Challenge
Who: UK's largest surviving tidal mill (Grade I listed).
What: Threat from flooding due to climate change and urban development.
The Challenge: Monitoring relies on volunteers.
Monitoring Approach
Traditional Methods:
Anecdotal recording by team of volunteers.
Nearest water height sensors not local.
Reliance on observing the aftermath of floods.
Our Solution:
An on-site Internet of Things (IoT) monitoring system.
IoT System
A low-cost system using a sonar sensor and IR camera controlled by a Raspberry Pi.
Measures water height every 10 minutes, 24/7.
Transmits data in real-time to Grafana dashboard for stakeholders.
Finding #1 - Hidden Floods Revealed (3x)
Over 12 months, volunteers could see evidence of 32 floods.
The IoT system detected 109 flood events where water touched the floorboards.
Finding #2 - Quantifying Submersion Time
Measuring the duration the timber was soaking in water.
Average flood event lasted 53 minutes. This data is crucial for assessing long-term decay risk.
Example: October, floorboards submerged for 920 minutes (15 hours).
Data into Actionable Insight
- The key metric became "total time touched by water".
- Evidence of none observable floods (out of hours).
- Dashboard helps, but hasn't changed anything (yet).
Empowering Volunteers & The Community
- 📉 Addressing Volunteer Shortages: Post-pandemic, active volunteers dropped by 50%, making timely flood monitoring nearly impossible.
- ⏳ Reducing Training Burden: Some roles require up to a year of training—simplifies monitoring, freeing volunteers for higher-impact work.
- 🤝 Stronger Community Ties: Volunteers can dedicate more time to education and storytelling—enhancing public connection to heritage.
IoT in Heritage Protection
- 📡 Cost Low-cost IoT devices: this project proves that low-cost IoT devices make monitoring affordable and highly effective for at-risk heritage sites that lack funding.
- 📊 Data Evidence-based decision-making: transforming anecdotal evidence into concrete facts; Preventive preservation with early warnings before damage occurs.
- 🌍 Scalable The model can be adopted by other immovable heritage sites worldwide to safeguard similar heritage sites against the threats of climate change.
Future Project Plans
- Flood Forecasting: Integrate IoT data with tide and weather data to predict flood events.
- Early Warning System: Develop alerts that allow for proactive, on-site mitigation.
- Improve a User-Friendly Interface: Simplify the dashboard for non-technical users to maximize engagement.