Anglian Water flies drones to find costly underground pipeline leaks

In response to the summer’s record heat waves amid an enduring period of drought, UK utility Anglian Water moved to ramp up its use of drones to spot pipeline leaks faster – an effort that has already spared the company and its customers countless gallons of expensive wasted seepage.

Anglian Water is one of the largest water utilities in the UK, and has used drones since 2017 to keep watch over the 24,000 miles of largely underground mains that serve communities across the southeastern part of England. But in response to evidence that global warming will make hotter temperatures and lower levels of rainfall a recurring problem, Anglian is using a diversified approach to spotting areas of leakage faster, allowing for quicker action on repairs that tend to be less expensive if caught early.

That updated effort focused on a reservoir near Colchester, which like the rest of eastern England is suffering from considerably reduced rainfall this…