU: Safe Drinking Water from Source to Tap: State of the Art and Perspectives. IWA Publishing, London.
Chenoweth J, Barnett J, Capelos T, Fife-Schaw CR, Kelay, T (2010) Comparison of consumer attitudes between Cyprus and Latvia: an evaluation of effect of setting on consumer preferences in the water industry. Water Resources Management 24, 4339–4358.
Research groups and centres
Our research is supported by research groups and centres of excellence.