Southern Water is getting works get underway later this month in Whitstable, as AI technology is added to the utility’s underground network in an effort to cut storm overflows.
The technology will harness the power of artificial intelligence in responding to rising levels of storm water in sewers in real time. This allows pipes to double up as extra storage capacity - so storm overflow releases become less relied upon to stop homes flooding.
The water company is also redesigning other parts of the sewer network in the town, including adding new manholes and pipework, and upgrading its monitoring systems with radar technology so we know exactly what is happening in the underground network.
New AI technology to reduce storm overflows
Programme Delivery Lead for the Southern Water East region Angus Cramp, said:
“The installation of this technology forms an important part of our wider work in Whitstable to help promote clean rivers and seas. We know how important this drive is to our customers in this area, and our modelling has shown that by using this technology and making other changes to the way our network operates, we can make a big difference in slashing storm overflows.”
The network will benefit from a smart sewer product called ‘CENTAUR® Gates’ which uses artificial intelligence to respond to storm water in the system by creating sections of gated off pipework which can store and control flows in real time.
By doing this, Southern Water can avoid treatment sites being overloaded suddenly by the influx of surface water into sewers, making the use of storm overflows into the environment to stop homes flooding less necessary.
The work is part of Southern Water’s Pathfinder projects workstream, which looks at nature-based and engineering solutions to slow-the-flow of water entering the network to reduce storm overflows.
The company’s Clean Rivers and Seas Plan sets out how £1.5 billion will be spent between 2025 and 2035 to continue to deliver long-term solutions that get to the root cause of storm overflow use.
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