Photo courtesy of Dr. Eban Bean, Urban Water Resources Engineering, Agricultural & Biological Engineering, UF|IFAS
Watershed Pilot Study: Stormwater Sensors
Many of our stormwater outfalls are at low elevations and may experience inundation as tides change and sea levels rise. When outfalls do experience higher water levels, flow rate within the pipes may decline and could create tail-water conditions where downstream water impedes the flow of upstream water. Ultimately this can lead to discharge at the upstream site rather than downstream at the outfall and cause nuisance flooding.
One way to combat this issue is to pump water out of stormwater pipes that may experience tail-water conditions. The University of Florida’s Urban Water Resources Engineering (UWRE) lab led by Dr. Eban Bean has developed the GatorByte system to monitor water levels in stormwater pipes to help with this very problem!
GatorBit sensors collect real-time water levels that are sent to a web enabled data dashboard where local utilities and municipalities can access the data to better target when pumping needs to occur to mitigate upstream discharge and nuisance flooding. Dr. Bean’s team is working with the SASJBEP Stormwater Working Group to pilot 6 of these sensors throughout the watershed over the summer-fall! Stay tuned for future updates! To find out more check out this blog and article!
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