A Free Smart Water Butt Trial
Did you know that colleagues from United Utilities are looking for households in Wrea Green who would be interested in the opportunity to own a ‘smart water butt’. The smart water butts act as a form of attenuation during heavy rainfall, providing a volume of storage so that some of the rain falling on the village is held back from entering the local drainage systems, giving sewers, highway drains and private drainage systems including watercourses a bit of extra breathing space when they are under pressure.
The butts have automated controls, so that they are emptied in advance of a forecast rainfall event and the storage space is maximised just when it is needed. In every other respect, these butts can be managed manually by the householder, which should be especially useful during drier summer months by providing unmetered water for watering plants, topping up garden ponds, and providing drinking water for birds and wildlife.
I’m sure you can picture the potential benefits to the village of adding so much attenuation volume into the village for use during spells of heavy rain.
Although some residents have already made arrangements and a number of butts were fitted last week, there is scope for more to be provided, which will help mitigate the impacts of climate change.
Please will you all encourage further take-up of the offer amongst our local residents? United Utilities and I are particularly keen to have more volunteers amongst those whose homes add surface water to the drainage systems along Ribby Road, which is our team’s current area of greatest concern in the village. If you would like me to forward the message to anyone, please let me know the details and I’ll do that for you, taking care to remove personal contact details for Karl and my colleagues.
I attach a brochure explaining more of the details, and you are most welcome to contact the UU team with any queries at: [email protected]
Please note only the streets listed below are eligible for a smart water butt and there is a limited number of units left. We are aiming to get customers signed up for their surveys before Christmas, ready for surveys and installs to be carried out in January. Customers can sign up for a survey via this link Wrea Green (uuhub.co.uk) .
- Beverley Close
- Bryning Avenue
- Bryning Lane
- Church Row
- Church View Fold
- Dubside
- Elms Drive
- First Avenue
- Manor Road
- Manor Way
- Mccall Close
- Mill Lane
- Moss Side Lane
- Orchard Close
- Park Terrace
- Ribby Road
- Richmond Avenue
- Smithy Fold
- Station Road
- The Dell
- The Green
- The Greenside
- Willow Drive
- Woodland Close
- Wray Crescent
Anyone who has already signed up and had a successful survey will be contacted shortly with installation dates.