Northumbrian Water, UK | FIDO Tech

The challenge

Northumbrian Water Limited (NWL) is a large, regulated UK water utility serving parts of northern and eastern England. It has a commitment to reduce overall network leakage by 17.5% by 2025.

Two years into its five-year programme, the company was struggling to make headway due to a limited number of technicians, particularly in areas which are not well-covered by permanent leakage sensors.

NWL asked us to use Leak Locate on its network to reduce leakage over a number of phases of work. The first involved leak detection along 270km of pipeline in 15 problematic district metering areas (DMAs). The second was a further 200km of pipeline. Overall, the pipe material was an average of 62% metallic and 38% plastic.

The solution

We deployed FIDO sensors at regular intervals across the targeted DMAs. These were left overnight. Once collected, the sensor data was instantly analysed by FIDO AI, which resulted in a number of points of interest (POI) for large leaks.

FIDO technicians used the sensors again at each generated POI to further pinpoint the leak location and mark up the blue line ready for NWL to promote to dig & repair.

FIDO AI then validated the repair success and water saved was validated using the reduction in nightline flow data recorded by the company. Each DMA took between 5-7 days to complete.

The results

Using Leak Locate in phase 1 of the project, we achieved an average 37% average leakage reduction across the 15 DMAs. In phase 2 the savings were even higher, averaging a more than over 53% reduction. This equates to a total reduction in leakage of more than 40 per cent across both phases of work.

One particular DMA stood out to both FIDO and NWL. It required skill, patience, and collaboration. Before the deployment of Leak Locate, this DMA was leaking at a rate of 8.93 m3/hr and other leakage detection methods had failed to locate the leaks. FIDO AI identified a single leak on a 6” main, on a hydrant, 400m away from any fittings. 400m is too far correlation. FIDO and NWL Water worked together to safely shut off the main so that the leak could be pinpointed.

The evidence suggests that this single large leak was responsible for the increase of leakage in this DMA.

This graph shows leakage levels in one of the DMAs included in the project area.

It indicates a steady level of leakage followed by a sharp drop after the leak identified and located by FIDO AI was repaired.

Leak Locate is an easy way to locate any water leak on any pressurised distribution pipe in any material using FIDO AI.

All-in-one leak location by subscription using an app and a simple hardware device.