South West Water enlists dogs to sniff out leaks

A water company is using sniffer dogs to help find water leaks in rural parts of Devon and Cornwall.

South West Water (SWW) said two highly-trained springer spaniels spent five days investigating 27.3 miles (44km) of hard-to-reach land last month.

SWW said the dogs, which can tell the difference between rain water and chlorinated water from burst pipes, found seven leaks during the five days.

The leaks were further investigated by the company, SWW added.

Ali Milton, SWW's leakage delivery manager, said the dogs - named Denzel and Kilo - could cover rural land more efficiently than humans.

"We continue to invest in innovative technology to help locate hard-to-spot leaks such as utilising satellites to find invisible water leaks underground and drone pilots to cover hard-to-reach places across Dartmoor and Exmoor," she said.

"[It] adds another string to our bow when it comes to tackling leakage."

Water regulator Ofwat said in November 2022 progress had been made on leakage in England and Wales but "more needs to be done" and it expects "significant improvements" from water companies.

SWW reported 90.6 megalitres of water were lost to leaks per day in 2021-22, according to the latest leakage data.

The figure is an improvement on the 136 megalitres reported per day in 2020-21.

Follow BBC News South West on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].