Conserving water through a unusual project has led to a gush of savings for the Town of Olds.
Last August, the municipality hired CMI Services of Calgary to install special equipment that would detect any leaks in the system. Since then, about 1,300 of the sensors have been installed, which means about 90 per cent of the town have the leak detection devices.
Municipal infrastructure technician Shaun Fox said on Monday that the town saved about $177,336 from August through December. Figures to date were unavailable.
“The results were really good,” he said.
This was the first time that MLog, a network of sensors, was deployed in Canada.
The project cost $350,000.
Each night, the sensors analyze sound patterns in their environment, detecting new, evolving and pre-existing leaks automatically.
The senor is attached to the service line directly next to the water meter. Not every service line will need one.
In February, the town recorded the loss of 15,271 cubic metres of water, the biggest decrease in leakage since the project began.
“That is pretty much a decrease of about half, usually we were at (30,000 cubic metres) before,” Fox said.
The leakage would have occurred in the water service lines or water main lines. Most of them involved the service lines, which run from the main in the street to the household or business.
From August through December, 11 water leaks were fixed. From January through July, the town fixed 14.
“In a town that size, that’s a lot of leaks,” said Fox.
Realizing where those leaks are helps the town get them fixed, he added.
The town will monitor the system and add more sensors, particularly as new homes are built. Every second house is installed with one, alternating across the street.
ltester@www.reddeeradvocate.com