Riverviews - Anglian Waterways - Flipbook - Page 22
Riverviews: RiverTech
Remote controlled
boat for river flows
The Environment Agency,
in partnership with the
internationally renowned
water research centre HR
Wallingford, has developed
a high-tech river survey
boat known as the acoustic
remote controlled boat, or
ARC-Boat.
The ARC-Boat’s primary role is to help us safely
and speedily collect information about how much
water is 昀氀owing in rivers. It uses ultrasound pulses
- similar to those used to scan pregnant women - to
collect important data from the river.
When used in 昀氀ooding, the ARC-Boat collects data
much faster than before. Its nimble movement
allows us to reach places we wouldn’t be able to
get otherwise, for example under bridges or in
fast 昀氀owing rivers. Information collected using the
ARC-Boat streams 昀氀ood 昀氀ow information live to
the operators on the riverbank, which meant they
can then update the Environment Agency incident
rooms immediately. Our incident rooms then sent
teams to put up temporary defences in the areas
most at risk.
The technology is just as valuable to us in times of
drought, as the sensor installed on the ARC-Boat
allows us to measure even the slowest of river 昀氀ows.
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This helps us to balance the demands of the environment
against the need to ensure there’s enough safe water for public
drinking water supplies.
While out and about enjoying our Waterways, you may see
these boats on the rivers. In September 2024, members of the
Hydrometry and Telemetry team met at Wansford gauging
station, River Nene to performance check our remote gauging
boats, to ensure good data is being provided, and we were very
pleased with the results.
