Anglian Water spots underground leaks from space

TECHNOLOGY UPDATE

Anglian Water has claimed satellite detection of leakages units network is saving more than 2Ml a day.

The satellite system has been running since December last year and the company said it has the results from the first two complete scans of its entire network. It has reported that the system is “helping to detect particularly hidden leaks in largely inaccessible, rural areas by highlighting the presence of drinking water below the earth’s surface.”

Leakage Intensive Delivery Manager for Anglian Water, Chris Utton, said: “As so much of our region is rural, the satellites are particularly helping to detect any leaks in these harder to spot stretches of our network, where traditional monitoring is much more difficult. Gone are all the low-hanging fruits and quick wins, we’re now into the realms of tracking down really hard-to-find leaks, long before they’re visible to the naked eye.”

Anglian Water is working with Suez and technology company, Asterra to deploy the satellite detection system.