Development Site

The Requirement: Prior to the start of construction monitoring of water quality to assess the impact of turbidity on a nearby water supply.

Solution: Deployment of a vanwaltDataHub and vanwaltDataSlaves, attached to single parameter water quality sensors to monitor turbidity levels with data collected every 15 minutes and uploaded hourly, directly to the regulator and other interested parties.

Flood Alerts

The Requirement: Monitoring river levels on a regular basis and adding good early warning alarms if levels rise, in order to protect assets within a Heritage site.

Solution: Deployment of vanwaltCONNECT system with accurate water level sensors providing information, every 15 minutes and alarm notifications sent directly to local volunteers so they can react immediately in the event of high water levels which could damage property and exhibits.

At its peak, levels rose over and above what is normally expected but valuable items were saved by removing them from the flooded area in advance and storing them in a safe location during the flooding event.

Photographs curtesy of Peter Trowles.

Ski Field Operation New Zealand

The Requirement: Flow rate of streams determine water abstraction permissions to the ski field operator who requires water for snow making. The regulator requires daily data.

Solution: Flumes are installed to derive water flow data. Using the alarms functionality a water pump is either switched on or off. Data is automatically forwarded to the regulator by FTP. A similar system is also used to switch off the pumps when the turbidity is too high and could damage the pumps.

Habitat engineers in Scotland – Beavers!

Olly van Biervliet, is PhD student based in the Department of Geography, UCL and working with colleagues at the University of Stirling and the Centre for Ecology Hydrology. He has been supported by Van Walt through the provision of hydrometric equipment for his project that focusses on the hydrological and water chemistry impacts of a population of Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) in Scotland.

Beavers are considered habitat engineers because of their remarkable ability to dam small waterbodies and dig canals. They have the potential to substantially affect environmental conditions in headwater streams. Beavers are the first native mammal re-introduction to the UK, being formally given ‘right to remain’ in Scotland in 2016. Olly’s work builds on previous studies showing that beaver dams may provide natural flood management benefits by retaining water upstream of human development during high flows, thus potentially reducing flooding. Beaver dams can also increase local groundwater levels creating wetland habitat. Olly’s research is also investigating the hydraulic effectiveness of an industry standard flow device, used in countries where beavers are common, to mitigate any adverse effects of raised water levels in beaver ponds on adjacent agricultural land.

Monitoring the Past

The Requirement: When work began on a brownfield site up for redevelopment the contractors discovered more than they bargained for – Roman remains. Part of our heritage that now needs protecting.

Solution: Deployment of Keller Water Level Sensors attached to a series of vanwaltDataSlaves capturing and storing vital water level data every 15 minutes and relaying it to a vanwaltDataHub, which uploads the data to a server once an hour. This Data Collection system will ensure any relics are preserved for generations to come.

Monitoring the impact of Soil Moisture on buildings

The Requirement: Even on the third floor of a building soil moisture in a heavy clay layer under a patio was causing problems with internal plasterboard walls. To make installation difficult the trial pit was very small, there was a poor mobile signal because the site was surrounded by high walls and heavy IT restrictions were imposed throughout the building.

Solution: We installed a HydraProbe Soil Moisture sensor attached to a vanwaltDataSlave and provided training to the building team on how to download data and replace batteries. Soil moisture readings are collected to the DataSlave and the customer downloads their data at regular intervals to analyze the impact of moisture in the soil, on the fabric of the building.