Help name two hi-tech boats that test water quality

Published

The nimble little floating-lab smart boats that Thames21 has been developing to test water quality on London’s rivers have been equipped with probes and are ready to send out on trials to detect pollution.

And now we’re giving YOU the chance to name two of them.

The boats are being developed as part of the multi-million pound INTCATCH project, which spans 20 organisations and seven European countries.

Thames21’s role is to trial the innovative technologies developed by the project on some of London’s rivers. 

One vessel is an air boat driven by a fan on the back – like the boats that zoom around the Florida swamps.

The other has propellers. They are both remote controlled or can operate autonomously. They are designed to be user friendly so that volunteer citizen scientists – ordinary members of the public – as well as experts, can collect high quality data about the quality of the water. 

Over the coming months, with your help, they will be tested in our demonstration catchments (Salmons Brook, Hogsmill, Thamesmead and River Pinn) and will transmit real-time information about water quality, to help us detect and ultimately fix pollution issues.

So now we want to hear from you with suggestions about what these boats should be called – fill in the form with your details and suggest a name for each!

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Results will be announced at the end of London Rivers Week (23rd June – 1st July). The names chosen for each boat will then be printed on the side and regular updates about their pollution detecting  adventures will be posted on our twitter feed. 

You will be able to see the boats at the London Rivers Week launch event at Ladywell Fields, Lewisham on Sunday 24th June, from 12 noon to 3pm.

  • Do you want to get involved in helping us trial and drive the boats? Then get in touch with Nathalie Gilbert. You can also meet the boats at various events during London Rivers Week. 

For more information about the project visit our INTCATCH page.