Yorkshire Water unveils plans to throw light on underground data

Yorkshire Water has unveiled a commitment to declassifying data from more than 700 historic boreholes and to making its future ground investigation data publicly available through a partnership with the British Geological Survey’s (BGS) GeoIndex platform.

The water company said it hopes the collaboration will “expand the data readily available to other organisations and the scientific community, as well as helping companies and geologists increase their understanding of ground conditions across the region.” Yorkshire Water said the borehole data will not include data from boreholes used as part of drinking water abstraction.

Lead project manager at the water firm, Scott Arbuthnott, said: “We would encourage other utilities, constructions companies and contractors to follow our lead by donating their ground investigation data and declassification of any existing records.

“Ultimately, increasing the data that is shared and easily accessible can lower the ground risk for the whole construction industry. This will result in projects being completed faster, at a reduced cost and lowers exposure to health and safety risks by avoiding duplication of investigation work.”