THE MAGAZINE FOR THE DRAINAGE, WATER & WASTEWATER INDUSTRIES
WATER PAGES
rainwatermanagement systemis already operational. Elsewhere several pilot schemes aremonitoring howeffective lower-budget smart rainwater reuse systems, deployed in a cluster of domestic properties, can combine to deliver district level flood risk and CSO pollution reductions.
“Because smart rainwatermanagement technologies span the remits of somany agencies involved in demand reduction, flood riskmanagement and pollution control, itwill be vital to recognise their potential at the national strategic level tomitigate against all these severe impacts of climate change.
StrategicWater Planning
“So,we urge policymakers like the National Infrastructure Commission, aswell asWater Company stakeholders involved inwater infrastructure and demandmanagement strategy, to appraise themselves of these upcoming technologies. Just like the emerging technology for electric cars,we should plan for their potential to contribute significantly to national targets in the long term.
“Awhole raft of regulations and incentives are beingmooted and debated tomake the country more resilient to drought and flooding in the face of climate change and population growth. Some, like compulsorywatermetering, or nationwide 110 litres p/p/dwater use limits are essential. Water efficiencymeasures, includingwater reuse, also need to be part of incentives for greener homes, such as thewidely proposed Property Resilience Certificate, or by the extension of a Green Homes Grant to includewater efficiency measures.
“Above all, recognising the benefits of autonomous attenuation technologies on a national scalewould be a significant driver for change. Itmakes no sense at all to use expensively treatedmainswaterwhen rainwater
is free and can be recycled close towhere it falls.”
SDSwill be pleased to provide a briefing on the latest developments in smart rainwater reuse andmanagement technologies to any interested stakeholders.
Tackling trunk main losses with combined technologies
Finding leaks on transmission pipes and trunkmains can be especially challenging andwithwater utilities on the lookout for emerging technologies to tackle this issue, a revolutionary satellite leak detection project in Africa shows there are solutions to this complex problem, as Jonathan Jacobi, director of sales, Utilis explains.
Supply interruptions andwater losses from leaks on transmission pipes and trunkmains can be some of themost challengingwater utilities face due the large diameter of the pipes and thematerials ofwhich they are made. However, a revolutionary satellite leak
FOLLOW US
detection technology is helping address this complex problem,making finding the leaks a lot easier.
Drinkingwater pipelines are one of the sector’s largest andmost expensive capital assets and maintaining their integritymust be a key priority. In order to achieve this, the reduction ofwater losses is a strategic necessity.
In October 2019 a pioneering pilot projectwas carried out onmore than 1,000kmof transmissionmains in the south of Africa using Utilis’ satellite-borne L-band synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) analytics. Points of interest on the
vast trunkmain networkwere narrowed down using the technology, then specialist acoustic leak detection equipment fromSwisswater loss technology company Gutermannwas used to verify themand pinpoint leaks.
While traditional leak detection techniques and instruments are less suitable for surveying large stretch of large-diameter pipes in rural terrain, Utilis’ technology is agnostic to pipe size ormaterial, identifying leaks via soil moisture created by potablewatermixingwith the surrounding earth. The technology’s ability to pre-localise a leak, especially in such a difficult landscape, allows the surveying team
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