EARLY FLOOD WARNING SYSTEM PROTECTS VILLAGE FROM A
POTENTIALLY DEVASTATING FLOOD Aquaread’s LeveLine-EWS system proving to be a huge success story for Essex Village
Parish councillor and local residents comment on their experiences with their new fl ood alert system, provided by Aquaread, as it issues its fi rst alerts to the community.
According to the Met Offi ce, December was the wettest month the UK has seen in over a century. As a result fl ooding has affected thousands of homes and businesses, particularly across the North of England. It is estimated by the BBC that the cost of this fl ooding will breach the £5bn barrier, creating a £1.5bn burden on UK insurance companies.
Whilst there are many things that can be done to prevent fl ooding such as installing barriers, dredging rivers or more natural approaches like digging ditches in fi elds to divert the fl ood waters to open land, most of these activities are out of reach for local communities in the short term.
In some cases having more time to defend against rising fl ood waters can be enough to prevent substantial damage, giving people adequate warning at any time of day or night to deploy their defences and safeguard their assets. This is the approach that was recently taken by the local parish Council for the village of Stansted Mountfi tchet near the Hertfordshire border.
Stansted Mountfi tchet has suffered from fl ooding in the past, but in 2014 the village experienced the worst fl ooding any of the local residents could remember in recent years. Ruth Clifford of the local parish Council recalls “In previous years
various local roads that run close to the brook have fl ooded. Damage caused to property from these fl oods, whilst
devastating for those involved, was actually very limited. However, the 2014 fl ood affected many businesses and a few homes. Two businesses were closed for about a year to enable the properties to dry out and be refurbished.”
Ruth was tasked with fi nding out if it was possible to have a fl ood warning system installed to warn of rising water levels to alert the local fl ood wardens to action. After some searches on Google she came across a number of potential suppliers, one of them being Aquaread. “I read about your products on your web page and discussed it with your sales team. Having done the same with two other companies, I considered that your system best met our requirements.” Said Ruth when asked about why she chose the LeveLine-EWS.
Two systems were subsequently installed, by Aquaread, in November along the brook that runs through the village.
Deployment locations were discussed in detail with the local residents who were most familiar with the normal level of water seen in the brook. The fi rst system was set up on a small bridge that residents often use to gauge the brook’s height
and the second deployed downstream by a trash screen sitting in front of a culvert, as seen in the images that follow.
With further input from the local residents the alert levels were set at 36cm, a level equivalent to the water height reaching the underside of the bridge; a marker for action for the fl ood warden team.
Less than a month after installation the UK was awash with the wettest December in over one hundred years. With fl ood wardens across the country on high alert the residents and wardens of Stansted Mountfi tchet slept a little easier knowing that they would receive an alert should the brook water levels rise suddenly.
In the early hours of the 11th January 2016 at 3:50am the LeveLine-EWS deployed at the trash screen gave its fi rst alert by distributing SMS messages. The alert was received by a local resident, being fi rst on the scene he began to clear the trash screen of the debris that had built up following the rise in level. Once the screen was clear the fl ow of water was initially eased but remained high.
“We monitored the water level using the text messaging feature until around 5:20 when it became clear that there was
IET January / February 2016
www.envirotech-online.com
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