Sustainability
Leakage reduction
We’re passionate about reducing leakage. We’re targeting a 15% reduction by 2025, and 50% by 2045 to meet the needs of our long term water management, and the expectations of our customers.
The leakage reduction challenge
Leakage reduction is key for our customers. It consistently emerges as a high priority across multiple research projects, social media analysis and operational insight.
During our business plan research, 55% of customers said that reducing leakage was their top priority.
If we reduce leakage, it demonstrates that we protect our resources and ensure there is enough water to meet future demand.
How we’re reducing leakage
The main focus this year has been the roll out of our new water network operating model which is designed to drive greater ownership of the network by local teams, how work is categorised and enhancing our planning and scheduling activity.
We’ve also focused on finding more ways to calm our network through pressure management. This is particularly key around our distribution pumps which can create shocks in the pipe network resulting in bursts at any weak points.
Reducing the overall pressure and finding ways to mitigate the impact as pump speeds are changed is really important if we’re to reduce leakage even further.
These changes have delivered a 15% increase in field teamproductivity and provide a greater focus on those proactive tasks that build resilience and result in a calmer network.
Using technology to find and fix leaks
To improve our network, we are focusing on finding leaks earlier – ideally before they begin to cause a problem – and fixing them as fast as possible. As well as our metering installation programme being well underway, we’ve invested in our teams of water-network technicians, and equipped them with 40,000 loggers, which trigger an alarm remotely for us to investigate. This has benefitted our ‘find and fix’ way of working.
This has been complemented by using video call technology to enable customers to contact us to report leaks and show our leakage technicians the situation using their smartphone. This helps our teams to diagnose the problem, plan and prioritise our response more effectively.
Our network optimisation hasn’t stopped there as we have also optimised pressure reducing valves across the network, which was successful in reducing leakage by 35% in one area alone.
Through industry benchmarking and a global search for innovation, we can now identify potential leaks through dynamic pressure modelling, use of advanced analytics to combine billions of data records to target leakage and our continued use of satellite technology.
This includes partnering with electricity distribution firms who survey the grid from the air – a great vantage point to spot potential leaks in rural areas.
We’re exploring unique ways of using the information, including the potential to overlay our pipe network data into the video software to support automation of the analysis.
We’re also rolling out advanced technology which enables us to either reduce or stop leakage completely on private pipework without the need to dig up the pipe.
Innovating with global partners
In 2019 we launched the World Water Innovation Fund - joining forces with like-minded companies across the globe to find new ways of working.
We’re pooling resources and collaborating on ideas to develop and accelerate new technologies.
Our £5 million investment in the World Water Innovation Fund will make a real difference to peoples’ lives across the world. The Fund’s initial focus will be on leakage, which is a key issue for water companies worldwide.
Halving leakage by 2045
We’re passionate about reducing leakage. We’re targeting a 15% reduction by 2025, and 50% by 2045 to meet the needs of our long term water management, and the expectations of our customers.
It is clear that a traditional approach focused on the balance of mains renewal and Active Leakage Control will not be enough.
We’ll need radical innovation and new technology to achieve this goal. It will be a journey that is both exciting as well as extremely challenging.
Finding more leaks, faster than before
This innovation and new technology will help us to find more leaks and fix them faster.
- Improved leak targeting through a deployment of 40,000 loggers
- New leakage operating model is live, improving point performance and engagement
- Development and deployment of an analytics application to support field operatives which utilises modelling and logger outputs in a user friendly way
- Increasing repair and maintenance team productivity and reducing suspended work and repeat repairs to drive an improved speed of response and faster fixes.
Detecting changes in pressure and flow
Using meters and loggers to monitor our pipework and the water that flows through it will help us identify the tell-tale signs of a leak, deal with it early and locate it more effectively.
We will be rolling out new technology including:
- Installing at least 325,000 meters by 2025 to better understand leakage on properties and household use
- Pressure management and network calming
- Vacuum excavation tool to aid excavation productivity
- Pipe microphones to listen to our pipework
- Tools to improve effective valve management
Preventing leaks through mains renewal
Not only are we planning on finding and fixing leaks faster, we’re investing £155m in mains renewal, replacing pipework in specific, targeted areas around our region, to prevent leaks before they happen.
Gaining insights through analytics
With data on our water network performance gained from our pressure, flow and acoustic loggers - and access to cloud-based analytics capability - we can create sophisticated machine-learning and predictive, analytic models to target, predict and prevent leakage.