Yorkshire Water is testing smart metering technology as part of its strategy to reduce leakage.
The trial using Itron’s Cyble technology remotely monitors water flow information and relays data to the company twice a day to identify when increases in demand are due to leakage and respond quickly.
The company chose Sheffield as the location for the two-year pilot based on its geography. Its hills will test the capability of the wireless solution for transferring flow data. Secondly, it is vulnerable to freeze-thaw events that increase challenges from leakage.
Yorkshire’s clean water network strategy manager, Adam Smith, said the trial showed the company’s commitment to leakage and service improvement.
He said: “These new meters will hopefully help us find leaks and bursts a lot faster than previously, saving hundreds of thousands of litres of water in the process.”
The company was set a 15 per cent leakage reduction target by Ofwat in its PR19 final determination, which the company rejected and asked for an appeal to the Competition and Markets Authority.
Yorkshire installed 40,000 acoustic loggers across the region in the summer and invested £50 million in leakage detection, including £4 million to replace customers’ own supply pipes.