Smart Technology Hunting for Water Leaks
Smart technology is being deployed to hunt for leaks in the water distribution network.
Around the world, a significant portion of water is lost between treatment and delivery, for example, in the United States, drinking water systems lose around six billion gallons of treated water per day or 2.1 trillion gallons per year. In 2019, this equated to the loss of $7.6 billion of treated water due to leaks.
Benefits of leak detection
Detection of large bursts is relatively straightforward; however, detection of small leaks is more difficult, resulting in many small leaks going undetected for years even. By discovering these leaks, society can achieve a range of benefits in addition to increasing revenue, including:
- The same amount of water for more people: Reducing leakage will at least postpone the need for additional water resources in cities with a growing population
- Lower operational costs: Not only does leakage mean precious water is lost but so is the energy used to treat and distribute the water
- Higher revenues: High levels of leakage impact the financial viability of water utilities because of lost revenues
- Safe water quality: Water distribution systems with high leakage are vulnerable to contamination due to vacuums developing during low‐pressure situations
Technologies to reduce water leakage
Water utilities have implemented a range of technologies to reduce water leakage:
United Utilities’ FIDO
United Utilities has deployed FIDO, an AI platform that fits onto a traditional listening stick that enables the user to pinpoint the exact location of a leak. FIDO gathers data from the leaks it listens to and stores it in its AI leaks library so that it can learn, with increasing accuracy, how severe a leak is.
SA Water’s smart meters
SA Water in Australia has developed a smart water network with more than 400 sensors across Adelaide’s Central Business District. Leaks can easily be detected with the network containing 305 acoustic leak detection sensors, 34 pressure sensors, 11 flow meters, 3 water quality monitors, and 100 smart meters on customer connections.
Hunter Water’s drone
Hunter Water in Australia is trialling the use of a drone to detect leaks in its network. The drone, with a thermal imaging camera attached, will fly at night over parts of Newcastle, Mayfield, and Cameron Park, scanning footpaths and under the road to detect hidden leaks. If successful, the drone will be deployed to other parts of the utility’s 5,000-kilometre network in the future.
The take-out
Smart technologies are readily available in all shapes and sizes to hunt for leaks.
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