River drone helping to monitor health of waterways

A new type of drone is being used to monitor Shropshire's rivers, accessing hard-to-reach locations and gathering a clearer picture of the health of waterways.

The technology, called Surfbee, has been developed in Australia, and Severn Trent Water is believed to be among the first water firms in the UK to use it.

The battery-powered drone is an inflatable, yellow paddleboard, fitted with onboard cameras, sampling equipment and temperature monitors.

Gareth Mead, river rangers manager at Severn Trent, said the technology allowed the company to measure water quality, including phosphate and nitrate levels in "a fraction of the time required by traditional monitoring methods".

The river drone can be programmed to pinpoint specific locations and carry out autonomous "missions", including to places that might be too dangerous for humans to access.

"We can take it to the far side of the river, we can take it under bridges which we wouldn't normally be able to get to, and if this river was flooded and we wanted to do some inspections, we could, whereas we wouldn't normally [be able]," Mead said.

"[The drone] looks small, but that's really helpful because it's easy to move around and can work in really shallow water," he added.

The device had provided "far more information than we would have ever have had before", Mead said.

The drone, which has a range of up to two kilometres, can also monitor flow rates, the shape of rivers and how the shape is changing.

Mead said Surfbee's camera also meant Severn Trent could identify areas that would benefit from investment as the company was spending £2bn to improve river health and cut spills from storm overflows.

He added that the technology was used a couple of times a week on Shropshire's rivers, including the Severn, and he could only see the company using it more in the future.

He said the technology was also a "conversation starter" which helped the company to engage with the public and find out information from locals that it may not have known.

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