We’ve been making great progress with our Water Net Gain demonstration SMART POND. We’ve converted an old and no longer used dirty water storage feature into a prototype smart pond, which can store excess rainfall and then release it remotely to the river network when required (we are also designing smart ponds to store rainwater that can then be used onthe farm as an additional supply during extreme periods of dry weather).

This demonstrator will now allow us to explore:

• How will the pond respond to rainfall events?
• What’s the potential for these structures to reduce flood risk downstream?
• Can pond water support watercourse flows in the summer?

Though we’re still waiting for some rain to fill it up…

This has all been made possible through the Water Net Gain project, funded by the Ofwat Innovation Fund.