Drones offer the potential to be of great assistance in the UK when it comes to fighting the increasingly expensive war on water waste through pipe leakage. Anglian Water alone estimates the cost of water lost through leakage in their area to be in the region of £60 million so there is a strong financial as well as environmental incentive to cut the losses as fast as possible.
A number of the water boards have already been using drones in trials to pinpoint water leaks in hard to reach or rural areas. Temperature changes in the soil around a pipeline leak can be detected with thermal images cameras or standard photography can be used in an aerial survey to identify areas of standing water. Ground teams can then be immediately dispatched to the precise area that they are needed.
