A small village in Lancashire is now part of the UK’s biggest hi-tech drainage community thanks to United Utilities.
Around 30 homes and the local primary school in Forton have received smart water butts and are taking part in a 12 month trial with the aim of reducing flooding in the area and stopping sewers becoming overloaded during periods of heavy rainfall.
Forton has a historical issue of surface water flooding in the Spring Vale area - a lot of this is caused by ‘urban creep’ with an increase in patios, extensions and driveways leading to more rainwater run-off. Most of this rainwater enters combined sewers, increasing the number of times the overflow comes into operation at the local watercourse.
SDS Limited has created the smart water butts and has installed them in the village. They run by solar power and contain AI computers that allow United Utilities to understand how much rainwater has been collected and then release it back to the sewer network before it is likely to rain. This frees up more room to collect the amount of rain that’s forecast and prevent any excess from entering the sewage system.
Since being installed, early findings have shown that the smart water butts were up to 75 times as effective as a standard, well installed water butt, and could save up to 30,000L of water per installation from entering the sewer network during peak demand.
Johnny Phillips, Surface Water Strategy Development Manager for United Utilities, said:
“We’re delighted to be launching this trial in Forton. Having looked at a number of areas, we think the smart water butts will make a real difference in the village and help to increase capacity in our sewer network and deliver local environmental improvements and the early findings are backing this up.
“The issue of ‘urban creep’ is one that is growing and so innovative approaches like the use of smart water butts will play their part in reducing peak flows into the sewer network. If the trial is successful then there is the potential to roll this out further to other areas where it would be beneficial in the North West.”
A further 75 smart water butts will also be installed in Wrea Green as part of the scheme.
The company is also looking at other projects to help remove surface water from entering the sewer network in Forton, including removing misconnections and working with the local authority to better manage land drainage in the area.
“SAS (Surplus Activated Sludge) is a bit weird and 
Owen Mace has taken over as Director of the British Plastics Federation (BPF) Plastic Pipes Group on the retirement of Caroline Ayres. He was previously Standards and Technical Manager for the group.
PureTec Separations, the Ledbury-based water treatment engineering firm, has appointed Dan Norman as its new Sales Manager – Water Process Systems, supporting the company’s continued growth in the UK and international markets.
bNovate has launched BactoCloud, a secure cloud-based platform that connects and manages its BactoSense instruments, enabling real-time monitoring and optimization of microbial water quality.
Hear how Scottish Water has completed its £235 million Ayrshire Glasgow Resilience Project - customers across Greater Glasgow, Ayrshire and East Renfrewshire will now benefit from a more secure and resilient water supply.
Find out more about the remarkable career opportunities on offer at WSP - scroll down to watch the inspirational video.