Homeowners in Wrea Green are being offered a free smart water butt as part of a project to explore new solutions to reduce flooding in the village.
United Utilities is offering 75 properties in the village the chance to take part in the scheme.
The smart water butts are run by solar power and contain mini computers that allow United Utilities to understand how much rainwater has been collected and then release it back to the sewer network before it’s likely to rain. This frees up more room to collect the amount of rain that’s forecast and prevent any excess from entering the sewage system.
Any households interested in having a smart water butt should visit http://www.uuhub.co.uk/wreagreen/ to check their eligibility and register their interest.
The extension of the trial to Wrea Green follows the installation of smart water butts at around 30 homes and a local primary school in Forton. Early findings have shown that the smart water butts were up to 75 times as effective as a standard, well installed water butt, and could save up to 30,000L of water per installation from entering the sewer network during peak demand. That’s the equivalent of slowing the water from 166 bath tubs per water butt!
Alice Denholm, Water Efficiency Manager at United Utilities, said: “We’re always looking at how we can better manage rainfall across the region, so we can slow the flow of what enters our sewer network.
“We think these smart water butts can play a really important part in helping to reduce the flows of what enters our network and also help tackle surface water flooding in Wrea Green.
“The initial findings from Forton have been really positive, so I’d encourage as many households as possible to come forwards and get a smart water butt for their property.”
The tanks are manufactured and installed by SDS Ltd and representatives from the company will be visiting Wrea Green on August 8-9 to survey interested properties.
