Smart water butts installed in Ilkley houses in bid to 'slow the flow'

The project - which is a partnership between Groundwork Yorkshire and Yorkshire Water - aims to make water run off more slowly from homes when it rains. It is one part of a bigger plan to stop water from overflowing in Ilkley.

Typically, water butts are installed to capture rain running off roofs, to allow gardeners to save water for use during dry spells. A small number of houses in selected areas of Ilkley, Addingham and Ben Rhydding have had smart water butts installed. These anticipate when heavy rain is forecast and slowly drain down before heavy rain. This enables the water butt to hold back a higher volume of water.

The 150 free water butts have been provided free of charge to households in areas where water monitoring can evidence the impact that capturing this water has on the system, so that the cost benefits can be measured and understood. This may lead to further similar initiatives being delivered at scale in the future.

One of the new smart water butts (Image: submitted)

In addition to supplying and installing the water-butts, Groundwork’s landscape architects have designed a rain garden to be created later in the year with pupils at Ashlands Primary School, as a demonstration of how larger volumes of water can be safely captured and allowed to filter into the ground. An education programme linked to the water cycle, water industry, water conservation and climate change will also be provided for the school.

Peter Murphy, Operations Director at Groundwork Yorkshire said: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with Yorkshire Water on such an innovative project, that provides both environmental and educational benefits in Ilkley. I hope that the learning from this pilot project delivers long-term outcomes for the residents and leads to similar initiatives across the region.”

Mark Gregory, project manager at Yorkshire Water said: “We have been very happy to have worked with Groundwork Yorkshire who have worked hard to deliver this project. We will be monitoring and assessing the benefits of the water butts and the 'slowing of the flow' into the wastewater network over the coming months. We are hoping that the results will build a business case for rolling this initiative out to more homes in the area.”