SAF & Water: Enabling NetZero Aviation

Supported by Evides Industriewater and Arup, this webinar explores the critical role of water in scaling sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production across the UK. SAF represents one of the most credible and near-term pathways to decarbonising aviation, yet its large-scale deployment depends on access to reliable, well-planned water infrastructure for processing, refining, and operational resilience.

As the UK has not permitted a new large-scale chemical or petrochemical facility in decades, this leaves developers and regulators alike without recent precedent to draw on. For SAF projects approaching critical investment decisions, the absence of a clear, tested pathway for wastewater treatment and discharge consenting is becoming a material barrier to development. This webinar assesses the key priorities for developing an effective, modernised, and navigable SAF permitting regime - one that the UK will need if it is to become a global leader in production

It explores both the critical requirements for water as an input for SAF production, as well as key considerations for output requirements for wastewater from SAF. As production scales and moves towards a wider range of feedstocks, discussion is needed on the volume, complexity, and challenges of resulting wastewater streams associated with aviation decarbonisation.

This session will address:

• What are the water requirements of SAF production, and how do they evolve as capacity scales and feedstocks diversify?

• How is the UK's permitting and discharge consenting regime keeping pace with the demands of new SAF infrastructure, and where is it creating risk for investment decisions?

• How can water reuse, recycling, and integrated resource planning reduce pressure on local water supplies and improve discharge outcomes?

• What partnerships are required between SAF producers, airports, utilities, regulators, and planners to deliver sustainable aviation at scale?

• What can the UK learn from the development of effective, modernised SAF permitting regimes in other jurisdictions, including the EU?

As the UK accelerates efforts to build a domestic SAF industry, water availability, reuse, and integration into regional infrastructure planning — alongside a modernised approach to permitting and discharge consenting — will be decisive factors in determining where and how projects succeed. With the right strategies and regulatory clarity in place, water can shift from a perceived constraint to a core enabler of a competitive, low-carbon aviation fuel sector.