A project in the Yorkshire Dales using smart sensors to monitor water quality will also provide 4G connectivity for around 1,000 residents of Nidderdale, an area of outstanding natural beauty.

UK utility Yorkshire Water has improved connectivity for its remote smart sensor technology, which has enabled up to 1,000 residents, businesses and visitors to benefit from mobile phone coverage, by partnering with BT and supporting installation of a 4G telecommunications mast by mobile network operator EE. The devices have been installed on watercourses feeding Scar House Reservoir and will help monitor and improve water quality.

Data from the monitors will be transmitted via antennas on the newly installed mast, allowing Yorkshire Water's team of scientists and engineers to proactively select the best available water sources for transfer to its water treatment works. Environmental factors like weather, temperature and the condition of the moorland can all impact the quality of water sources, including the levels of peat found in the water.

The better the quality of water at its source, the less energy it takes to process at the treatment works, reducing Yorkshire Water’s carbon footprint and supporting its net zero carbon ambition for 2030.

Yorkshire Water’s product and process manager, Ted Rycroft, said, “Water coming out of customers taps will continue to be the high quality that it always has been – the key change here is that the water coming into the treatment works will be of higher quality, and therefore require less treatment. That helps us to keep costs down for our customers and our operational emissions to a minimum, while maintaining our high standards of water quality.”

BT’s managing director for corporate & public sector, Ashish Gupta, said, “This project is the perfect example of using tech to work smarter – benefiting both local people and the environment. The benefits of this are huge: from improving the water quality to cutting emissions.

"Another major benefit is the EE mast we’re using to send sensor data securely over the network is also providing 4G mobile coverage for residents.”

Managing water at its source is more cost effective and environmentally-friendly than wholly depending on traditional treatment processes. Real-time monitoring of moorland water, made possible by the latest technologies, has allowed the water company to save millions of pounds by averting the need for a previously planned new process at its treatment works.