A water company says it hopes new AI technology could prevent up to 100 million litres leaking a day.
Thames Water, which serves the majority of Swindon and its surrounding areas in Wiltshire, is working with Origin Tech to use satellite technology to detect moisture and movement in the ground.
In the UK, about 19% of water is lost to leakage before it reaches customers, according to the Environment Agency.
Co-founder of Origin Tech, John Marsden, said the satellites pass over Swindon “roughly every six days” and produce “points on a map” where leakage is suspected.
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The two companies are working together for 13 months after a trial period.
Marsden said the technology is “at least five times quicker” at detecting “invisible leaks that are really difficult to find” than a person working unassisted on the ground.
A computer programme produces a map of leakage pin-points, which staff from Thames Water can then use.
“It’s the same way they’ve done it since Victorian times, but with the insight from satellite technology,” Marsden added.
Co-founder of Origin Tech, John Marsden, said the technology is “at least five times quicker” at detecting leaks than a person working alone
During a previous trial, 800 leaks across Thames Water’s network were found.
The company said this helped to save an estimated 8.7 million litres of water per day, enough to fill more than three Olympic-sized swimming pools.
According to Thames Water, several of the leaks detected during the trial ran at a speed of more than 10 litres per second, saving enough water to run a bath every eight seconds.
Origin Tech’s leak detection technology scans the ground from above for ‘invisible’ leaks
Thames Water’s Head of Leakage, Shane Gloster, said: “A huge proportion of our leaks are never seen by customers, as they are underground and hard to find.
“Partnering with Origin Tech, deploying their satellite data to detect leaks gives us a faster and more accurate indication of where the network has issues, enabling us to work more efficiently in our pursuit of bringing down water loss.”
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