Sensor Technology Boosting Water Leak Reduction

One of the main ways that businesses and households alike can reduce their water footprint is to prioritise water leak detection and repairs – and the good news is that there is now technology available these days that can do all the hard work for you, finding leaks before they become seriously problematic, preventing serious water damage and saving you money.

Over in Brussels, for example, tech startup Shaype has been working on a system for the last three years that uses technology to take the problem of water losses in large buildings, a serious issue given that one in three suffer from leaks, 95 per cent of which apparently go undetected, the Brussels Times reports.

The company’s technology involves using a plug and play monitor alongside a water meter that tracks water flow and if there is a spike in consumption, an alert will be sent out to an app or text message so the source of the problem can be investigated straightaway, instead of having to wait for the water bill to arrive.

Water loss was successfully slashed by 500 million litres in 1,000 buildings where the system was installed, with co-founder and operational director Gregoire de Hemptinne saying: “On average, 15 per cent of the water in buildings is lost through leaks. In old buildings, such as those of the city of Brussels, the loss amounts to 40 per cent. With our sensor, the loss has been reduced to about 20 per cent.”

In England, three billion litres of water is lost each day through leakage, so this is a great place to begin if you, as a business, are keen to reduce your water consumption and wastage, helping to protect natural resources and save yourself money on your water bills at the same time.

Another way you can reduce leakage is to look into water bill validation. You probably assume that you’re currently being billed accurately by your water company, but all too often this is not the case and suppliers are renowned for inadvertently charging their customers incorrectly.

Billing errors can result in discrepancies that run into the thousands, even for small to medium-sized enterprises, so making sure your bills are right and monitoring them on an ongoing basis is certainly wise.

By checking your bills, you can easily see if there are any spikes in usage, which could indicate a leak on site. This means you can then take action as and when required, and adjust water-saving solutions over time, driving down wastage and saving you money.

But it can be difficult to monitor your bills yourself and a consultancy service can prove highly beneficial in this regard, so get in touch with SwitchWaterSupplier.com today to find out how we can help you and your business become a more sustainable and more profitable