Mobile Eye

The problem:

Water companies often struggle to collect and maintain accurate information about our network assets and their current condition. This is generally because of the quantity and location. We make big financial decisions based on this information so accuracy is key but expensive to achieve and it can be very labour intensive. We also need to be able to detect deteriorating before our customers notice a symptom such as a leak.

The solution:

Could we come up with a safe and accurate way of measuring and mapping our assets while doing our day jobs? This could have advantages not only to assets relating to water but other utilities and local authorities. A ‘dash’ held at Innovate East explored assets and street features of interest and Ordnance Survey (OS) demonstrated five different technologies that had potential to solve the problem. It was determined that vehicle based street scanning of assets alongside georectification from OS would both identify the location of an asset and its condition. Anglian Water and Essex & Suffolk Water would work to install these devices in at least 50 vehicles in their fleets to start collecting data.

Where we are today:

A successful trial has gone ahead in NWG’s northern locations using the technology. Down in the south, both companies are working hard with their fleet teams to install the technology but have been hindered by Covid 19. Meetings have also been held with local authorities to install the devices on bin lorries to gain the most comprehensive coverage.