Combined sewers transport wastewater and stormwater runoff to treatment plants. However, intense or prolonged rainfall can overload them. Combined Sewer Overflows (CSO) divert excess flow enabling plants to continue operating and preventing upstream flooding of properties. Consequently, untreated water is diverted and discharged into the environment with potential adverse health and environmental impacts.
Monitoring CSOs provides operators with an early warning of when there is a risk of a breach and enables teams to respond in real time to identify and clear blockages, construct forecasting models to improve network performance and optimise operational maintenance by observing trends in the CSO.