In its efforts to control the risk of flooding of arable land, the South Holland Internal Drainage Board (SHIDB) in Lincolnshire is deploying Sarian Systems’ DR6410 routers to monitor its infrastructure remotely.
The SHIDB area is considered to be one of the most fertile arable lands in the world but faces the risk of river flooding and inundation from the sea. The board works in partnership with Natural England and the Environment Agency to protect the 60,000 population and 38,443 hectares of land in South Holland from floods.
The board’s drainage and water level management infrastructure consists of watercourses, pumping stations and other water level control structures. It is using Sarian’s routers to monitor 16 unmanned pumping stations and three gravity controlled tidal sluices, from its central office at Holbeach.
The routers transmit data every 10-15 seconds enabling the engineers to monitor water levels and equipment in real-time. They can also switch the pumps on and off remotely to control the water levels.
Karl Vines, district engineer for SHIDB, said: “The routers are literally our eyes and ears across the South Holland district. Central to our telemetry system, Sarian’s technology allows us to prioritise situations and deal with potential issues before they arise, while giving us the foresight to allocate manpower accordingly and guarantee that our engineers are in the right place at the right time.”
Phase one of the deployment is currently underway. Systems integrator Cougar Automation has installed the routers for both fixed line and mobile communications. BT broadband connections have been widely used while dual Vodafone and T-Mobile SIM cards are being used in isolated locations. Industrial wireless access points are also being deployed to ensure uninterrupted flow of data during bad weather conditions.
The board will have access to real-time images of water levels at the locations where IP cameras have been installed. Stuart Gaunt, principal project engineer at Cougar Automation, said: “CCTV gives SHIDB much needed visibility as well as control over South Holland’s drainage network.”
