Rising mains telemetry, asset and rainfall data

We have published this dataset to support our Rising Mains Marketplace challenge.

Wessex Water is responsible for around 35,000 km of gravity sewers, which transfer wastewater from our customers’ homes and businesses by gravity to the water recycling centre (WRC). Here the wastewater is purified before being discharged back to the environment.

Where the topography does not enable our sewers to flow by gravity, we also use sewage pumping stations (SPSs) which lift flows over hills using pressurised pipes called rising mains.

Rising main operation

At each sewage pumping station (SPS) there is a large tank called a wet well – this is where wastewater received at the SPS accumulates. Once the wastewater reaches a certain depth (the ‘start level’), the pump begins to operate. Wastewater is pumped out of the wet well through the associated rising main. The pump continues to run until the depth of wastewater in the wet well drops below the ‘stop level’.

At the other end of the rising main the wastewater is discharged into a gravity outlet.

Approximately 80% of Wessex Water’s rising mains have a ‘simple’ arrangement whereby a single SPS is located at the start of the rising main, with a single discharge point at the other end (into a gravity outlet). The focus of the Rising Mains Marketplace challenge is on these ‘simple’ arrangements, and the 24 SPSs for which we are sharing data all adhere to this principle.

At each SPS we measure several parameters (e.g. pressure) to ensure it is operating appropriately. Measurements are transmitted back to a central control centre in the form of ‘telemetry signals’, with one signal per parameter.

Dataset details

We have published the following data for 24 SPSs:

Telemetry Data
1.    SPS run-stop data
2.    Rising main pressure data
3.    Rising main flow data
4.    SPS wet well level data
Asset Data
5.    Rising main route and elevation profile
6.    Rising main diameter and key to telemetry signals
Rainfall Data
7.    SPS local rainfall data
[Manipulated from raw data sourced from the Met Office on the CEDA Archive under an Open Government Licence. Met Office (2003): 1 km Resolution UK Composite Rainfall Data from the Met Office Nimrod System. NCAS British Atmospheric Data Centre, date of citation 3 July 2025. https://catalogue.ceda.ac.uk/uuid/27dd6ffba67f667a18c62de5c3456350/]

Due to file size, for the telemetry and rainfall data we have provided sample extracts as well as the full datasets.

Further details for each data file are given in ‘Rising mains telemetry, asset and rainfall data – explanatory information’.

The published data includes instances of rising main bursts.

Publish frequency

This is a one-off data release to support the Rising Mains Marketplace challenge.

Contact

If you have any questions about the dataset or the Marketplace challenge, please get in touch via marketplace@wessexwater.co.uk

Terms of use

This dataset is licensed under CC BY, an open data licence, to make it freely available to other potential customers, stakeholders or interested organisations.