The East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) has recently entered into a five-year agreement to use ASTERRA’s Recover and MasterPlan technologies, which will help the district anticipate leaks.
EBMUD serves 1.4 million customers with over 4,200 miles of pipelines in the eastern portion of the San Francisco Bay area in northern California. Corrosion, ground movement, soil conditions, variations in water pressure, contract work, and other factors can affect their water pipelines and can lead to leaks. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates the average potable water loss through delivery system leaks nationwide is about 16 percent.
With its five-year plan to use ASTERRA’s services, EBMUD will gather intelligence on the locations and types of potential water leaks throughout its service area. Because the Recover service provides information on specific subterranean points of interest to inspect for leaks, the district hopes to be able to repair underground leaks efficiently and expediently.
Under the agreement, ASTERRA will deliver information on the subterranean points of interest using satellite and aircraft-based Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), the use of artificial intelligence, field training and in reports.
“East Bay Municipal Utility District is a case study for how remote water leak detection saves money. . . . This reduces time-to-repair, water loss, power costs, excess CO2 from wasted power generation, and even the risk of fines,” said James Perry, Vice President for Business Development for ASTERRA.