Supporting Sedgemoor Council

Flow monitoring project to deliver telemetry and log water levels

As part of its ongoing programme to prevent flooding and surcharging of manhole chambers, Bezirksrat von Sedgemoor has commissioned Detectronic to deliver a level monitoring telemetry project across a variety of different sites within the boundary of Sedgemoor District Council.

Detectronic site crews have installed MSFM Lite monitors with pressure transducer interfaces at three sites: Bays Pond in Cheddar, Blake Gardens in Bridgwater and Rosewood Park in Burnham on Sea, a public open space on a disused landfill site.

Outlines Phill Tuxford, technical support manager for Detectronic: “Following a number of site meetings with Richard Dunn, Land Drainage & Port Officer with Sedgemoor District Council, we devised a bespoke water level and groundwater monitoring scheme.

“The first monitor we installed is located in the centre of the village of Cheddar. Here the water level of a pond is being monitored to avoid the pond surcharging and causing localised flooding. The pond level rises and falls depending on the amount of rainfall in the upper catchment and how much water is extracted for water use.

“Over in Blake Gardens in Bridgwater, the MSFM Lite monitor is installed in a watercourse upstream of a culvert and is used to monitor the level of the watercourse that does become tide locked on spring tides. When tide locking occurs on the higher tides, this can cause the culvert to surcharge and overflow which does flood the local public open space. A flood barrier has been installed to avoid properties nearby from being flooded.

“Finally, in Rosewood Park Burnham on Sea, we have added two MSFM Lite monitors, one in a borehole – next to a football pitch! – and one in a wet well sump. As Rosewood Park is a public open space built on a former tip site, it is imperative that leachate water levels are monitored. There is a slight risk that, if leachate levels were to climb due to increase in ground water, the leatchate could surcharge from manhole chambers.”

Continues Phill: “With all the monitors in place, Richard and his team are able to monitor and log water levels at timed intervals. Each monitor is also fitted with an alarm that will alert Richard and his team to any potential issues so they can be dealt with quickly and efficiently.

“Should an issue arise due to a faulty logger or no data received, our site crews are always on call to check the monitors and carry out any maintenance work that is required to ensure optimum functionality.”

[button-orange link=”https://detectronic.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Sedgemoor-case-study.pdf”]Download the case study[/button-orange]