Using digital monitoring to transform water use on farms
Background
Church Farm is a 1,200ha arable and livestock farming operation in Lullington, East Sussex with 800 breeding ewes and 40 suckler cows grazing across the South Downs. As well as the farm, farm manager Duncan Ellis also runs a successful brewing operation on site.
Water conservation and quality are very high priorities for the farm. Around 70% of drinking water in the area comes from groundwater rather than river supplies.
However, managing water consumption across such a wide remote area was challenging. Underground pipes meant that leaks could easily go undetected for a long time. Manual checks were the only way to identify problems, but given the remote location of livestock troughs, these checks demanded a significant amount of staff time.
In 2021, ADAS conducted a water resource management visit at Church Farm and identified issues with unreliable meter readings and high water costs. ADAS Principal Consultant Tom Brassington approached South East Water to fund an appraisal of remote metering equipment and a long-term monitoring project at Church Farm.
Objectives
As well as instigating the project with South East Water, our role involved:
- conducting an objective appraisal of available UK remote water metering technology
- supporting Church Farm with the setup and running of the equipment
- monitor equipment performance and report back to South East Water to roll out on other farms if suitable
Actions taken
ADAS looked for water metering options that fulfilled several criteria:
- Be readily available for sale in the UK
- Be suitable for a large, spread-out farm operation
- Function without access to mains electricity
- Work reliably in areas with very poor phone signal
Following the review, ADAS recommended trialling the Spherag system, currently marketed in the UK by Wroot Water. Powered by solar PV panels, the system transmits water flow data over a 2G connection to a phone app.
With the help of a qualified plumber, Church Farm installed eight new water monitoring meters across the farm. Six of which are powered by solar PV panels. Each water meter sends data to an app Duncan can access from anywhere, allowing him to monitor and review water consumption across the farm remotely.
Protective casing was added around cables to protect them from rodent damage. Units were fenced-off to prevent animals from bumping into them.
Results
Soon after installation, the technology quickly highlighted a problem that had long gone undetected. One meter next to a rental cottage on the farm was recording a high level of water consumption, even overnight. An investigation revealed a valve leak in the garden, which the farm was able to repair themselves.
On two later occasions, the technology identified a burst pipe very soon after it happened, so the water loss was minimal.
ADAS found that one of the solar-powered meters was installed in a low, shaded position on a roadside verge and didn’t have sufficient power to send a signal. Replacing it with a higher-output PV cell fixed the issue.
Conclusion
Given the results of this initial trial, South East Water believes this digital metering technology could revolutionise how farmers manage their water use.
Steve Howe, South East Water Operational Catchment Lead, said: “Climatic changes and an expanding human population are increasing the importance of conserving water resources. Agricultural businesses have been identified as a key group where water use can be high, and monitoring is challenging due to remote locations with no mains power or phone signal.”
Project lead
Tom Brassington
Principal Consultant – Agriculture and Land Management