Affinity Water achieves industry’s ‘largest leakage reduction’

The 15% fall has been achieved for the five years to March 2020, in addition to achieving the lowest ever levels of leakage for 2019/20

Affinity Water has met its leakage reduction target and claims to have achieved the industry’s largest percentage leakage reduction.

The 15% fall has been achieved for the five years to March 2020, in addition to achieving the lowest ever levels of leakage for 2019/20.

The water company is now targeting a further 20% leakage reduction by 2025, with an ambition to achieving world-class levels by 2040.

Affinity Water introduced step-testing, which allows engineers to systematically work through districts and streets, using monitoring and isolation techniques to more effectively target areas suffering from water leaks.

Through the innovative method, the company managed to reduce leakage in the Kingswood area of Watford by 60%.

It has also transformed its systems using a Situational Awareness solution, which allows teams to respond more quickly to water supply interruptions and leaks, have instant visibility of incidents and access all the information needed to plan the best response.

In addition, technologies are being used that enables engineers to pinpoint leaks quicker with greater accuracy and efficiency, especially on plastic pipes.

The devices have also reduced the amount of ‘dry holes’ that are dug to find leaks on pipes, which has helped to reduce impact on local traffic as leaks are located more precisely.

Pauline Walsh, Chief Executive of Affinity Water said: “I am proud to announce that we have met our leakage reduction target. We did this through a major transformation programme, better use of data, investing in the latest technologies, innovating to improve our productivity and working closely with other companies to share ideas and best practice.

“With climate change, a growing population and our commitment to take less water from the environment, we are determined to do more. We want to drive our leakage levels down even further and are targeting a 20% reduction by 2025, with an ambition to achieve world-class levels by 2040. We are continuing to invest in and support the development of innovative approaches to tackling leakage and accelerating our progress to meet these future challenges.”

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