WET News

4 WET NEWS NOVEMBER 2018 | wwtonline.co.uk NEWS+ Thames Water's 'micro machine' set to cut roadworks disruption • New micro vacuum excavator reduces space required and can also reduce utility strike risk T hames Water is bringing an innovative new 'micro machine' to London to cut down travel disruption caused by essential roadworks. Said to be the smallest of its kind in the country, the new micro vacuum excavator means the space needed to dig holes to reach water pipes, and the mess le• behind, is greatly reduced. Work can also be done on pave- ments rather than in roads, in most cases. It also has the advan- tage of reducing the risk of strik- ing other underground cables. The custom-built machine is currently being used to install smart meters across London but the long-term ambition is to use the technology to repair leaking pipes without lane closures. It works by sucking the soil from the ground before recycling it back into the hole once work is completed. Mark Cooper, Thames Water's head of metering, said: "By help- ing to develop this new vacuum machine and bringing it to the streets of London, we aim to sig- nificantly reduce disruption for customers and commuters and make the process of installing meters easier for everyone. "Our smart meter roll-out will save millions of litres of water by reducing demand and helping us better detect leaks as well as giv- ing customers more control of their bills." Thames Water carries out thou- sands of excavations a year as working to find solutions. Cooper added: "We only dig up roads when we absolutely have to but we also understand custom- ers can find this extremely frustrating. "This is why we're continuing to invest in ways to use part of its smart metering pro- gramme and is now looking at ways the technology can be developed for other uses. Given the tight streets of the capital, as well as the clay it is built on, there are a number of challenges to overcome but the company is technology to minimise disrup- tion and improve the resilience of our network." Finding innovative ways to improve the service Thames Water provides to 15 million customers forms a central part of the company's AMP7 business plan, which is cur- Severn Trent set to expand its trial with leak-finding robot S evern Trent is working with US-based Watch- Tower Robotics on creating and trialling a UK-specific leak- finding robot in the company's pipes. Created by Dr You Wu, who got his PhD from MIT this year, the robot, called Lighthouse, has now been named as a national winner of the James Dyson Award, which celebrates, encour- ages and inspires the next gener- ation of design engineers. The robot looks a little like a badminton shuttlecock, is very flexible and 'fills' pipes, allow- ing it to travel with the flow of the water, logging its position and leak information as it goes. The data can be retrieved wire- lessly and a 'map' of leaks can be produced before the robot is fished out using a net or flushed out of a hydrant. Bob Stear, deputy chief engi- neer at Severn Trent, said: "We hosted You and his robot earlier this year and we were very excited about its potential so we're now looking at the best way forward. "We're working closely with him on a number of initiatives, including looking at a UK-spe- cific model, and seeing whether we can partner with other, over- seas water companies in a much-extended trial. "Our initial aim is to get a dozen or so trial robots that we can hand out to our engineers in real world situations to see how they perform. It's incredibly exciting and could be a real game-changer when it comes to tackling leakage." Anglian Water pioneers use of naval technology to find leaks A nglian Water is deploying an adapted form of naval technology across its net- work to hunt down and fix leaks more quickly. Known as advanced noise loggers, Primayer's Enigma3hyQ technology is placed perma- nently within the pipe itself and works like a hydrophone, listen- ing for changes in sound under- water to locate hard-to-pinpoint leaks. Hydrophones are tradition- ally used by the navy for subma- rine navigation, underwater mapping and communication. Unlike more widely used meth- ods, the technology can detect leaks effectively on plastic pipes, which do not transmit noise when they leak. Anglian Water will be fitting thousands of these leak detec- tors across its network over the next 18 months in a bid to drive down its already industry-lead- ing leakage levels by a further 22 per cent before 2025, which would make the water company a world leader in leakage. In addition, Anglian will be employing an additional 200 leakage technicians over the coming months to help with this work. Anglian head of leakage Sean McCarthy said: "We're now into the realms of tracking down really hard-to-find leaks, long before they're visible to the naked eye, meaning our leakage targets are now really tough. "We're looking into every ave- nue of engineering available to us to continually be better, and technology like this will revolutionise our ability to meet those tough targets. "The noise logger is a perma- nent fixture within the water pipe, taking readings every night so any noise from leaks can be heard more clearly and analysed by our leakage team. Essentially we're listening for leaks; these are our ears in the ground." Working with their in-house data team, Anglian Water has developed a dedicated model- ling system that works out the optimum points across the water mains network to place the sensors. This precise deploy- ment means the noise loggers can be installed much more efficiently. McCarthy added: "We'll be installing 3,500 noise loggers across our network between now and 2020, with a further tranche already being planned beyond that." Primayer technical services director Barbara Hathaway said: "This is the world's only hydro- phone sensor for leak detection and initial results show fantas- tic promise." Dr Wu said: "Severn Trent offered a valuable opportunity to pilot the new leak detection robot in the UK earlier this year. "WatchTower is looking for- ward to expanding the pilot programme with Severn Trent and to together implement this more effective leak find- ing and prevention solution in the UK. Eventually, we want to make water distribu- tion systems in the UK more efficient and sustainable." rently being considered by Ofwat. As well as working with other organisations to develop technol- ogy like the vacuum, Thames Water will be investing £11.7 billion across its network to reduce leak- age by 15 per cent and pollution incidents by 18 per cent. Dr You Wu and Severn Trent DST John Poulton pictured with the robot

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