Biofilm in water pipes

Important results from the project

The purpose of the reality lab is to test a number of new solutions of controlling bacterial growth in water pipes and how to control the growth of the biofilm on the inside pipe wall. The purpose is to improve the sustainability of the pipes as well as the health of the consumers by gaining acccess to new methods for desinfection or pre-emtive actions. The aim of this pre-study was to investigate if, how and where such reality labs ought to be situated and make an inventory of relevant researchers and potential new products/services suitable for testing.

Expected long term effects

The pre-study´s main result is that organisational and practical issues (mainly lack of time) make it somewhat complicated to test and develop new solutions in the regular operations environment of the utilities, even though the utilities want to have new solutions. We have however identified a number of researchers and a list of new technologies to involve in potential future tests and trials.

Approach and implementation

The survey show that it is difficult to reach the individual operators at the utilities to discuss tests and development of new solutions. The study of Dag & Nät, the utility cluster of northern Sweden, show the importance of the municipalities and stakeholders understanding what a reality lab can actually do (and cannot do) in order to fully utilise it. Finally, we have identified about a dozen of relevant researchers and 35 startups and other businesses with new methods relevant for a potential reality lab on biofilm.