7 Apr 2014
Awards success for Civil and Building Engineering
A partnership project between the School of Civil and Building Engineering, Severn Trent Water and Echologics has scooped the top prize at a prestigious awards event focusing on the water industry – the Water Industry Achievement Awards 2014.
The partnership won the ‘Most Innovative New Technology of the Year’ category award followed by the ‘Outstanding Innovation 2014’ award for the most significant and innovative contribution to the water industry for LeakFinderST, a prototype noise detector that can identify leaks on pipes.
Reducing water leaks is a priority for the water industry. Underground leaks are responsible for £millions of water loss. The longer it takes to detect leaks, the greater the volume of water loss, and the greater disruption through increased excavations.
LeakFinderST enables leaks to be detected faster and with greater accuracy and reliability. In particular it detects leaks that are traditionally more difficult to find, for example those on non-metallic pipes.
LeakFinderST will be launched commercially later this year.
Professor Neil Dixon led the Loughborough team in developing the product. He said: “We are delighted that LeakFinderST took the top honours at such an important industry awards event. We are confident that our product will deliver significant benefits to the water industry in years to come.”