“I just hear the flow of water which is quite calm.
(…) If there was a leak, the noise would be much louder, much more acute”.
Equipped with a helmet, Alexandre Robin, technician, manages to listen to the water in the Parisian pipes.
This is the new technology used by Eau de Paris: 2300 sound sensors installed in the sewers to track leaks which represent the equivalent of approximately 3200 Olympic swimming pools each year.
In a context of severe drought, these sensors record the sound of water and transmit the data to the computer system every night between 2 and 3 am.
This fully automated system facilitates traceability and has made it possible to limit drinking water losses to less than 10%.
“Before the sensors, you had to walk several kilometers [in the sewers, editor’s note] to find the leak.
Whereas today we have reduced the search to an average of approximately 600 m, because the sensor captures up to 300 m on either side,” says Alexandre Robin.
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According to the National Observatory of Public Water and Sanitation Services, at the national level, about a fifth of drinking water is lost in the networks, mainly due to leaks, while the water resource is becoming increasingly valuable in the face of global warming and periods of drought.
Eau de Paris, the public body in charge of water management in the capital, has succeeded in limiting these losses to less than 10% and is aiming for a target of less than 8% thanks in particular to small orange sensors, magnetized on the pipes.
