Thames and Severn Trent unveil smart sewer monitor programmes

TECHNOLOGY UPDATE

Thames Water and Severn Trent Water have separately unveiled installation programmes for smart sewer monitors that provide data to enable the companies to avert sewer blockage and flooding.

Thames has claimed it has “pioneered” new-to-the-market intelligent sewer technology in a “game-changing drive to prevent pollution from blockages caused by cooking fat and wet wipes.” To the same end, Severn Trent has reported it has installed 1,400 smart units since September last year in a first phase of a plan to install 40,000 over the next five years.

The devices deployed by both companies are fixed in sewer pipes to detect sewage levels and provide early notice of rises that could indicate a blockage.

Thames is trialling 300 smart monitors that are fixed inside sewers to send data that, according to Thames, help to pinpoint emerging problems before they grow into blockages that can cause flooding and pollution. The company said a larger trial will follow later this year should the current on prove successful. It said its monitors will enable it to build a digital model of the network in the trial zones.