Kent town set for smart sewer installation
Works will get underway later this month in Whitstable, as AI technology is added to our underground network in an effort to cut storm overflows
The technology harnesses the power of artificial intelligence in responding to rising levels of storm water in our sewers in real time
This allows pipes to double up as extra storage capacity - so storm overflow releases become less relied upon to stop homes flooding.
We're also redesigning other parts of the sewer network in the town, including adding new manholes and pipework, and upgrading our monitoring systems with radar technology so we know exactly what is happening under out feet.
The work is focused in the Diamond Road and Tankerton Circus areas of Whitstable, where we anticipate road closures for at least ten weeks.
Our teams will start at Diamond Road on Monday 21 October, and then a week later on Monday 28 October in Tankerton Circus.
Programme Delivery Lead for our East region, Angus Cramp, said:
“We apologise for any disruption this will cause customers, businesses and residents in this area over the coming weeks.
“The installation of this technology forms an important part of our wider work in Whitstable to help promote clean rivers and seas. We know how important this drive is to our customers in this area, and our modelling has shown that by using this technology and making other changes to the way our network operates, we can make a big difference in slashing storm overflows.”
The network will benefit from a smart sewer product called ‘CENTAUR® Gates’ which uses artificial intelligence to respond to storm water in the system by creating sections of gated off pipework which can store and control flows in real time.
By doing this, we can avoid treatment sites being overloaded suddenly by the influx of surface water into our sewers, making the use of storm overflows into the environment to stop homes flooding less necessary.
The work is part of our Pathfinder projects workstream, which looks at nature-based and engineering solutions to slow-the-flow of water entering our network to reduce storm overflows.
Our Clean Rivers and Seas Plan sets out how £1.5 billion will be spent between 2025 and 2035 to continue to deliver long-term solutions that get to the root cause of storm overflow use.