Leak Detection and Wireless Telemetry for Water Distribution and Sewerage Systems

According to the study ¿EPA 2000 Community Water System Survey Data on Pipe Assets¿, the infrastructure for water distribution and sewerage systems is aging and requires replacement. In addition, in the EPA¿s September 2002 report ¿Clean Water and Drinking Water Infrastructure Gap Analysis¿, the funding gap for replacing aging pipes was estimated $27 billion a year for the next 20 years. A strategy to bridge this funding gap is to implement a preventative monitoring and maintenance program for the water infrastructure. The study ¿1994 statistics of U.S. distribution systems by Kirmeyer¿ indicated that the most critical criterion for pipe replacement was the ¿number of leaks or breaks¿. Consequently, prompt and accurate water leak detection will provide a solution to the aforementioned problems. The object of this proposed innovation is to use audible dataloggers and wireless telemetry to record and transmit sound data to a surface and underground wireless network and then relay the consolidated information to the Internet. Once the acoustic data is available over the Internet, leaks can be located by using leak-pinpointing software, and preventative maintenance can follow. This proposed innovation is made practical due to the recent advent of low-power and low-cost ZIGBEE wireless protocol, and environmental-friendly extended-life batteries (10+ years). Multiple units can be permanently installed within the water infrastructure for on-going leak monitoring. The main effort and innovation, however, is in developing the underground wireless communication network. Standard transmission frequencies in surface networks do not function as well in the subterranean environmental where there is more interference form thick layers of soil. It is necessary to conduct research using low frequencies in order to propagate through different types and thickness of soil, and determine the RF ranges at which a leak detector network would function. For Phase I, the network is established between two sensors. If Phase II is awarded, the innovation of Phase II will among multiple sensors. The success of the Phase I/II proposals will have many economical benefits, such as elimination of unnecessary human labor and high-cost transportation in water leak surveys (up to $1.3 billion), as well as have many environmental benefits, such as reduction in the wasteful consumption of water (up to 17%) and electricity (up to 0.66 trillion kWh a year). The potential commercial applications are water leak detection, gas leak detection, structure failure detection, and geological surveys. The estimated market size is $1 billion.