Mode Labs awarded £100,000 to transform real-time river pollution monitoring
Mode Labs has been named as one of 20 finalists in Ofwat's Water Discovery Challenge, securing £100,000 to further develop and demonstrate CERES, our autonomous chemical monitoring platform.
The £7.5 million competition, part of Ofwat's Water Innovation Fund, supports promising innovations with the potential to address some of the water sector's biggest challenges. Mode Labs' project will focus on transforming how harmful chemicals are monitored in rivers and sewer overflows through continuous, real-time measurement.
Bringing laboratory-quality monitoring into the field
Mode Labs’ CERES autonomous chemical monitoring platform during a field deployment for real-time water quality monitoring.
CERES is a self-contained autonomous chemical monitoring platform that continuously analyses water in the field and makes laboratory-quality chemical data available remotely in real time.
Developed by Mode Labs at Begbroke Science Park near Oxford, CERES automatically collects tiny water samples, prepares them for analysis and continuously measures target chemicals without the need for routine manual sampling.
By reducing maintenance requirements and making laboratory-quality monitoring practical outside the laboratory, the technology offers a more cost-effective approach to continuous water quality monitoring. Data can be accessed remotely in real time to support faster operational decisions and, where appropriate, wider sharing of water quality information.
Much of today's chemical water quality monitoring still relies on laboratory analysis of samples collected at intervals. While highly accurate, this provides only occasional snapshots of what is happening and can delay the detection of pollution events.
Continuous autonomous monitoring has the potential to provide a much clearer picture of changing conditions, helping water companies detect pollution sooner, target investment more effectively and improve environmental outcomes.
“Our ambition is to replace occasional snapshots of river health with a continuous picture of what is happening across rivers and sewer networks. By making laboratory-quality chemical monitoring far less costly and maintenance-intensive, we can help the sector detect pollution sooner, direct investment more intelligently and protect rivers at a scale that has been difficult to achieve using conventional monitoring approaches.
”Support from Ofwat allows us to demonstrate that vision in real-world conditions and accelerate the route towards commercial deployment.”
What happens next
In April 2027, as many as 10 of the 20 finalists will go on to receive up to £550,000 each to further develop and test their innovations, alongside additional support and sector mentorship.
The Water Discovery Challenge is run by Challenge Works, part of Nesta, in partnership with Arup and Isle Utilities, and forms part of Ofwat's Water Innovation Fund.
