All farms on the heavy soils programme have a met station which records rainfall, air and soil temperatures, evapotranspiration, wind speed and direction. Sophisticated monitoring equipment has started recording data on drainage system performance. End of pipe and weir mounted flow-meters are recording water flow rates. A number of in-field wells (2m deep) with water level sensors are recording water-table fluctuations. Moisture sensors close to the surface monitor soil moisture content. All equipment is electronic and logs data from the sites around the clock and deliver it to the research team.

Analysis will run for a number of years and will allow an assessment of the effectiveness of drainage systems in terms of drainage discharge rates and response times and overall system performance.