Research centre opens in Exeter to tackle water issues

South West Water has invested £21m into the centre

A new waste and water research centre has opened in Devon to "tackle the issues" people are concerned about, bosses have said.

The £30m building was created and funded in partnership between the University of Exeter, Research England and South West Water (SWW).

The Centre of Resilience in Environment, Water and Waste aims to find solutions to problems such as flooding, water quality and supply.

SWW has invested £21m into the centre.

Prof Richard Brazier said: "We need to understand how to manage our water supplies"

Prof Richard Brazier, director of the centre, said it was a "state of the art research facility".

"We are trying to understand problems with flooding, drought, water supply and problems related to water quality," he said.

"And, critically how we can solve those problems for the whole of the water industry."

He said due to population pressures and climate change, water resources were "struggling" across the world.

"We need to understand how to manage our water supplies."

Carolyn Cadman said the aim was to "get ahead of the game"

Carolyn Cadman, director of natural resources at SWW, said the firm had invested a lot of money to "tackle the issues that people are rightly concerned about, like storm overflows".

She said: "It is also important to get ahead of the issues of the future.

"We have microplastics and other sources of pollution that we need to understand more about in order to get ahead of the game, and start taking the interventions we need to take now."