An ongoing project with Yorkshire Water is taking a proactive approach to combined sewer overflow (CSO) management, shifting from reactive responses to preventative measures – crucial for both regulatory compliance and environmental protection.
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, managed by Metasphere, the standalone data and telemetry division of Grundfos.
This collaboration is not only ensuring compliance with evolving regulations, but also unlocking significant long-term operational efficiencies, cost savings and environmental benefits.
A race against time
Yorkshire Water serves 5 million households and 140,000 businesses in the north of England. Managing such a 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. This regulatory shift necessitated a fundamental change in YW’s approach to CSO monitoring. The existing reactive system was no longer sufficient and a more proactive, data-driven approach was essential.
From reactive to proactive management
Metasphere, a leading provider of telemetry and analytics solutions for water networks, offered the ideal solution. The company’s 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.
Crucially, Metasphere transitioned YW to a DaaS model in October 2024. This comprehensive, outsourced approach encompasses equipment installation, data collection, transmission, hardware operation and maintenance, and software delivery and licensing. By entrusting these responsibilities to Metasphere, the water utility can focus on its core operations while benefiting from expert management of its telemetry infrastructure.
The Metasphere solution comprises:
- Point Blue RTUs: Intrinsically safe remote telemetry devices compliant with ATEX and IECEx European and international regulations for dangerous substances and explosive atmospheres. Powered by internal or external battery packs, these RTUs incorporate tri-band 4G modems and intelligent alarm reporting. They collect data at 15-minute intervals (with some capable of 1 min reporting), and monitor diagnostic information such as temperature, levels, battery voltage and signal strength.
- Intelligent sensors: Ultrasonic loop-powered transducers or pressure transducers, depending on the specific monitoring point, provide accurate and reliable level measurements.
- Master control system: Metasphere’s software platform, deployed on YW’s servers, receives and processes data from the Point Blue RTUs, providing real-time insights into network performance.
- Automated workflow integration: Metasphere’s system integrates with YW’s geographic information system (GIS), enabling automated work ticket generation for maintenance crews. This streamlined process ensures a rapid response to potential issues.
- Predictive maintenance: By analysing diagnostic data from the RTUs, Metasphere can proactively identify potential equipment failures, such as low battery life, and schedule maintenance before problems occur, ensuring uninterrupted dataflow and avoiding fines.
- Artificial intelligence with machine learning: Advanced analytics are employed to interrogate the data, identify anomalies and flag potential issues, enabling proactive intervention and preventing costly overflows.
Dedicated project manager: Metasphere specialist manages installation and maintenance scheduling, including access to site.
Cleaner water, smarter savings
Implementation of Metasphere’s CSO monitoring system has already delivered significant benefits to Yorkshire Water, and the move to a DaaS model, coupled with proactive maintenance, ensures 100% data availability. This continuous data collection is crucial for meeting stringent regulatory requirements.
Proactive identification and mitigation of CSOs significantly reduces the risk of pollution events, protecting the environment and local ecosystems. This preventative approach also translates to cost savings by minimising clean-up expenses and the risk of fines associated with data gaps and spills.
“Data-as-a-service is the way forward for water companies,” explains Simon Dawe, sales manager, 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.”
Beyond regulatory compliance and environmental protection, the solution offers operational efficiencies through automated workflows and predictive maintenance. These features streamline operations, reduce response times, and optimise resource allocation. Real-time data and advanced analytics enhance network visibility, providing valuable insights into network performance for better decision-making and proactive management in the long-term.
The benefits extend beyond technology, thanks to the provision of a dedicated project manager. For example, Metasphere’s Faye McHarg has worked with Yorkshire Water for the past five years. She is responsible for managing customer scheduling for maintenance crews, coordinating traffic management and site access, serving as the primary point of contact between YW and installation crews, ensuring clear communication and feedback, and providing direct customer care and support.
Finally, the agnostic nature of Metasphere’s analytics software allows for the integration of data from various devices and systems, enabling comprehensive network analysis and informed strategic planning based on data-driven insights. With regulators urging water companies to share data across regions, this could facilitate better sharing of data and insight across the whole of the UK water sector – promoting collaborative solutions.
“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.” Adam Thompson, Operational Manager, Yorkshire Water.
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.
A model for the future
The partnership between Yorkshire Water and Metasphere, which is due to run for a minimum of five years, exemplifies the transformative power of technology in addressing critical challenges in the water sector.
By embracing innovative solutions and adopting a data-driven approach, YW is not only meeting stringent regulatory requirements, but also unlocking significant operational efficiencies and cost savings. This is delivering environmental benefits – highlighting the importance of proactive CSO management and the value of data-as-a-service in ensuring a resilient and sustainable water network.
Metasphere smart water sensors are available now from Grundfos worldwide.
