Readers of Specifier Review and Envirotec can learn about United Utilities‘ and Southern Water’s adoption of SDS’s latest smart rainwater recycling system.
As part of their ongoing efforts to reduce sewage spills into natural water bodies including local rivers and the sea, the two Water Companies have fitted homes in Forton, Lancashire, and Deal, Kent, with rainwater harvesting tanks that have been equipped with SDS ‘Intellistorm®’ technology.
By monitoring weather forecast information, Intellistorm® enables the tanks to retain and release their contents automatically, thereby increasing, by several times over a standard water butt, their capacity to protect the sewers from being overwhelmed by excess surface water from heavy rainfall.
The tanks have the added advantage of providing a supply of non-potable water for homeowners, thus reducing the demand for mains-supplied, drinking-quality water for purposes for which its high level of treatment is simply not required.
These projects are already demonstrating that Intellistorm®-equipped tanks have the potential to be a really valuable tool for Water Companies in the battle against sewer overflows and flooding, particularly when they are coupled with other sustainable drainage systems and sewer network improvements.
