Clancy Docwra will cover the western area of Anglian Water’s network, in a new service offering from the utilities contractor; Kier will cover the east.
Anglian Water reported its lowest recorded level of leakage in 2017/18, at 183 mega litres per day (ml/d) – significantly below its regulatory target of 192 ml/d.
The contract will see around 50 staff transfer to Clancy Docwra and will place an increased emphasis on technology to tackle leakage. Clancy Docwra will work with Anglian Water to roll out acoustic technology to allow for earlier intervention when leaks occur. It has also been working in partnership with Microsoft to look at how the use of machine learning tools can be used to pre-empt and respond to likely leakage points across the network.
Clancy Docwra associate director Ronan Clancy said: “Bringing leakage detection firmly into the Anglian alliance will allow us to drive greater integration with our maintenance and repair activity. This will bring efficiencies in resource, as well as enabling an easier transfer of expertise across disciplines, ensuring we are attracting and retaining the best talent in the alliance overall.
“It will also mean that with Anglian and Kier, we can drive greater innovation in the methods and tools at our disposal to tackle the critical challenge of leakage – improving quality, consistency of supply and affordability.”
Sean McCarthy, head of leakage at Anglian Water, added: “We’re successfully driving down leakage volumes across our network, but at the same time recognise that we must do more to safeguard our resources.”
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