The “wonderful” dogs are quick and effective at locating small, hard-to-detect leaks that cannot be traced using other technology.
Dogs have been trained for a very long time to sniff out drugs, earthquake victims, and even Covid. Right now, they are assisting French authorities in finding water leaks.
Successful Trial
The energy company Veolia intends to expand the idea across the nation after a pilot in Beaufort, Brittany, was so successful.
It has been successfully training ex-army dog trainers for several years, and the tests come after previous, similarly fruitful research in southern France.
Dogs find small ‘silent’ leaks
Director of Les Eaux de Beaufort, Séverine Bourserie stated that workers had already discovered and fixed large leaks using sound technology to detect the gushing water.
“In that way, we had already saved the equivalent of 100 days of water per year, but we knew there were still smaller silent leaks.
“The dogs tracked them down, saving us a further day’s-worth of water per month, and now our network is practically 100% watertight.
“It’s amazing watching the dogs work but it’s also efficient, fast, and economical.”
Sniff for chlorine traces
“In the context of climate change, we have to do all we can to save drinking water,” said Antoine Letresle, development director of Veolia.
The endeavor started more than two years ago when he got veterinary advice, according to him.
“We needed to be sure that sniffing chlorine would not harm the dogs in any way.
“They are trained to find the traces of chlorine which are present in drinking water.
“We do not need them to sniff out underground streams.”
5km of pipes per day
Tests started as it was discovered that the job was safe. The findings were promising, with the dogs finding water leaks quickly with 90% accuracy.
“A handler and a trained dog can inspect 5km of underground pipes a day, so once all the leaks in a network, even the tiny ones, have been found, the intention is to continue using dogs for maintenance.”
Why do pipes leak?
Water pipes in France were constructed incrementally throughout the years. Most of it is leaking and some of it is rather old.
“All sorts of things can cause a leak, including heavy traffic, nearby building works, corrosion, faulty washers, and metal fatigue,” said Mr. Letresle.
Technicians can fix a leak once a dog has discovered it.
Veolia claims that since the effect is cumulative, doing this is worthwhile even for the slightest leak.
More dogs to be trained
“We are only at the beginning of this project.
“We already have four dogs trained: Nina, Kyrie, Nanky, and Kelly. Two of them are German Shepherd dogs, one is a Malinois, and the other is a Border Collie cross.
“The plan is to train more dogs so that we can find and mend water leaks all over the country.
“It means that in the future we will be able to maintain the network more efficiently, so as to completely minimize drinking water lost through leaks.”
