Rainfall recorders

Tender description

The Environment Agency operate a network of around 1 000 automatic rain gauges for the purposes of providing flood warning, flood forecasting and assessing the water resource situation for England. The Environment Agency plan to go out to tender in 2020 for the next 4 year term for the supply of new automatic rain gauges. The contract will be seeking automatic rain gauges that measure rainfall by weighing the accumulated rainfall. The gauge must conform to the following standards, BS 7843-3:2012, WMO guideline No 8, ed. 2014 and be capable of being classified according to BS EN 17277:2019. We require the rain gauge to output rainfall accumulation to a data logger using a digital output signal, such as SDI-12 and a pulse output signal. The finished installation rim height of the gauge must be under 400 mm above ground. This contract excludes rain gauges that use the tipping bucket method of measurement. It is essential that offered automatic weighing rain gauges have undergone a field comparison against the UK reference storage rain gauge as described in Annex A of BS 7843 Part 3: 2012, installed and operated per that Standard.