Buttery Farm, Shropshire

Drought Mitigation

SDS enhances farm irrigation and flood resilience with wireless-controlled rainwater management systems

Overview

The Buttery Farm is a working agricultural site in Shropshire that depends on a reliable water supply for crop irrigation. Like many rural operations, the farm faces increasing pressure from climate volatility, with prolonged dry periods followed by intense rainfall events that challenge both irrigation reliability and local drainage.

SDS was appointed to deliver an intelligent rainwater harvesting solution to improve water self-sufficiency, optimise irrigation supply, and reduce flood risk by capturing and managing runoff from the farm’s main building.

What We Did

SDS installed an Intellistorm® smart rainwater harvesting system comprising four 5,000-litre storage tanks arranged linearly alongside the farm building. Roof runoff is collected and stored across the connected tanks, which operate as a single integrated system using wireless control via the SDS SYMBiotIC™ platform.

The system automatically monitors tank levels, irrigation demand and weather forecasts. During dry periods, water is retained to support irrigation and farm operations. Ahead of forecast rainfall, the system releases water in a controlled manner to create storage capacity, reducing runoff from the barn roof and limiting discharge to local drainage channels and the River Strine catchment.

The wireless, low-maintenance design allows the system to operate reliably in a rural setting without the need for hard-wired communications or extensive operator input.

Results

The completed system has transformed water management at The Buttery Farm, providing a dependable supply of harvested rainwater for irrigation while reducing reliance on mains water. Predictive storm management has improved flood resilience, helping to protect farmland and downstream watercourses during heavy rainfall.

The project demonstrates how SDS’s smart, data-led rainwater management technologies can support agricultural resilience, delivering practical water efficiency, environmental protection and long-term operational benefits for rural sites.

As a working farm, having a reliable and resilient water supply is essential. The Intellistorm® system from SDS has transformed how we manage rainfall. Instead of losing water from the barn roof as runoff, we now capture and store it for irrigation, general farm use, and drinking water for the horses, which helps reduce our reliance on our borehole supply. The automated, wireless control means the system manages itself – retaining water when we need it and creating capacity ahead of heavy rainfall to help reduce local flood risk. It’s a practical, low-maintenance solution that has strengthened our sustainability and given us far greater confidence in our water management.

– Helen Holman, Farm Partner, Buttery Farm