Delfland chooses Technolution to expand water collection with Rainlevelr
Horticulturalists in the glasshouse sector in Delfland use Rainlevelr to help prevent flooding after heavy rainfall. This successful program will now be expanded considerably during the coming period. The objective is to grow the number of participating businesses from the current 100 to more than 500. The Water Board of Delfland has contracted Technolution to realize the implementation, pilots, further development, consultancy and management of the Rainlevelr platform.
Irrigation water basins to collect rainwater
The principle underlying Rainlevelr is simple: whenever heavy showers are forecast, Delfland asks the participating companies to create space in their irrigation water basins. This request is currently made by text message. Horticulturalists who wish to participate then drain part of the rainwater from their basins into the canals. The Water Board then pumps this water out before the showers arrive, creating space to accommodate the coming rainwater. Because Rainlevelr has many participating companies, the participants together share (and mitigate) the risk of inundated roads, businesses, and homes.
© Thierry Schut
iov S Jouwersma.
Expanding participant numbers and functionalities
Now that Rainlevelr has proven a success, the platform is seeking to recruit more participants to maximize the effectiveness of the platform. Further development and improvement will make Rainlevelr even more attractive for horticulturalists in the glasshouse sector in Delfland. Technolution will be working on such things as:
- Cybersecurity by design.
- Improved collection of information concerning the situation at the participating businesses (connection, available capacity, response, etc.)
- Integral decision-making information for the Water Board.
- Improved feedback and information supply vis-à-vis the participants.
- Improvement of the decision rules for requests for buffer capacity.
- Sending requests to the horticulturalists through a machine-to-machine connection.
Industrialization and integration
The further industrialization of Rainlevelr requires smooth integration of the system, including with the various types of climate computers that the horticulturalists use. As experienced chain integrator, Technolution has the knowledge and know-how to do this. In addition, we are working very closely with the Water Management Information Supply and Decision Support research group at TU Delft for the further development of forecast and management models.
There is a lot of available space for solutions and measures to limit flooding. The success that Rainlevelr has had is an impetus for new ideas. What solutions are ultimately most effective? How can we quickly expand the number of participants in Rainlevelr? These are topics that the Water Board and Technolution are examining and assessing together. Our common objective is the successful further development of the platform and the chain. In addition, Technolution will provide the management and support of Rainlevelr for a multi-year period.