10046910Safer River Alert SystemClosedGrant for R&DInnovate UK'Rivers are the arteries of our blue planet but are treated like open sewers. Only 14% meet good ecological status and 3 in 4 pose a serious risk to human health. Despite this, every fortnight, over 4.3 million people visit the UK's inland blue spaces to improve their mental and physical well-being.' (Surfers Against Sewage website 2022). Over recent years people have become increasingly active in using public waterways for leisure activities such as open water swimming and stand-up paddleboarding to name just a few. The growth of these activities exploded during the COVID pandemic and seems set to continue. Human and animal health has always relied on good quality clean water for drinking and bathing in. History has shown that we are most vulnerable to illness and contagious diseases when we do not manage wastewater properly. Most sewerage networks are combined (where human waste and rainwater are carried in the same pipe.) The pipes have a limited capacity and increasingly can't cope with the volume of waste, especially during heavy rainfall, or increased demand on the sewerage network; to stop the network from backing up and flooding people's homes, CSO's (combined sewage outlets) release raw untreated sewage directly into the river networks. Currently, there is little monitoring of water quality at CSO's because traditional sensor systems are too expensive or unreliable to provide 24/7 monitoring. Some water companies are even unaware of when CSO events happen let alone the effect on water quality and the duration. Very prominent campaigning against the problem of CSO's and increasing awareness in the media of the CSO problem has led to legislation; the New Environment Act 2021 demanding the monitoring of all CSO's and sewage treatment output pipes. Seneye has provided real-time water quality monitoring with alerts used in aquariums and aquaculture for over ten years. Seneye technology uses a proprietary patented system to look at key water parameters, Temperature, PH, and ammonia which are listed by Law as essential items to be monitored. Seneye needs to add two areas of technology that are also required under law these are; oxygen sensing and turbidity measurements. This project would allow Seneye to provide the technology for the mass sensors deployment needed to alert when waterways are safe or dangerous to human health. In addition, it would also provide essential data to form an action plan for improvements.