DIGGING up Yorkshire’s roads to fix leaking water pipes could soon become a thing of the past.
Staff at Yorkshire Water demonstrated the revolutionary new technology yesterday – a world first in Huddersfield.
The technology means leaks on live water pipes can be repaired from the inside without having to dig up the road.
The demonstration on Green Side Road, Thurstonland, showed platelets being inserted into a water pipe through points on the network to seal the leak from inside.
It means the work can be done without the need to interrupt customers’ supplies or dig up the road.
Simon Barnes, head of innovation delivery at Yorkshire Water, said: “We had already set ourselves the target of achieving zero interruptions and zero excavations in the highway by 2010 which meant we were on the lookout for technology which would help us to achieve this.
“We are trialling the technology now to understand its potential to repair different types of bursts.”
Until now, leaking pipes and bursts have had to be repaired by digging road surfaces with traffic then held up by temporary traffic lights.
The new pioneering concept, originally conceived by Brinker Technology for use in the oil and gas industry, has been developed in partnership with Yorkshire Water.
It is designed to work in much the same way as platelets in the human bloodstream, repairing from the inside.
Mr Barnes added: “The technology has the potential to revolutionise the way leaks are repaired and will dramatically reduce the need to dig up roads and interrupt customers’ water supply in future years.
“The benefits of the technology are huge, from the day-to-day repair of bursts to the reduction of leakage levels and holes in the road.”
Platelets are free-floating particles which are injected into a system which has a known or suspected defect. The platelets are transported downstream with the flow in the system and when they reach a leak the platelets form a seal.
