Yorkshire Water’s ‘acoustic ears’ to save millions of litres of water

Yorkshire Water will install 34,000 ‘acoustic ears’ into its underground pipe network to detect water leaks.

The company is investing £10m installing the sound devices to help meet a target to reduce leakage by 15% by 2020, and a further 25% by 2025.

During a trial of the technology, 600 of the devices installed in the pipe network in West Yorkshire helped to identify 35 underground leaks in one month, which helped to save approximately 86,400 litres of water from being wasted, the company said.

Following that success, Yorkshire Water will now install 34,000 more of the devices, supplied by HWM, by October this year covering 20% of its water distribution areas. This will bring its total count to 40,000, more than any other water company in the world, it said.

Martyn Hattersley, head of leakage operations at Yorkshire Water, said: “Each acoustic ‘ear’, or logger, is capable of identifying a leak within a 150 meters radius, which is much more accurate than current technology allows. It will give us a much greater understanding and visibility of what is happening in some of the areas most prone to leaks. By installing these devices we will help our Leakage Technicians save millions of litres of water being wasted which will improve our water sustainability and reduce roadwork impact on customers.”

The acoustic loggers work by listening continuously to the flow of the water through a pipe. If any variants in noise occur, an alarm is set off which alerts Yorkshire Water’s data analyst team.

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