Environment / Water and wastewater
Thames Water: Water main leak detection that combines satellite AI with acoustic sensors
- Company
- Thames Water
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Adoption stage
- In operation
- Source published
- In use from
- Date basis
- The date the source was published. It can differ from the date adoption started.
- How the source was checked
- Read the full source text
The work problem
Thames Water said July 2026 was the driest July in England since Met Office records began 190 years ago. Long dry spells make the ground shrink and move, which puts extra pressure on underground pipes and raises the risk of leaks and bursts. Many leaks are underground, never seen by customers and hard to find before the impact grows. Its partner Origin Tech said 92 percent of the leaks found through its satellite analysis are not visible.
Technology and data
Thames Water uses Origin Orbit, an AI driven leak detection service from Origin Tech that reads satellite data. The satellites pick up moisture changes, temperature differences and soil disturbances that point to underground leaks. According to the May release, a 13 month contract that launched in March put the technology into business as usual leakage work with a team of 20 specialists. The company also widened its acoustic sensor network, which listens for the sound of pressurised water escaping a pipe so engineers can pinpoint hidden leaks. The sensor count rose from 21,000 in 2025 to more than 75,000.
Results
The company said the satellite AI helped find more than 800 leaks during the initial 19 week trial, saving an estimated 8.7 million litres of water a day. It said the larger acoustic sensor network has nearly doubled leak detection accuracy. Across the whole company, it found 88 percent more leaks in July 2026 than in July 2025, now fixes more than 1,000 leaks a week, and has cut leakage by more than 15 percent since 2019/20. The May release expected the contract to save more than 100 million litres a day and each crew to find 25 leaks a week.
Limits and open questions
All figures come from the company releases, and no measurement method is given. The share of the 88 percent rise in leaks found and the 15 percent cut in leakage that is due to the satellite AI and acoustic sensors is not given.
Sources
- Thames Water uses satellites, AI and thousands of acoustic sensors to hunt down leaks as South-East drought pressure intensifiesthameswater.co.uk, Accessed
- Thames Water signs landmark leak detection contract with Origin Tech to save over 100 million litres of water per daythameswater.co.uk, Accessed
Compiled from public sources. These are not results from ATF Works customers.