Official UK procurement notice
Waterhelm Desalination trial · UK public procurement notice
Authority: Mining Remediation Authority (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe Salinity Department are developing a programme of short trails to research technologies which may be of use when seeking solutions to the problems posed by rising saline mine water.
Waterwhelm is a start up company based in the UK, Waterwhelm have designed and developed an efficient "Forward Osmosis" technology which has the potential to deliver large savings when compared against existing "Reverse Osmosis" technology.
The prototype they have developed is highly mobile and can be deployed from shipping containers. Following a site visit in June this year, the Salinity team believe this technology is worthy of inclusion in the trials programme.
Due to a gap in Waterwhelm's scheduling, a window of opportunity has opened for us to launch the first of these trials.
The availability is from October to December of this year
The MRA have identified Lynemouth Mine Water Treatment Scheme (MWTS) as the site most suitable to run a Waterwhelm-operated pilot project. Waterwhelm's pilot plant deployed at Lynemouth MWTS will consist of two 20ft stacked shipping containers. These items of plant had previously operated at a capacity of 5m3/day, equivalent to reusing and processing 5,000 litres of wastewater or brackish water per day
This award has been made via the Direct Award route. A UK5 Transparency notice reference 2025/S 000-057402 has also been published.
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedProcedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Below threshold - without competition
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Notice status
- Awarded without competition
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Direct award (no call for competition)
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 17 Sept 2025, 15:02 BST
- Last source update
- 17 Sept 2025, 15:59 BST
- Authority reference
CA18/2/31/3- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-057456- Latest notice
- Contract award notice (UK6)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-059c66Find a Tender
Notice history
3 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 17 Sept 2025- Transparency notice published17 Sept 2025, 15:02 BSTUK5
- Contract award notice published17 Sept 2025, 15:59 BSTUK6
- Contract signature expected30 Sept 2025, 23:59 BSTscheduled
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| WaterwhelmSME1 Oct 2025 – 31 Dec 2025 | £190,000 | 17 Sept 2025 | Awarded |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Bidders & participating suppliers
2 commercial parties on the notice- WaterwhelmAwarded supplier
- waterwhelmAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications (2)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Transparency notice Transparency notice on Find a Tender