Yorkshire’s leakage trial saving 90,000 litres per day

Yorkshire Water has rolled out 2,000 customer smart water meters as part of its smart network trial that has reduced leakage by 92,160 litres a day.

The company was able to identify the source of leaks and discovered 32 per cent of all leakage in the area could be traced to one per cent of properties, highlighting the huge impact domestic and private supply pipes have on the overall amount of water lost.

The pilot runs across narrowband internet of things networks (NBIoT) as well as low power wide area (LoRaWAN)and Flexnet systems to gather data across the area.

Martyn Hattersley, head of leakage operations at Yorkshire, said: “The smart network pilot we’re currently running has seen some game-changing results. Insights from the pilot area will help inform our future digital strategy and will allow us to use data to further target our leakage efforts, and ultimately save water from being wasted.”

The work is part of the company’s target to reduce leakage by 15 per cent within AMP7. In 2019/20 the company beat its leakage target of 287Ml/d by an additional 16Ml/d.

The company is awaiting the outcome of its appeal to the Competition and Markets Authority in which it, along with other appellants, requested additional spending to meet the leakage targets set by Ofwat.

The CMA is now due to publish its decision in mid-March as it makes full use of the time available for the process.