Purchase of two ARC remote control boats

Yorkshire area Hydrometry & Telemetry field teams have received funding to purchase two new ARC boats (one for each team). These are EA developed remote controlled boats which are used to gather data from rivers and estuary locations. The data can be used for (among other uses) bathymetric surveys, peak flow, drought monitoring and water quality investigation. They are a platform vessel that allows us to fit interchangeable flow measuring and water quality instruments dependent on the requirements and conditions. ARC boats are critical tools used to record major flooding events in locations where there are gaps in our network of fixed flow measuring structures or where the structures have failed or are unable to measure the peak flood flow.

Purchasing two boats for the Yorkshire area it will ensure simultaneous flow measurements are obtained across a wider area during flood events were this deployment method is the only option (no cableway, bridge or access to far bank) and ensure future resilience.