Water & Wastewater Treatment Magazine
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/1202034
Regulation driving change in leak detection The Talk: leakage T he scale of leak reduction required by water companies in England and Wales in AMP7 is sharpening strategies to address this eternal industry challenge. Many water companies have set themselves much tougher targets than the 15 per cent imposed by the regulator over the next five years - with Thames Water and Yorkshire Water both citing 25 per cent reduction from 2020-25. To date only three utilities have had their business plans approved - Severn Trent, South West Water and United Utilities. As the industry awaits more detail from Ofwat, it is important to identify where those water loss reductions will be made. In the short-term, water companies can increase the workforce and drive customer and staff reporting in their effort to find and fix leaks, but new detection technologies also have a key role to play. Acoustic loggers that can pinpoint leaks by measuring the sound partner networks. Water utilities cannot continue to do what they have always done and deliver on their customer commitments. In terms of leakage and spillage events, the UK regulators are gain- ing teeth through penalties, which is positive from our point of view because our technolo- gies are designed to mitigate these risks. We are optimistic that AMP7 is going to bring a significant increase in the opportu- nity for organic market growth. We expect to penetrate further and grow significantly, especially through Primayer's pinpoint leak- noise correlating technology. Water companies are looking for greater analytics capability and we have the hardware and soŠware to provide just that – along with the capability to make better decisions remotely using real-time data. This gives us the perfect tail-wind as we take forward the synergies born from bringing these exciting businesses and technology portfolios together. Pressure on leakage levels coming from UK water industry regulators is creating noise in the UK leak location technology market, says David Frost, managing director of Servelec Technologies. generated by water escaping the network are front-of-field in this leak-focused, water- stressed era. With this in mind Servelec Technologies recently acquired Primayer, a leading light in pinpoint leak detection. We recognise that the high level of regulation in the UK is challeng- ing the industry to continue to improve perfor- mance, driving faster adoption of innovation and making a mature, UK leak technology company like Primayer highly attractive. Leakage is a global challenge and the UK leads the way. Since privatisation the regulator Ofwat has set the UK water industry stringent leakage targets. Water companies can only meet these targets by using the latest innova- tive smart technology. Our market intelligence tells us that budgets will increase significantly for this kind of technology in many regions globally. We now have the opportunity to leverage the full portfolio through our combined channel www.wwtonline.co.uk | WWT | FEBRUARY 2020 | 11