CCTV technology monitors potential blockages in river drains 
(25/08/2008)
Environment Agency staff are in the process of installing solar-powered cameras to monitor trash screens on rivers throughout the North East. This new pilot scheme is using CCTV technology to monitor potential blockages in river drains and help the Environment Agency to better protect communities from flooding.
The steel screens trap large items of debris - such as trees, branches and shopping trolleys - to prevent culverts and drains from becoming blocked.
At present the screens have to be checked individually on-site but the cameras might save maintenance staff thousands of hours they would otherwise have to spend driving around to carry out routine inspections. As well as cutting carbon emissions by reducing the number of vehicle journeys, using the cameras for regular, routine checks will free up staff for other duties.
The pictures can be requested by mobile telephone text message and the camera then sends the very high resolution image to a website for viewing. The cameras can function at night as well as in daylight and their batteries are kept charged by solar panels.
Environment Agency operations staff can check the status of trash screens in areas that have receive severe weather warnings, enabling them to directly target drains and culverts that may be blocked when time is at a premium.
“It could take up to two hours to get to a particular screen if its in a remote area,” said Flood Risk Management Technical Advisor Paul Constantine. “With a camera, we can have a snapshot in less than 15 minutes. Currently during a flood, staff must check all trash screens and the one that’s blocked may be the last one they get to. Cameras will help to identify these earlier. It’s a low-cost solution.”
In the North East, nine cameras are being installed at locations including Longbenton Letch in Newcastle, the River Gaunless at West Auckland and Wydon Burn in Northumberland.
The North East scheme is part of a national three-month pilot, using a total of 38 cameras, and if tests are successful the technology will be rolled out more widely in flood prone areas. The Environment Agency maintains 300,000 trash screens nationally, about 30,000 in the North East and Yorkshire.
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