Thames Water, the United Kingdom’s largest utilities player, has entered into a partnership with Origin Tech, an AI and satellite technology specialist, to help detect and reduce water loss across its network.
Under the newly formed 13-month contract, Origin Tech will bring its Origin Orbit system to pinpoint underground leaks within a 30-metre radius, offering a faster and more accurate alternative to traditional detection methods. Origin Orbit uses a combination of satellite imagery and artificial intelligence (AI) to execute the complex task.
“A huge proportion of our leaks are never seen by customers, as they are underground and hard to find. To repair these as quickly as we can, we must use the latest innovative technology available. Partnering with Origin Tech, deploying their satellite data to detect leaks gives us a faster and more accurate indication of where the network has issues, enabling us to work more efficiently in our pursuit of bringing down water loss,” said Shane Gloster, head of leakage at Thames Water.
The partnership is built on a successful 18-week trial that identified more than 800 leaks throughout Thames’ network, saving an estimated 8.7 million litres of water per day. Many of these leaks were of a considerable scale, including a number that were found to be running at over 10 litres per second, saving enough water to run a bath every eight seconds.
By onboarding Origin Tech, Thames Water has also become the first water company to fully integrate Origin Orbit technology into business-as-usual leakage operations.
Established in 2019, Origin Tech designs and delivers a suite of advanced technologies that help 12 water companies in the United Kingdom prevent more than three billion litres of water from being lost through leakage. Of the leaks identified through Origin Orbit, 92% are non-visible, something that helps utility companies significantly increase their ability to improve the overall efficiency of their distribution networks.
John Marsden, co-founder of Origin Tech, said, “With one-fifth of all water in the UK being lost through leakage every year, the need for innovative solutions is evident. It is great to see that water companies like Thames Water are embracing innovations that will make a difference. We are very proud to be working with them towards a collective goal of reducing water waste and supporting more sustainable operations.”