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Research & Methodology

Citizen-powered water exposure data, built from the bottom up

WaterGod produces longitudinal, standardised Water Exposure Scores for individual properties. No institution has the access or the mandate to test inside your home. The only way to build this dataset is household by household.

No property-level water quality data exists in England and Wales

The Independent Water Commission's Cunliffe Review (July 2025) identified data transparency failure as a systemic weakness in UK water regulation. Statutory monitoring operates at treatment works level. It tells you what leaves the plant, not what arrives at your tap. The gap between the two is where lead pipes, ageing infrastructure, and local contamination sit unmonitored.

River monitoring citizen science exists. Utility-side sensors exist. One-off test kits exist. Nobody is building independent, household-level, longitudinal exposure timelines that are standardised, versioned, and comparable over time. This data has to be built from the bottom up, because no institution has the access or the mandate to test inside people's homes. WaterGod is building that infrastructure.

The Water Exposure Score

Every WaterGod test produces a Water Exposure Score: a standardised, versioned composite index that translates raw parameter readings into a single, contextualised number. The WES is not a safety certification. It tells you where your water exposure sits relative to regulatory thresholds, historical baselines, and other properties in your area, and whether that position is changing over time.

Score types

ScoreWhat it representsAccess
HWESHousehold Water Exposure Score. Your home's individual exposure profile, based on direct testing. Updated with each re-test.£20 test + subscription
CWESCommercial Water Exposure Score. Same core methodology applied to business and sole trader properties.£20 test + subscription
AWESArea Water Exposure Score. Aggregate exposure picture for a local area, combining HWES/CWES data with public environmental data.Free via the WaterGod Map

Scoring principles

Regulatory-aligned baseline. Every parameter scored against current UK and WHO drinking water standards, with conservative weighting where standards are under review.
Weighted composite. Parameters with greater health significance (lead, microbial contamination) carry more weight than aesthetic parameters (hardness, taste). Weighting methodology is published and versioned.
Trend-sensitive. The WES incorporates direction of change, not just current state. A score stable at 72 means something different from a score that has dropped from 85 to 72.
Version-controlled. WES v1.0, v1.1, etc. When methodology updates, previous scores remain valid under their original version. No retroactive shifts.
Transparent. Parameter weights, threshold logic, and scoring methodology are published. Any score can be reproduced from its raw inputs.

WaterGod provides standardised exposure scoring. We do not diagnose health outcomes, certify water safety, or prescribe action. This bounded positioning is deliberate: it is what allows institutions to reference the score without liability concern.

Field testing and validation

WaterGod's scoring design is informed by multiple rounds of user research: concept validation interviews in December 2025 and in-home field testing with actual water quality tests in the New Forest area in February 2026. Together these provide both conceptual and operational evidence for scoring and product decisions.

Screening triggers action
Households that received concerning readings immediately wanted to know what to do next. WES is designed as a screening tool: it identifies where exposure sits relative to thresholds and flags when readings warrant further investigation.
Lead is the parameter people care about most
Multiple participants wanted quantitative lead readings, not just positive/negative indicators. Strip-based kits cannot satisfy this demand, which validates the priority of achieving 1 µg/L lead detection on electrochemical sensors.
Parental concern is the strongest emotional driver
Baby formula safety, children's health, and family protection were the most emotionally charged motivations across both research rounds. Parents were consistently willing to pay well above WaterGod's £20 price point.
Geographic consistency within watersheds
Tests in the same area showed very similar results across households (similar hardness, similar chlorine, similar pH), consistent with shared reservoir and distribution infrastructure. This is early empirical support for WaterGod's watershed-based organisation.
Filters frequently don't work as advertised
A filter marketed to remove nitrates was found to have no measurable impact on nitrate levels. Without independent retesting, the homeowner would never have known. This validates WaterGod's positioning as independent verification infrastructure.
People treat the test like a medical appointment
Participants were visibly nervous waiting for results, treating the tester like a doctor delivering a verdict. This validates the WES communication framework as critical infrastructure: how scores are communicated matters enormously.

Testing infrastructure

WaterGod currently uses specialist portable equipment to conduct in-home water quality tests across 13 parameters, producing quantitative readings that feed directly into the WES. This is screening infrastructure: it identifies where exposure sits, flags readings that warrant further investigation, and provides clear next steps when concern is indicated.

Our R&D programme is focused on reducing per-test cost to enable watershed-scale density through electrochemical sensor technology and smartphone-based reading. We are actively building academic partnerships in sensor science and environmental data methodology to accelerate this pathway.

The WaterGod Map

The WaterGod Map aggregates independent testing data with publicly available environmental data into a single interface. It has standalone value from day one, before WaterGod's own testing density reaches critical mass, because it brings together data that currently sits scattered and inaccessible across government agencies, water companies, and regulatory bodies.

As household testing density grows, the WaterGod Testing Layer becomes the Map's unique differentiator: the only source of independent, property-level, longitudinal water exposure data at this resolution.

01
WaterGod Testing
02
Sewage & Pollution Events
03
River & Bathing Water Quality
04
Water Company Compliance
05
Environmental Contamination
06
Regulatory & Infrastructure Context

Every household that tests contributes to the Area Water Exposure Score. Individual action compounds into collective visibility. The more households that participate, the more credible the scores, and the harder it becomes for contamination or infrastructure failure to go unnoticed.

Pilot targets and sector interest

WaterGod's pilot target is 1,000 households tested within 12 months, building watershed-scale density in the New Forest and expanding to adjacent areas. Southern Water has expressed interest in the data WaterGod's household testing programme would produce, particularly its potential to support resilience planning and PR24 performance commitments around lead pipe identification and customer experience.

We are applying for the Ofwat Water Discovery Challenge 2 (deadline 8 April 2026) to fund the pilot and accelerate R&D. WDC2 awards up to £100,000 for finalists and up to £550,000 for winners.

Research partnerships

WaterGod is building academic partnerships to advance two capabilities: electrochemical sensor development for low-cost lead detection, and environmental data methodology for standardised exposure scoring. If your research intersects with either, we'd welcome a conversation.

Hugh Fraser, Founder · hugh@watergod.co.uk