Water & Wastewater Treatment Magazine
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www.wwtonline.co.uk | WWT | JANUARY 2020 | 17 • THE ROLE OF INNOVATION Jeremy Heath, innovation manager at SES Water, discusses the role of technology in addressing the leakage challenge. Due to the leakage targets that every water company in the UK has signed up to, there has never been such a focus on leakage innovation, nor such a requirement for our research to deliver. At present, it seems like every water company across the UK is engaged in some new research or project to try and solve the problem of water leakage; and whilst it is encouraging to see the level of interest, it's also vital that these projects are effective and cover all of the necessary areas. Last year, I was invited to address the water industry leakage managers on the role of innovation in leakage reduction. I made it clear in my talk that there is no "silver bullet" that will solve leakage, and the simple reason for this is that leak- age is complicated. I tend to use the acronym PALM to describe all of the areas that we will need to solve, if we are going to substantially reduce leakage. P stands for prevent. The easiest way to reduce leakage is to stop it occurring in the first place. This means being able to lay new plastic pipes that don't leak, understanding the causes of, and then minimising pressure transients (which can cause bursts) in the network and also reducing network pressure to an absolute minimum. In addition, it means the effective assessment and replacement of worn out mains assets before they begin to leak. A is for awareness. Once a leak does occur, it is vital that the amount of time it runs for is minimised. There is a wealth of analysis tools now available to companies, which allows them to understand when a leak has broken out in an area. However, the latest algorithms and artificial intelligence solutions appear to provide a level of understanding not previously seen before. The new IoT sensor networks that are currently being trialled will also allow companies to react in shorter time periods and with increased confidence once leaks have broken out in an area. L stands for locate. Once a company is aware that leakage has broken out in an area, they need to quickly and accurately locate the leak. Traditionally this has been carried out by acoustic listening techniques, and in recent years we have seen a rapid development in the capabilities of this technology. We have also seen a growth in non-acoustic methods of detection, which are particularly valuable on plastic pipes, where leak noise is quickly attenuated. M is for Mend. Once the leak has been accurately located, we need to carry out a repair. At present, the vast majority of our repair methods require both a large excavation and substantial disruption. Research is currently underway to develop micro-excavations, non-intrusive methods and advanced repair techniques, which would not only greatly reduce the amount of time it takes to carry out the repair, but also minimise the disruption that the repair work has on the general public. In order to prevent duplication of effort and to enhance collaboration, we are currently carrying out an exercise to survey all of the UK water companies on their leakage innovation research. This exercise, which has the backing of the water company CEOs, will generate for the first time a leakage innovation heatmap for the UK. Solving leakage is complicated, but the research and development currently taking place, will undoubtedly place the UK water industry in the best place to meet this challenge. Ahead of this year's WWT Smart Water Conference and Exhibition Jeremy Heath will be co-hosting a pre-conference workshop entitled 'Smart Ways to Tackle Leakage in AMP7'. The pre-conference workshop will take place on 10th March with the conference taking place on the 11th. For further infor- mation visit https://event.wwtonline.co.uk/smart/ biggest difference, allowing us to make more informed prioritisation decisions and effective workforce deployment." TM: "We are already working harder to tackle leakage, but data has an impor- tant part to play in enabling us to work smarter. Improving our understanding of our network is crucial in tackling leak- age, and our "data factory" is therefore developing two digital products to provide new insights into leakage and transform how we find leaks within District Metered Areas (DMAs)." Q. How big a role can smart meters play when it comes to detecting leaks and preventing water wastage? ML: "Smart meters can help give a more accurate representation of actual cus- tomer consumption, including internal leakages, which will inform customers when they have an issue and help us to target the right areas that have genuine network leakage." PT: "They can play a very important role as we need to understand the total volumes of water used by our household and non-household customers. Flow and leak alarms can assist with customer-side leakage. Customers can also be informed of their water consumption and therefore be more efficient with water usage." TM: "We are using the data from our smart meters to refine our understanding of household water consumption gener- ally, and more specifically to update our assumptions about nightline usage. This helps us get more accurate leakage infor- mation and figures. Having better data on where leakage is happening then allows us to target our detection and repair efforts more effectively by concentrating on the parts of our network where we can reduce leakage the most." Q. What feedback are you hearing from the regulator in this area? ML: "The regulators are talking about the same things that our water resource professionals have also highlighted, that leakage has to be reduced in order to meet future demands on water resources." PT: "They want all water companies to work collaboratively to meet targets and are happy to support research and development. The targets are tough but consistent across the industry." TM: "In terms of the horizon for the next AMP covering 2020-25, we have proposed to deliver a 15 per cent leakage reduc- tion against our 2019/20 Performance Commitment figure. This is still subject to finalisation as part of the normal Price Re- view process with Ofwat that is currently underway."