Anglian Water has this week launched its new storm overflow map showing where storm overflow monitors are located and providing near real time information on any activations.

Updated hourly, the water company’s latest online tool is designed to help share the latest information on storm overflow activity, giving customers and interested stakeholders the ability to see how Anglian’s network is operating.

Anglian Water’s Head of Spills Strategy, Gail Pickles commented:

“Getting accurate information about storm spills is not straightforward. In fact, we are the only country in Europe to have installed monitors on our storm overflows. The technology and monitors we’re using is still relatively new – less than five years old – and they are operating in an inhospitable environment (sewer pipes), where glitches can occur, so it’s taken a great deal of work and investment to get the most accurate information in a usable format for customers and stakeholders.

“Because we’ve tried to make this map as useful and timely as possible, it means we are sharing this information almost instantly as we receive it from the monitors. This means there may be times when errors occur, and the sensors are triggered without being caused by a spill. Through our thorough testing of the monitors and the map we’ve found these glitches can be caused by nearby activity like a high-speed train going past, interruptions in network signal, or even an active spider web!

“Our monitors indicate activations, not definite spills. This is why, if we see a sensor has been activated when we wouldn’t normally expect it, like in dry weather, we send our teams to check the site. They'll check whether a spill is in fact occurring or if it’s just a problem with the monitors and data. Our fully verified data returns will still be made to the Environment Agency on an annual basis.”

Storm Overflows - Anglian Water has lowest level of spills in the industry

According to Gail Pickles, Anglian Water already has the lowest level of spills in the industry - but the company has recognised the need to go further, and work faster, to address public concerns on storm overflows and pledged an additional £50 million this year to tackle even more.

All of the 1,471 storm overflows across the Anglian network now has a detailed improvement plan that will see discharges significantly reduced by 2050. In coastal towns, all of the storm overflows are fitted with monitoring devices that feed data into the utility’s telemetry system, ‘BeachAware’.

The BeachAware system calculates the volume of storm water being discharged and models each individual to determine if risks are posed to nearby bathing water quality. If a reduction in bathing water quality is predicted, an alert email is automatically generated and sent to the Local Authority, Environment Agency and Surfers Against Sewage who can then communicate the information to the public.

Whilst any discharges will have been predominantly rainwater, Anglian Water said the BeachAware system will notify the Surfers Against Sewage Safer Seas service as a precaution.

Gail Pickles continued:

“However, we’ve heard loud and clear from our customers that we need to take action to address them. They are no longer an appropriate way of dealing with an overloaded sewer system. People want to see demonstrable action on how we ultimately plan to consign them to history, and access trusted sources of information about how and when they operate.

“On this journey to reduce spills, we’re still learning and improving as we go, with further updates in the pipeline."