Yorkshire Water is taking a proactive approach to combined sewer overflow (CSO) management with an ongoing project.
New legislation mandating near real-time data availability for CSOs, that came into force for England and Wales in January 2025, has prompted Yorkshire Water (YW) to transition to a data-as-a-service (DaaS) model.
The company serves five million households and 140,000 businesses, and their complex network presents significant challenges, particularly concerning CSOs.
Historically, YW relied on a reactive maintenance model for its telemetry network, where issues were identified and addressed after a delay.
The introduction of the Water (Special Measures) Bill, effective from January 2025, imposes stringent requirements for near real-time publication of CSO discharge data. Failure to comply and report within one hour could result in substantial fines, averaging around £360,000 per serious pollution event.
Critically, the legislation assumes any data gap equates to a spill, placing immense pressure on water companies to achieve 100% data availability. YW’s existing reactive system was no longer sufficient and a more proactive, data-driven approach was essential.
The company partnered with Metasphere – a Grundfos division – whose Point Blue RTUs (remote telemetry units combined with intelligent sensors) provide comprehensive monitoring of CSO points across YW’s network. These self-contained, low-cost devices collect and transmit critical level information, enabling proactive identification of potential overflow events.
Metasphere transitioned YW to a DaaS model in October 2024, which included dealing with installation, data collection and maintenance, allowing YW to focus on its core operations.
Implementing the CSO monitoring system has already delivered significant benefits to Yorkshire Water, and the DaaS model, coupled with proactive maintenance and a dedicated project manager, ensures 100% data availability – crucial for meeting stringent regulatory requirements.
“Data-as-a-service is the way forward for water companies,” explains Simon Dawe, Metasphere. “It turns reactive operations into proactive solutions, ensures regulatory compliance and helps protect our environment – ultimately delivering a more efficient and cost-effective service for customers.”
Adam Thompson, operational manager, Yorkshire Water, said: “Proactive management of CSOs is already proving highly beneficial to Yorkshire Water.
“The data and events generated by the CSO Monitoring System has allowed early detection of incidents and their location, resulting in earlier, more effective, corrective action when necessary.”
Project milestones
October 2024: DaaS project officially commenced.
Ongoing: Continuous development and refinement of the system through AI and operations teams.
Ongoing: Development and quality checking of software for data analysis and automated flagging of underperforming sites.
Ongoing: Implementation of predictive maintenance capabilities.
The partnership is due to run for a minimum of five years.
