How innovative 3D printing technology will help the water industry deliver on investment ambitions

27 February 2025

A project developed through Ofwat’s Water Breakthrough Challenge will cut costs and reduce emissions

Four years ago, Changemaker3D came to us at United Utilities (UU) with an idea for 3D concrete printing for the water industry. The proof-of-concept, a 3D-printed concrete wastewater retaining tank, was such a success that we started thinking about how 3D printing could work for us more widely. We also started investigating the use of 3D plastic printing across our operational teams and got in touch with the PrintCity team at Manchester Metropolitan University, who introduced us to a whole new world of 3D plastics printing.

Those conversations led to the creation of the Water Industry Printfrastructure project, funded though Ofwat’s Water Breakthrough Challenge. One work package looks at concrete printing, the other at plastics. Fortunately for us, Scottish Water liked the idea too – it directly aligns to the Scottish government’s targets around net zero for the water sector.

3D printing is used quite a lot in aerospace, the automotive industry, rail and nuclear energy, but barely at all within the water industry. It’s a confidence issue mainly: needing to make sure that 3D-printed materials stand the test of time, as well as understanding how they impact on the wider environment.

3D printing – a water industry first

The plastics work package produced several items that we’re now using in everyday operations at UU, including collars for the cameras we send down sewer pipes and a trough for water monitoring equipment. The benefits are to do with adaptability, timing and carbon. 3D printing the trough, for example, gives us the option to very quickly change the design if we want to upgrade the monitoring probes, and it’s a lot less carbon intensive than injection moulding. It’s a small item, but when you think of the 2,000 or so units that we'll be using across the business, you’re looking at a big saving.

When it came to the concrete printing, we opened a temporary 3D printing hub at Wigan Wastewater Treatment Works in June 2024 and used a track-mounted robot to print large items including combined sewer overflow chambers and Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) containment walls. We then moved the robot to Weaverham Wastewater Treatment Works and printed large concrete structures there too.

We wanted to understand the issues around ownership of the robot, the challenges associated with moving sites. Happily, it was relatively straightforward. 3D concrete printing is not only much quicker than pouring concrete in the traditional way, but it uses a lot less material, which means lower carbon emissions. The 3D printing of our IED walls provided a 51 per cent saving in CO2 equivalent compared to the precast concrete solution.

Commercialisation of 3D printing in the water industry

Now that we're coming to the end of the project, it’s time to look at commercial models for this technology. In some cases, we will want to own the printers – we've already got one in one of our workshops – or our contractor partners will, or perhaps Changemaker3D. For mass plastic printing jobs, it probably makes more sense to go to a printing warehouse.

The key, whatever the ownership model, is to get the design correct – once you've got that, you can upload it onto a central database and print as many as you like. Because the project is 90 per cent funded by the customers of England and Wales, through the Ofwat Innovation Fund, it’s important that all our learnings are shared.

We’re not looking to 3D printing to replace traditional methods of material construction. It’s about enhancing what we do, adding to our capabilities. We've got a huge investment programme coming our way and we need all the help we can get to achieve our targets within the next five to 10 years. This is just one way of doing that.

Author: Richard Clarke, programme manager for engineering innovation at United Utilities.