Water quality monitored with drone flights

The new service, which combines Skyports Drone Services’ remote drone operations and winch technology with Makutu’s water testing solution, has launched with a pilot study for Northumbrian Water.  

The test flights demonstrated how beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) electric drone operations can be used to automate water quality surveys to improve access to hard-to-reach areas, reduce carbon footprint, gather more data over a larger area, and obtain results faster.  

The service aims to provide an alternative to current labour-intensive data collection processes which require personnel to manually collect water and return it to a lab for testing.

In a statement, Alex Brown, director of Skyports Drone Services, said: “Water quality is a hugely important issue in the UK.  The unique solution we’ve developed with Makutu provides water companies with critical real-time data, enabling better monitoring, maintenance, and faster response to issues. With Northumbrian Water alone covering an area of 9,400km2, the potential positive impact to the environment, to field personnel, and to the communities that access these river and coastal locations is enormous.”