On Tuesday, 2 May 2017 21:45:46 BST Andrew wrote:
> It looks like the real rivers are being monitored in at least two places:
>
> https://www.riverlevels.uk/river-stour-oakley-wimborne
> https://www.riverlevels.uk/river-allen-colehill-walford-mill
>
> As a model town I would be tempted to find out how they are doing that
> level monitoring and then make a miniature version in the correct places
> on the model.
Unfortunately, neither of those places are within the are encompassed by the
model town.
Also, I suspect that the Environment Agency or whoever does the monitoring on
the real rivers can afford to spend just a little bit more on their sensors
than we can.
> Is the monitoring just to control the river flow? Does it need to be
> more complicated than a header tank and a valve for each river entry
> point to control the flow rate?
The monitoring has two functions. Fundamentally it is to control the level of
water in the in the 'river' (and therefore the flow). In the past, the river
has 'flooded' when there has been a lot of rain or when an over enthusiastic
volunteer forgot to turn the tap off.
The main goal though is water sustainability. We want to catch rainwater in
the butts and then pump it in and out of the river automatically, hence the
need for extensive monitoring.
It has been pointed out that this project is a bit 'over-the-top' for a few
tens of metres of water channel. However, when finished, the workings of the
control system will be made available for visitors to view on a monitor; the
idea being to enhance the education value of the attraction.
> Once you collect the water at the end of the river it can then be pumped
> up to the header tank until it is full.
That is effectively what we have at the moment, except that there is a sump at
the bottom of the river system and a bog garden at the top. Water is pumped
manually from the sump to the bog garden and the whole thing topped up from
time to time when water is lost due to leaks and evaporation.
They have no way to combat flooding at present.
> For extra complexity, get the water level of the real rivers from
> wherever the above web site gets its data and adjust the levels of the
> model rivers accordingly...
Now you're pulling my leg :-)
--
Terry Coles
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