Project:

Smart Water Butts

Exploring innovative solutions to rainwater management

As one of the driest regions in the UK, it’s imperative we’re always looking out at new projects to save water, fix problems for customers before they start and help the environment. This was the catalyst behind our recent ‘Smarter Drop Street’ project.

Project Info

Project Resources

Project stats:

Trial Duration

0

Months

Trial Location:

Newmarket

Partner:

What is the Smarter Drop Street project?

This initiative was a collaboration between Anglian Water (AW) and Sustainable Drainage Systems Limited (SDS) to trial the use of rainwater management systems (RMS) within a neighbourhood in Newmarket affectionately termed ‘Smarter Drop Street.’

One of the first comprehensive trials of smart water butts in the industry, the purpose of the trial was to assess the impact rainwater capture can have by focussing on a single street and a local school. We wanted to explore how it might help to improve stormwater management and reduce the impact on the sewer system, as well as learn the most effective ways to encourage customer adoption, should the project be scaled up at a later date.

Timeline

2019

L

2019

Start up, customer engagement, property surveys

2020

L

2020

Water butt installation, lockdown disruption, butts operate as dumb

2021

L

2021

Remedial maintenance, recommendation, smart operations

2022

L

2022

Continued operation, configuration changes, drain down tests

2023

L

2023

Data analysis, final reporting

Why Smarter Drop Street?

This particular road is a great example of many of the roads across our region; The vast majority of surfaces are paved, it is a Victorian style street with shared drainpipes all contributing to a combined stormwater overflow, and there is very little green space. All of this means it is susceptible to flooding, and there could be real benefit to an improved rainwater management system.

However, most of the properties have small gardens, and as such a careful customer engagement plan was needed to explain why it would be beneficial for customers to give up some of their valuable outdoor space to house a smart water butt device. At the local school, three different types of water butt were installed to allow us to assess their differing impacts.

The Trial

13 smart water butts were installed (22% of the street) – each one with a storage volume of 3.5m3. Each device is fitted with a small control box, which checks the weather forecast every 6 hours for predicted rainfall. Once it detects a potential rain event, it calculates the required volume for the water butt and releases water from the tank so that the capacity needed is available. The water butts are mains-powered, giving them a stable power source, and fit neatly alongside walls or fences to minimise their footprint.

The trial was run over a period of 19 months in total, and within this time the average up-time (i.e. systems operating within specification and collecting data) was 64%. 40m3 of stormwater was collected, and 29m3 of this was pre-emptively released in advance of storms using the weather-based control process, increasing the volume of stormwater that could be collected.

The Results

The project succeeded in engaging with and signing up customer to the trial, installing tanks at 22% of properties within Smarter Drop Street, and it’s likely that a real-life local issue would enhance participation further.

The smart water butts efficiently predicted the capacity needed in advance of rain events by computing the weather forecast, the roof area of the property and the water level in the tank, and releasing stored water into the sewer systems at times of increased flood risk. As the technology matures, there is a real potential for this system to offer a cost-effective and scalable solution for stormwater attenuation; comparison showed smart water butts to be 50 times more effective than a standard water butt.

“We’re always looking for innovative ideas and solutions to help tackle issues like flooding, managing surface water and reducing customer water usage. The Smarter Drop Street project, run in the Anglian Water Shop Window, trialled the effectiveness of retrofitting smart water butts in an urban street to help control the flow of rainwater entering the combined sewer system. The learning from this and other trials supports the planning and development of our flood prevention schemes for the future.”