UK Water Industry Dragons Included United Utilities, Wessex Water, Yorkshire Water, Stantec, Water Innovation Hub, H2O WEM, Hydrosave, and University of Exeter
LONDON, ENGLAND, UK, November 23, 2020– Future Water Association announced today that California-based Electro Scan Inc. was selected ‘WINNER’ of its recently held third and final round of the 2020 Water Dragons competition. Showcasing one of its largest fields of water innovation technology companies at the November 19th competition event, Electro Scan was one of seven companies that presented to well-known industry experts, known as ‘The Dragons.’
“I was delighted to introduce our game-changing leak detection solution for potable water pipes and sewer rising mains [force mains],” stated Chuck Hansen, Software Entrepreneur & Founder, Electro Scan Inc.
“The Future Water Association Water Dragons event was the most seamless virtual event I’ve attended in 2020,” stated Hansen.
The Water Dragons competition is a unique venue, where innovative and cutting-edge products are showcased to demonstrate their disruptive capabilities over legacy technologies, helping to improve routine operation & maintenance practices by investor-owned and municipal utilities.
With immense budgetary pressures on all utilities brought on by challenging targets of AMP7 and the new reality of COVID-19, innovative solutions are quickly being adopted on a “Business as Usual” basis to expedite returns to shareholders and regulatory authorities.
Interested parties may download Chuck Hansen’s 8-minute video presentation, PowerPoint or Adobe PDF file for review.
“The Future Water Association launched Water Dragons competitions in 2008 to provide an opportunity for companies to pitch products, services, or process innovations to a panel of water company executives and industry experts, the ‘Water Dragons’” stated Paul Norton, Chief Executive Officer, Future Water Association.
Last week’s Water Dragons included:
Chair: Alastair Moseley, H2O WEM & Future Water Innovation Group
Steve Quarmby, United Utilities
Julian Britton, Wessex Water
Dr. Katrina Flavell, Yorkshire Water
Tim Williams, Stantec
Matt Foster, Hydrosave
Caroline Wadsworth, Water Innovation Hub
Nicky Cunningham, University of Exeter
Products, services, or processes presented to the Water Dragons must demonstrate clear & distinct business benefits, especially including how the innovation can make or save money for the utility customers, namely the British water companies.
Over the years, the Future Water Association’s Water Dragons event has gained recognition beyond the UK, to a worldwide audience of leading water utilities, consultancies, and regulatory bodies.
In an eight (8) minute pitch, followed by questions from the Water Dragons, competitors must:
• Identify innovation challenges addressed.
• Explain the innovation’s improvement to existing alternatives.
• Provide evidence for savings & other related benefits.
Electro Scan’s technology precisely locates pipeline leaks, and then quantifies the corresponding leakage rate. The November 19th presentation began by acknowledging the major contribution of acoustic sensors, listening sticks, data loggers & correlators, and hydrophones over the past 100 years for detecting water leaks by listening.
Acoustic leak detection is very often dependent on pipes to be operating at high water pressures with customer water usage causing false leakage readings. In its presentation, Electro Scan quickly suggested that water utilities stop listening for leaks and instead start measuring defect sizes where leaks occur – which are not dependent on pressure, or otherwise adversely influenced by ambient background noise levels or customer usage.
Having already gained adoption in the wastewater industry for gravity pipe inspections since 2011, where CCTV cameras have been shown to be unable to correctly find or measure leaks at cracks, joints, and customer connections, Electro Scan explained how it developed its patented low-voltage conductivity technology for pressure pipe applications for water and sewer systems.
Referred to as a ‘symbiotic technology’, a term coined by James Hargrave, Regional Operational Leakage Manager at Anglian Water Services, Electro Scan described how it created British-specific sized probes to fit through available water valves and fittings to automatically find pipe defects typically not heard by acoustic methods or seen by cameras.
In a separate and significant development, last week Anglian Water notified Electro Scan (UK) Limited that its multi-sensor leak detection probe had passed Anglian’s ‘Materials In Contact’ (MIC) testing for potable water pipes.
Results from a recent British case study were presented to the Water Dragons, showing how several acoustic devices were unable to find any pipe leak in a 170meter (560 feet), 800mm (24 inch) diameter, Cement Mortar-Lined Ductile Iron Pipe. During its inspection, Electro Scan found fifteen (15) pipe leaks to within 1 centimeter at individual pipe joints, totaling more than 2.4 liters per second in leakage.
Over the years, water contractors and suppliers using acoustic methods have inconsistently, and often erroneously, found water pipe leaks though without precise locational accuracy or a quantifiable flow rate. Electro Scan’s low-voltage conductivity method now allows utilities to properly address Non-Revenue Water (NRW) losses for the benefit of their rate payers.
Unlike legacy acoustic technologies, Electro Scan is now being included in upcoming tenders for measuring new pipe water tightness.
Somewhat counter-intuitive for a company whose products find leaks, a major direct benefit of Electro Scan’s technology is its ability to unambiguously identify pipe sections that DO NOT REQUIRE repair or rehabilitation. Thus, utilities will avoid costly CAPEX spending for water mains or rising mains that simply do not warrant repair or replacement.
Competition at last week’s Water Dragons event included a diverse field of water technology innovations:
1. Aqualogic – Virtual domestic water audit.
2. Liverpool John Moores University – An innovative design for a separate sewer system.
3. Leakwatch Systems – Property water security system.
4. Electro Scan Inc. – Machine-intelligent multi-sensor pressurised leak detection [WINNER].
5. Scanscor Ltd – Non-contact corrosion scanning for water pipes.
6. Strathkelvin Instruments Ltd – Online toxicity detection at wastewater treatment works.
7. Waterscan – Flowmotion water consumption savings.
While Electro Scan has caused a major disruption in the wastewater legacy CCTV inspection market, where the company has demonstrated how visual inspection substantially mis-catalogs defective & leaking joints and cracks, the addition of its own high resolution camera as part of its multi-sensor water leak detection solution, is positioning the company, with its authorized partners, to become the largest provider of CCTV inspection for the pressurized water market.
Rather than incorrectly identifying pressure pipe leaks, CCTV traversing pressurized pipes represents an invaluable navigational aid and can show debris deposits, excessive tuberculation, and valve positions that may not been previously located, and hinder the Electro Scan leak detection. In addition, the camera images document illegal tap connections that may exist, represented by non-standard or forced connections into pressure mains.
The combination with Electro Scan’s electric current-based sensor and high-definition camera allows framework contractors and water utilities to locate and quantify all leaks immediately following each survey and before leaving the project location.
Last week’s event was the third and final competition of 2020, with a final competition in early 2021 to determine the overall 2020 Water Dragons Champion.
Prior 2020 Water Dragon rounds, or heats, and their winners were:
HEAT #1
Water Dragons held at Floodex 2020 – 26 February 2020
Heat winner – Radio Data Networks, with their sewer flow regulator
Audience Winner – Rescaype UK Ltd., with their micronised, biodegradable, water-soluble polymer for soil amelioration/conditioning
HEAT #2
Water Dragons held at the Future Water 2050 Innovation Strategy Session – 30 July 2020
Heat Winner – Qinov8 with their AQUAPEA® small diameter pipe leak prevention device.
HEAT #3
Water Dragons held at the Future Water Association Conference – 19 November 2020
Heat Winner – Electro Scan Inc. with their Machine-Intelligent Multi-Sensor DELTA Pressurised Leak Detection Solution.
“We congratulate all of the participants that showed amazing products and enthusiasm for their respective markets,” stated Hansen. “I look forward to participating in the Finals in early 2021 and show all attendees how valuable our leak detection data is for all utilities.”
Hansen has enjoyed 40 years serving the worldwide water industry. Prior to founding Electro Scan Inc., Hansen was majority owner of Hansen Information Technologies, a leading provider of asset management system for the water industry with over 2,000 utilities, including 16 of the top 20 U.S. cities as customers. The company was sold to Golden Gate Capital and Infor Global in 2007. Now dedicated to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investments in the water sector through Hansen Investment Holdings, LLC, Hansen also enjoys his off time as an instrument-rated pilot and professional saxophonist, regularly appearing with major artists and bands.
ABOUT ELECTRO SCAN INC.
Headquartered in Sacramento, Calif. and founded in 2011, the Company designs, develops, and markets proprietary pipe condition assessment equipment, delivers field services, and offers cloud-based data processing, analytics, and reporting applications that automatically locates, measures, and report defects typically not found using legacy inspection methods. In 2020, the company was named to Government Technology’s esteemed GovTech 100 list for the second year in row. Electro Scan field crews and its authorized partners have been designated ‘essential workers’ adopting Coronavirus Health & Safety Standards, including appropriate use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and Social Distancing standards, in accordance with state mandates and CDC recommendations.
