Smart Water reuse and Flood Management Technology “could be a vital strategic water asset”
Water infrastructure planners should aimto exploit emergent digitally-controlled rainwater storage and recycling technologies to contribute substantially towater demand reduction targets, aswell as reducing flood and pollution risks, say experts.
Developers of the newtechnology are urging industry stakeholders to recognise the nationally-important strategic contribution that newsmart stormwater systems could make, not only to reducingmainswater demand but also to lowering surfacewater flood risk and preventing sewer overflow pollution.
The National Infrastructure Commission has called for awater supply and demand reduction of 4,000megalitres per day to avoid severe drought risk by 2050 (published in its 2021 AnnualMonitoring Report).Meanwhile, as part of a groundbreaking study into rainwater reuse, commissioned by thewater efficiency NGOWaterwise, implementing a combination of effective policies and incentives forwater reusewas said to have the largest impact of anywater efficiencymeasure on reducing demand,with the potential to reduce the Environment Agency’s predicted 3,500megalitreswater deficit by 630 megalitres a day by 2050.
Richard Averley, Sales andMarketing Director for SDS, a leading company involved in the development of combinedwater reuse and flood storage systems, believes smart rainwater
management technologies can play an important role.
“Installing smart rainwater systems in homes and larger commercial or public buildings not only reduces demand for treatedmainswater, but also delivers attenuation to shield against surfacewater flooding at a district or catchment level. By holding back surfacewater fromentering the drainage network, smart rainwater systems also help to prevent sewer overload and CSO spills, therefore providing important pollution protection often in environmentally sensitive locations.
“Intelligent rainwater systemswork by processingweather forecast data tomanage the amount of rainwater collected and stored in combined flood storage andwater reuse tanks. The autonomous digital controls enable rainwater to be collected for toilet flushing and gardenwatering,while the same storage capacity providesmeasurable protection against surfacewater flooding at peak times. The levels ofwater in the tank are lowered in a controlledwaywhenever heavy rain is predicted, creating sufficient void space in the systemto provide effective floodmitigation.
Decentralised Protection
“This smart Internet of Things concept is scalable fromsmartwater butts at an individual property level right up to large reuse and attenuation tanks inmulti-use commercial or public buildings, soWater Companies and
flood risk authorities couldwork together to plan ameasured amount of protection at a distributed, decentralised level.
“These systems can therefore be purpose- designed not only to ease demand inwater- stressed areas, but to target stormwater discharges in hotspotswhere sewer flooding and CSO spills are a frequent headache for water companies. This can be especially helpful in areaswhere other options for retrofitting stormwatermanagementmeasures have already been exhausted.
“Autonomous rainwater attenuation technologies can also be combinedwith grey water recycling schemes, for example in hotels, office blocks or leisure centres, to contribute further towater efficiencywith the added bonus of reduced costs for the building operators. By reducing the need to use heavily treatedmainswater,water reuse systems could alsomake a vital contribution tomeeting the water industry’s 2030 net zero carbon emissions targets.
Proven Successes Already
“In the fewareas of the UKwhere stricter personalmainswater usage limits of 110 litres per day are enforced through planning conditions, particularly in central London,well- proven smart rainwatermanagement systems are being completed or are currently underway in newdevelopments. For example, at Southbank Place, the SDS Intellistorm° smart
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