Tuesday 18 September 2018

Yorkshire Water says satellite trial for leak detection was a success

Yorkshire Water says its trial of satellite technology to detect leaks has been a success.

The space-based scanner allowed the firm's leakage team in Huddersfield and Dewsbury to find double the number of underground leaks than is possible using traditional methods, saving 500,000 litres of water each day.

Working with Israeli firm Utilis, Yorkshire Water is now moving on to the second stage of the £300,000 investment and will provide images of trunk mains in rural areas - these pipes are "extremely difficult" for leakage inspectors to access.

Jason Griffin, Yorkshire Water’s Leakage Technology Manager, said: "As a company, we have set ourselves a leakage reduction target of 40% over the next seven years and we are hopeful satellites can play a role in helping us achieve that.

"We are thrilled with the results of the first trial and extremely excited about how satellites can help us find those burst pipes in remote locations."