Most water leaks hide. Northumbrian Water, in north-east England, traditionally spotted them through visible signs like water pooling or changes in pressure, and it often relied on customers to flag them. “Finding leaks isn’t always straightforward, especially when there’s no visible signs at the surface,” said Jim Howey, its head of water networks.
The clever bit
The clever bit is listening. In a trial that started in November 2025, the utility and FIDO Tech fixed more than 1,000 acoustic sensors to fittings along 149 km of water pipe. The sensors record the sound inside the network, and FIDO’s AI analyses it in real time for the noise of water escaping underground. It then gives technicians areas to investigate, even where nothing shows at the surface. The sensors can stay in place for long stretches or move daily to sweep a wider area.
In winter, temperature changes can raise the risk of bursts and leaks. Over those cold months, the project helped save around 6.4 million litres of water a day, Northumbrian Water says, which it puts at about 25,000 bathtubs. On September 16 the entry, “Reducing the Impact of Winter Water Main Breaks,” won Real-Time Monitoring & Control Project of the Year at the UK’s Environmental Monitoring & Measurement Achievement Awards in Birmingham.
Hooray
Hooray: hidden leaks get found and fixed early, before they grow into bigger bursts, which means less emergency work, fewer surprise interruptions for customers and more drinking water kept in the pipes.
What comes next
Northumbrian Water calls the trial part of its ongoing work to cut leakage with new technology. Its releases don’t say how far the sensor network will grow beyond 149 km, and they cite no independent check of the savings, so the next numbers to watch are its own leakage figures.