The International Water Association (IWA) Project Innovation Award, known as the PIA, is one of the most respected honors in the global water sector. At the 2026 World Water Congress and Exhibition held in Glasgow, an urban watershed restoration project in Hefei received the silver award in the Performance Improvement and Operational Solutions category. The recognition is significant not only because of the project’s scale, but also because it signals a global shift toward valuing how water infrastructure performs over time, not just how it is designed and built.
Behind the award-winning project
The Shiwuli River basin has long been a challenging urban ecological area. The winning project, jointly submitted by CECEP Guozhen, uses a smart dual-engine approach to create high-performance water ecological infrastructure. It combines basin-wide restoration, resilient operation and maintenance, and full lifecycle management into one integrated system. The central goal is to break the industry pattern of heavy construction and light operation. Many water projects meet their completion milestone and then slowly decline because operations are underfunded, understaffed, or treated as a lower priority. This project treats long-term operation as a first-class design requirement rather than an afterthought.
The solution is built on strong collaboration among research institutes, industry partners and academic teams. It uses digital monitoring and control together with nature-based solutions such as ecological restoration and constructed wetlands. That combination allows the system to respond to changing weather, pollution loads and flow conditions. The judges recognized the model as replicable and scalable for other urban watersheds facing similar pressures.
Why the operational solutions category matters
The PIA category is deliberately focused on performance improvement and operational solutions. That focus matters for engineers and buyers in municipal water, industrial water treatment and EDI systems. It is a reminder that the true cost of water infrastructure includes energy, chemicals, consumables, labor and downtime. A filter that is inexpensive to install but expensive to replace, or prone to bypass under variable flow, can undermine an entire treatment train. Conversely, a well-designed pre-treatment stage can protect downstream membranes, ion-exchange resins and EDI stacks from particulate fouling, extending asset life and keeping operating costs predictable.
The Shiwuli River project is a strong example of whole-cycle thinking. It did not simply focus on compliance targets at the handover stage. It built a resilient operation and maintenance system that supports stable performance over the long term. For buyers, this is a useful evaluation framework: ask how a proposed solution will perform at year one, year five and year ten, and what kind of maintenance and replacement burden it will place on the operating team.
Filtration as a resilience component
No single product determines watershed resilience, but coarse filtration is a basic building block of operational stability. In plants that use membranes, EDI, ultraviolet disinfection or biological treatment, removing suspended solids and larger particles early prevents downstream fouling and reduces cleaning frequency. Spuretek Filtration Co., Ltd. supplies practical pre-treatment components for such systems. For high-flow municipal or industrial intake, the SHF big-flow pleated cartridges are designed for high dirt-holding capacity with low differential pressure, helping reduce pumping energy and cartridge change-out frequency. Where economy and simplicity are priorities, SFB filter bags provide flexible coarse filtration for incoming water or post-biological solids control. In more demanding operations, the SSSP stainless-steel pleated filters offer a cleanable, durable option that supports preventive-maintenance schedules.
The lesson from the award-winning project is that innovation must be paired with dependable operations. Smart control systems cannot compensate for poorly selected consumables or neglected maintenance. But when digital intelligence is combined with robust hardware and realistic maintenance planning, water systems can sustain performance under stress.
Lessons for water utilities and industrial operators
Plan for operation from day one
Operation should not be separated from construction. It must be planned during design, included in budgets and measured through clear performance indicators. This principle applies equally to a river restoration scheme and to a drinking-water treatment plant.
Use digital tools to drive maintenance
Digital monitoring is valuable only when it feeds decisions. Alerts should be linked to maintenance actions, not just dashboards. For filtration, pressure differential trends can signal when a cartridge or bag should be replaced, reducing wasted media and avoiding sudden flow restrictions.
Choose consumables based on lifecycle cost
Lowest purchase price is rarely the lowest total cost. Filter media with consistent pore size, high dirt-holding capacity and reliable sealing can reduce labor, downtime and downstream fouling. For operators, this is where capable suppliers add real value.
A replicable global framework
The most important aspect of the Shiwuli River recognition is that it provides a reference framework. International water utilities facing urban water challenges can learn from the way this project integrates digital technology with nature-based solutions. The principles are not limited to large watershed programs. They apply to any water treatment facility striving for long-term performance: understand the full lifecycle, invest in operations, monitor real performance and select dependable filtration components.
For project teams designing new water infrastructure or retrofitting existing plants, filtration selection deserves the same operational rigor as process design. Spuretek Filtration Co., Ltd. (https://www.spuretek.com) welcomes inquiries from engineers and operators who need reliable coarse-filtration solutions for municipal, industrial, EDI and oilfield applications.
Source: H2O-China
Based on reporting by H2O-China. Original analysis and product perspective by Spuretek Filtration Co., Ltd.. Read the source.