Yorkshire Water may be streaming live from its pipelines

TECHNOLOGY UPDATE

A partnership including Yorkshire Water has launched a project to explore the potential for the UK's water networks to be used as a conduit for delivering high-speed broadband to homes and businesses.

The water company said it and its partners have received a £3.25m government grant to kickstart the fibre in water market within the UK.

Should the scheme pass initial investigations, fibre optic cables will be laid along 17km of Yorkshire Water’s network between Barnsley and Penistone in South Yorkshire.

Yorkshire Water has claimed the project could provide a cost-effective means for broadband providers to service hard-to-reach areas. At the same time water customers could benefit from the reductions in leakage because the cables could carry data from sensors in the pipelines to detect cracks, bursts and leaks that could then be repaired earlier.

The fibre conduit scheme could also reduce the need to dig up roads and land to lay cables, making the deployment of broadband less disruptive to road users.

More on the project HERE

NOTE

Plans to site broadband cables in clean water pipes were evaluated and shelved in the early 1980s. About ten years ago a similar plan went the same way in Germany where the federal environment agency rejected the scheme owing to the associated increased risk of pollution from pathogens. Around the same time broadband lines were successfully laid in London sewers.

In the late 1990s broadband lines were laid under the towpaths of canals between London and Leeds.