Spotlight on Nature-based Enterprises : Daphne Water Solutions
Daphne Water Solutions was founded to address one of the most pressing environmental challenges of the twenty-first century: how to safely reuse water while reducing the environmental footprint of wastewater treatment. The company emerged from over a decade of research at the University of Birmingham, exploring how the sentinel species Daphnia evolved tolerance to pollution, which led to an unexpected discovery. Daphnia populations resurrected from pre-industrial lake sediments were more effective at tolerating and accumulating modern contaminant mixtures than contemporary populations exposed to decades of pollution.
Inspired by this finding, Daphne Water Solutions developed a novel nature-based wastewater treatment technology that harnesses proprietary Daphnia strains as living biofilters to remove persistent and mobile toxic chemicals (PMTs), micropollutants, nutrients, and microplastics from wastewater. By preventing these harmful chemicals from recirculating through the food chain, the technology protects ecosystems and human health alike.
The technology is a nature-based tertiary treatment that can be retrofitted into existing infrastructure or installed as an in-line end-of-pipe solution. Unlike conventional advanced treatment technologies, it requires no chemical dosing or energy inputs and avoids the large secondary waste streams and concentrated brines generated by many membrane- and adsorption-based processes. The only by-product is a small quantity of biological biomass, which can be treated to remove accumulated contaminants and recycled as fertiliser. Because installations do not rely on large concrete structures, life cycle assessment studies have demonstrated carbon footprint reductions of up to 98% compared with conventional tertiary treatment technologies.
The business model combines engineering design and integration services, supply and installation of proprietary treatment systems, licensing of the technology platform and Daphnia strains, long-term operation and maintenance, and monitoring and compliance support, pairing upfront equipment sales with recurring revenue to create long-term partnerships with customers. Real-world deployments are already running across in-line water utility settings (Severn Trent Water), decentralised in-field installations (National Trust), and retrofit utility applications in South Africa.
The market is evolving faster than regulation: concern over PFAS, pharmaceuticals and microplastics is rising globally, but binding removal requirements are still emerging. Nature-based solutions also carry a legacy perception of being difficult to scale, and regulators often seek highly predictable performance from inherently dynamic biological systems. Daphne Water Solutions has responded with scientific validation, engineering innovation, including modular cascade configurations that use gravity to progressively polish wastewater without additional energy, and strategic partnerships with visionary early adopters.