• English water utility firm’s leakage trial achieves nightline target

Water monitoring

English water utility firm’s leakage trial achieves nightline target

Northumbrian Water, supplier of water to nearly three million people in England, has set a target of an 8% reduction in leakage in AMP8 - 2025-30 (Asset Management Period 8, a five-year plan for the water industry in England and Wales that runs from April 1, 2025, to 2030), with a long-term target of 55% by 2050, from its 2017/18 baseline.

The organisation’s revised draft of the Water Resources Management Plan 2024 states that innovation is critical to reaching its targets and has pledged to use the latest technology to make its network smarter and identify leaks faster.  

Therefore, Northumbrian Water is undertaking a series of feasibility studies and trials in preparation for AMP8, including one with Ovarro. The results will inform future leak detection investment and strategy.

Northumbrian Water partnered with Ovarro to trial LeakNavigator, an end-to-end, fixed-network leak detection service. The three-month trial was carried out in a district metered area (DMA) in the town of North Shields, serving approximately 1,400 properties via 17km of water main. Northumbrian Water set an ambitious target for the trial of accomplishing a historic nightline minimum of 7.6m3/h - and maintaining this level after the project was completed. 

The LeakNavigator package consists of a fully managed analytics platform, acoustic dataloggers from Ovarro’s highly advanced Enigma range, and access to the company’s in-house leakage expertise. The service determines points of interest (PoIs) for water companies. It directly alerts field technicians via a mobile app, reducing the need for in-house data analysis and saving time and money. 

The LeakNavigator comprehensive service also includes a pre-assessment of the targeted DMA by Ovarro’s leakage specialists and ongoing data analysis once the instruments are up and running. 

For this trial, 36 loggers were deployed, a combination of Ovarro models Enigma3-BBs and Enigma3hyQs. Both models are correlating acoustic loggers equipped with a highly sensitive hydrophone sensor to measure the sound made by leaks, usually at night, and feed data into the analytics system. 

The Enigma3hyQ was developed for installation on a hydrant or valve. Enigma3-BBs are installed on a property meter box chamber, simplifying the process because meter boxes are more accessible than hydrants. This arrangement also provides more network access points, thereby increasing logger coverage.

These particular loggers were chosen because of their ease of installation and their tried-and-tested capability of locating leaks in plastic pipes. Water companies face a persistent challenge because sound does not travel well on plastic and, as older metal pipes are replaced with plastic ones, the scale of this challenge will increase. 

During the first week of the trial, when PoI follow-up visits did not unearth the anticipated number of leaks, Ovarro provided extra training for the utility company’s technicians. Ovarro’s engineer, Paul Holt, spent two days onsite, providing expert guidance to Northumbrian Water’s team through the complete LeakNavigator process. Having completed their training, the technicians quickly picked up more leaks. 

Five substantial leaks were located during the trial, with a conversion rate of 80%. One was a significant leak on an 8-inch/203mm PVC water main. 

Northumbrian Water’s usual detection techniques had not uncovered the leak, which was estimated to have been running for a whole year. Flow data indicated that the leak lost at least 5.5l/sec or 475 m3/day of water, which amounts to 171 megalitres over a year.   

Another sizeable leak was discovered on a business customer’s private pipe. Once the leaks were both fixed, the target nightline figure was reached and, since July 2024, has been sustained. 

Andrew Blenkharn, Northumbrian Water’s technical policy manager, commented: “The purpose of the Ovarro trial was to understand what our options are to deliver leakage reduction in AMP8 and to explore the feasibility of permanent logging. For us, the technology was quick to deploy and proven to work, delivering excellent results. 

“I was particularly impressed that it found the big leak on the PVC main, which would not have been found otherwise. Leakage had been increasing for a while in this area and normal methods had not picked up the leak. 

“Overall, we got down to the historic minimum level we were aiming for and had confidence that if any leaks did break-out in future, we would have been able to respond to them quickly, if the loggers were kept in. 


Digital Edition

AET 28.4 Oct/Nov 2024

November 2024

Gas Detection - Go from lagging to leading: why investment in gas detection makes sense Air Monitoring - Swirl and vortex meters will aid green hydrogen production - Beyond the Stack: Emi...

View all digital editions

Events

Asia Pharma Expo/Asia Lab Expo

Feb 12 2025 Dhaka, Bangladesh

Saudi Downstream

Feb 13 2025 Manama, Bahrain

22nd AfWASA

Feb 16 2025 Kampala, Uganda

SPS Smart Production Solutions Guangzhou

Feb 25 2025 Guanghzou, China

World Water-Tech Innovation Summit

Feb 25 2025 London, UK

View all events