How Can Technology Help Conserve Water?

Water conservation is fast becoming a top priority for the government, regulators and the Environment Agency, as they tackle the issues of a rising population, climate change and the moral duty to be more efficient where water usage is concerned.

Individual water consumption is currently at approximately 140 litres per day per person and the government now has plans in place to reduce this over the next 25 years, WWT Online reports  – and it seems as though machine learning may well be at the very heart of its strategy.

Leakage is one of the biggest problems facing the UK where water management is concerned and suppliers are now turning to technology to help address the situation.

Water companies supply about 18 billion litres of water every day in the UK, but around three billion litres of this is lost through leakage across England and Wales – which is why it’s becoming increasingly important for firms to invest more in new and innovative approaches to leak reduction across their networks.

Steps are already being taken in this regard, with Yorkshire Water recently announcing that it is carrying out a pilot of the UK’s most advanced smart water network pilot, which features pressure loggers, acoustic loggers and flow meters to detect leaks.

And United Utilities is also making inroads, installing over 100,000 sensors across its network to detect faulty pipes by picking up the vibrations from flowing water.

Although figures from Water UK show that utilities companies have successfully reduced the amount of water leaking from pipes by seven per cent to reach the lowest levels since records started in the 90s, there is still much more work to do.

Machine learning could be the answer, with South East Water now keen to provide the public with a platform on which they can report any external leaks they discover, taking a photo and sending it to the water company. The aim of the project is to build a system that is able to analyse these images and alert the maintenance team of the seriousness of the problem.

Corporations can also do their part to protect water supplies and one of the best, most immediate ways they can go about doing so is to change their business water supplier.

The process of switching involves having a water audit of your site carried out, which will reveal any discrepancies between your water usage and what you’re being charged for.

If you see a spike in your bills, it’s possible that you could have a leak somewhere on your premises. Once you identify this, you can then bring in water-saving solutions as appropriate. If you’d like to find out more about switching, get in touch with us here at SwitchWaterSupplier.com today to see how we can help.