Water monitoring
REVEALING THE UNSEEN
As water tariffs rise and infrastructure continues to age, utilities across the Nordic region are under growing pressure to do more with less. While much of the stress is visible in budgets and regulatory reports, the core challenge lies beneath the surface - in long-distance networks, buried pipelines and elusive leaks. Here, Mano Koolen, channel sales manager North & East Europe at Ovarro, the leak detection specialist, outlines how municipalities are responding to hidden water loss using acoustic monitoring and analysis tools that provide early indications of developing leaks.
G
lobal Water Intelligence (GWI)’s 2025 Tariff Survey shows that global water tariff growth slowed to around 6.2 per cent from 2024 to 2025 after record-breaking increases the previous year. However, Europe was among the regions with highest tariff increases in that cycle, where new legislation and investments in climate change resilience are driving higher-than-usual increases. At the same time, there is a widening gap between the expectations placed on utilities and the infrastructure they depend on. Official data from Statistics Norway (SSB) reveals that only 0.60 per cent of the national municipal pipeline network is renewed over a three-year period. Despite investment, an end result is that around 30 per cent of water is still lost before it reaches households. What’s more, traditional methods to detect these leaks often fall short. Leaks occur underground, in remote terrain, under extreme temperatures and high pressures. That is why traditional detection methods often miss issues that go unresolved for months. Utilities know they must act - but first they need visibility.
THE INVISIBLE CHALLENGE OF NORDIC GEOGRAPHY
The scale of the problem is matched only by the scale of the landscape. Norway alone spans over 2,400 kilometres, with networks winding through mountains, valleys and sparsely populated areas. Manholes in many municipalities are up to 4.5
48
metres deep. Add in seasonal temperature swings - from more than 40°C in summer to less than minus 30 °C in winter - and the physical stress on older pipes becomes clear. Materials like cast iron expand and contract over time, developing cracks that go undetected by conventional tools. Operational fragmentation adds another layer of complexity. Water, wastewater and maintenance teams often use separate systems. Cybersecurity considerations and connectivity limitations also impact the adoption of new monitoring technologies. Even where metering is in place, data often remains siloed or incomplete.
FROM ROUTINE INSPECTION TO REAL- TIME INSIGHT
Despite these obstacles, many Nordic utilities are rethinking their approach. By integrating departments, strengthening data quality and using acoustic logging to track anomalies, they are moving away from reactive maintenance towards earlier, data-driven intervention. This mirrors trends across infrastructure sectors. Organisations that adopt proactive methods typically reduce unplanned outages by intervening earlier, with greater accuracy. A frequently reported McKinsey & Company finding is that AI-powered predictive maintenance can cut service disruptions by up to 50 per cent. Acoustic logging in particular has proven especially transformative. Rather than waiting for surface signs of failure, utilities now deploy fixed
or portable devices to “listen” for pressurised leaks. These devices are most active overnight - when water demand is low and anomalies are easier to detect. By identifying leaks at an early stage, the systems provide a predictive indication of where losses are likely to intensify if left untreated.
HAMAR: A REAL-WORLD RETURN ON INVESTMENT
A recent project in Hamar, Norway, demonstrates the value of this shift. The municipality installed Enigma5 fixed acoustic loggers from Ovarro to monitor a challenging
April 2026 Instrumentation Monthly
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