- Vodafone announces 10-year deal with SES Water to provide Internet of Things solution to revolutionise how water leaks are prevented and detected.
- Intelligent water distribution network aims to cut leakage by 15% over next five years, and pave the way for a more than 50% reduction by 2045.
Vodafone today announces that it has signed a 10-year deal with SES Water to revolutionise how water leaks are detected and prevented. SES Water will use Vodafone’s Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) technology to create an intelligent water distribution network that aims to cut leakage by 15% over the next five years and pave the way for more than halving it by 2045.
In the UK alone, it is estimated that on average three billion litres of water is lost to leaks everyday – the equivalent of 1,268 Olympic swimming pools.[1] While SES Water has one of the lowest leakage records in the UK and has met its reduction target for the last 21 years, the company has set itself a challenging target to go further. The project, now underway across east Surrey, west Kent, West Sussex and south London, follows Vodafone’s smart water network pilot with South East Water last year.
Vodafone and SES Water have been working over the past few months with partners to install specialist digital water meters, sensors and acoustic loggers on underground mains water pipes. These were then connected using Vodafone’s NB-IoT network, which operates within a very narrow radio band frequency enabling wider coverage and deeper penetration than traditional networks, so is perfect for use underground or within buildings.
Data will be collected and transmitted across the system, and advanced analytics will be used to monitor readings and alert SES Water immediately in the event of a leak, low pressure or other network abnormalities.
Acoustic loggers ‘listen’ for escaping water within the network to determine when leaks have occurred and to assist in pinpointing the precise location. Readings from smart meters will provide valuable insight into customer demand patterns so that SES Water can help customers to better manage their water usage, help reduce their bills and be alerted to leakage occurring on customers’ pipework before it can cause any damage.
Anne Sheehan, Director, Vodafone Business UK, said: “Internet of Things technology can make a real difference to the health of our planet. We are thrilled to be innovating with SES Water, helping to provide a more accurate and efficient way of identifying and preventing leaks.
“With World Environment Day today serving as a reminder of the importance of sustainability issues, we are delighted to share a great example of the pivotal role technology plays in preventing water wastage, and helping SES Water in improve the service they provide their customers, while also meeting important regulatory and environmental standards.”
Daniel Woodworth, SES Water’s Network Strategy Manager, said: “At SES Water we already have industry-leading leakage levels, but we want to do more. This collaborative project has been worked on for a number of months and will help us revolutionise how we detect and prevent water leaks – either our mains or our customers’ pipes – as soon as it occurs.
“In the future it could even enable us to predict and prevent pipeline failure before it happens. It will put our operational teams in a position of knowledge, not only enabling us to reduce the water we take from the natural environment but also further minimising interruptions to supply, and in doing so provide a gold standard service for our customers for many years to come.”
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Notes to Editors:
- Vodafone is the world’s largest IoT provider connecting over 100 million devices worldwide. For further information please visit: https://www.vodafone.com/business/iot
- Please note the filming and photography that accompanies this press release took place prior to social distancing and the Coronavirus lockdown.
About SES Water
SES Water supplies water to approximately 730,000 people in east Surrey, and parts of West Sussex, west Kent and south London. Its supply area is 322 square miles (835 sq. km), extending from Morden and South Croydon in the north to Gatwick Airport in the south and from Cobham, Leatherhead and Dorking in the west to Edenbridge and Bough Beech in the east. Groundwater supplies provide 85 per cent of our water, with 15 per cent being extracted from one reservoir at Bough Beech near Edenbridge. Visit seswater.co.uk for more information.
About Vodafone UK
Vodafone UK connects people, businesses and devices to help our customers benefit from digital innovation. Our services span mobile, fixed line connections, home and office broadband and the Internet of Things (IoT). For more information about Vodafone UK, please visit: www.vodafone.co.uk
For further information:
Vodafone UK Media Relations
Telephone: 01635 693 693
Website: https://newscentre.vodafone.co.uk
Twitter: @VodafoneUKComms
![Ben Wood [centre] at the launch of the Mobile Phone Museum exhibit at PK Porthcurno.](https://www.vodafone.co.uk/newscentre/app/uploads/2023/11/DSC04029-550x367.jpg.webp "Ben Wood [centre] at the launch of the Mobile Phone Museum exhibit at PK Porthcurno.")
