Yorkshire Water produces 1.3 billion liters of clean water and treats one billion liters of wastewater a day. It serves five million domestic customers and 136,000 commercial customers through 83,000 kilometers of pipelines, enough to circle the world twice. With such an extensive system, even a single leak can disrupt quality goals. For example, before Yorkshire implemented the AVEVA PI System, a hard-to-find leak generated more than 4,000 customer complaints or queries.

Worse still, each leak above the target threshold netted Yorkshire a $4,000 fine. Meanwhile, the UK Water Services Regulatory Authority set new regulatory targets for 2017, and Yorkshire was at risk of failing to meet performance targets.

“Ultimately, that represents 65% of our target for the year in a single event,” said Andrew Sewell, telemetry manager at Yorkshire Water, “so you see how we need to be more predictive with our analytical information to support the leaks".

As part of its rNet project, Yorkshire had already implemented the AVEVA PI System in 2012 to monitor water pressure and flow rates in its pipes in real time. With 4,500 flow and pressure sensors and flat notifications across the system, the AVEVA PI System had already paid big dividends, but with new regulations, Yorkshire needed something more.