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The Met Office has launched a new model which can forecast weather related pipe burst numbers on a 15-day time scale.
According to the Met Office, the forecasting tool will assist water companies with managing burst pipes by “optimising resources” and “increasing proactive planning and risk management”.
Currently increases in pipe bursts during cold weather causes significant operational difficulties for water companies, including considerable fluctuations in workload and resources.
The Met Office said the model works by indicating when a major burst event is coming, allowing water companies to release operational resources in response and reducing the risk of losses from bursts that can lead to significant supply problems.
The launch follows a successful collaboration with Thames Water to make a suite of models available across the whole water industry.
It has now been to include the Met Office’s weather data and can be adapted and calibrated to individual water company regions.
Michelle Spillar, head of utilities at the Met Office, said: “Historically, burst pipes have been extremely difficult to predict accurately across water company networks and resource zones.
“Our pipe burst model enables water companies to perform day by day network monitoring, forecast trends and analyse actual and predicted future bursts resulting in impressive cost savings across water resources strategy and operations, validated by over five years water industry use.”
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