Four new leakage projects

Published On 17/03/2018

You can keep up to date on progress with UKWIR’s Leakage Big Question on the UKWIR website

The website lists fifteen projects that comprise phase 2 of work on this Big Question.

Four of these projects are now ready to go:-

1. Use of smart meters and smart networks for leakage management

• to investigate and document the smart network technologies which are now available, and which water companies are currently using them, throughout the world.
• gather information and data from those companies which are using smart network technologies, specifically with reference to how these technologies are being used to support leakage management.
• identify the opportunities for better leakage management.

2. Incidence and causes of repeat bursts at old repairs

• to assess the proportions of bursts on mains of different materials which occur as a result of the failure of a previous repair, and thereby to determine whether this is a significant problem.
• where bursts have occurred at the site of a previous repair, to determine where possible whether these have resulted from deterioration of the materials used for the repair over time, or by faulty workmanship at the time of the original repair.
• to provide guidance for maintenance operatives carrying out repairs, on how to minimise the likelihood of future failures.

3. Understanding the balance between customer use, supply pipe leakage, plumbing losses in water delivered to household properties

Invenio Systems are to carry out a survey of household properties to determine the extent and nature of continuous flows past their boundary stop taps. 

Where continuous flows are identified, site investigations will be undertaken to determine whether these are due to supply pipe leakage, plumbing losses within premises, or real continuous use.

4. Additionally, a studentship is about to start at Southampton University, funded by EPSRC and supported by UKWIR, on the Analysis of leak noise to determine characteristics of the leak before excavation.  

This project will investigate whether sophisticated signal processing techniques, including feature recognition software, can be used to extract information such as the nature, shape, size and flow rate of a leak from the recorded leak noise signal. 

For further information, you can contact Mark Jones, UKWIR’s Strategic Programme manager, at the UKWIR office.