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Al Turner Consulting
116 Genthon Street
Cell (204) 227-0601
EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
Across this nation, the work done daily by members of our public service and private sector, with respect to waterbreaks, goes largely unnoticed. That is, of course, until it happens in front of your house or on your favorite route to work. Watermain breaks are an everyday normal occurrence in Canada. Aging infrastructure, varying climatic conditions and ground shifts all attribute to the appearance of and severity of waterbreaks on distribution lines in our towns and cities. Water systems in Canada have existed since the early 1800’s and some are still in operation today. Waterbreaks have also existed for that long.How do they locate the precise location of the break on the pipe before digging a hole?
Water exiting a pipe, buried underground, with frozen ground covering, rarely follows the most direct route. Water can travel long distances through fissures in the soil before exiting. For this reason, for many years, operators of water systems have devised some ingenious methods of leak detection. The earliest data indicates that the “dig until you find the leak” method has been in play for all of those years.
Depending on where you live, the methods of leak detection differ. The trusted aforementioned method is the most costly and proves very ineffective in today’s world. The art of drilling holes in the ground covering a water main and spiking rods at predetermined intervals was introduced in the early 1940’s. The leak detection staff would then listen to the rods and, by greatest amount of sound of water whooshing, would provide the leak site for digging crews. Incidentally, this method is still employed in Edmonton and Winnipeg due mainly to high cost of excavation resulting from frozen ground in winter. This method, while very effective, was labor intensive and costly as separate equipment was bought to site to initiate this practice.
In the early 60’s, with the development of transistors, a ground sounding microphone was developed to provide leak sites. This technology is still in use today by many towns and cities. The theory is to place a highly sensitive microphone on the ground in the area where a leak is suspected. The operator moves in line with the subsurface water pipe and by listening to the sound emanating upwards from the leak the operator can determine the area of greatest sound to provide a dig site.
The newest technology available today is the leak noise correlator. Correlators have existed in some form since the early 80’s. The advent of microprocessors have allowed for the transportation of a computer based technology from the office to the street. The correlator of today incorporates many new advantages for the water operator seeking out leaks on a distribution system. The technology is non-invasive, is safe to use, and in the most recent development, married to an easily recognizable Windows environment. A computer based leak correlator works like this. An operator attaches two sensors at fixed intervals on the water system to a fixture on the water main such as a valve or a hydrant. The sensor is attached to a radio transmitter, at each interval that relays the sound of the leak noise vibration, to a receiver attached to a laptop computer. (Refer to figure 1). The steps are:
Figure 1
The results of the sound vibration analysis along the length of the specified pipe section are analyzed by the software and a leak location is provided. The operator is required to provide three key pieces of information prior to correlation sequence; distance between the sensors, diameter of the pipe and the type of pipe. Transmitter stations are color coded and the operator refers to the station to determine the leak position. (Refer figure 2)
Figure 2
The correlator has come a long way since its earliest years and research in this exciting field is ongoing with the help of our own National Research Council, Institute for Research in Construction.
Today’s water expert needs to arm themselves with the newest technologies available to minimize water distribution system losses, contain damaged areas caused by leaks and reduce the costs of manufacturing potable water to the utility.
