The Met Office and Thames Water have signed a joint agreement to launch a suite of weather intelligence models for the water industry.

With water resources very low across many parts of England the new weather intelligence models are intended to help the water industry better account for weather impacts through the year - from predicting demand due to hot weather in summer to leakage and burst pipes in winter.

Richard Aylard, sustainability director for Thames Water, said:

"We've benefited enormously from these tools over the last few years - they have helped us to meet our leakage targets, gear-up in time to deal with increases in pipe bursts caused by freezing weather, and predict how much water our customers are going to need each day, which means we can make sure we get it to them as efficiently as possible.

"This has helped in our preparations for what could be a very serious summer drought this year, following one of the driest two-year periods in our region since records began. While we cannot control the weather, we can all make a decision to use water wisely - for example, turning off taps while we brush our teeth can save six litres a minute."

A Met Office statement said the new weather intelligence models would combine the world-leading weather forecasting expertise of the Met Office and the water industry expertise of Thames Water to help the water industry better anticipate the effect of the weather across the distribution network.

The Met Office has adapted models developed by Thames Water so they can be applied across the water industry to anticipate the effect of the weather on the distribution network. Its new weather intelligence models are aimed at assisting the utilities with their strategic planning and operational activities. 

By assessing past weather data Thames Water has been able to track leakage, demand, pipe bursts and seasonal night use over the past year. In areas where there were high instances of leakage or pipe burst they targeted areas that experienced supply problems and prioritised maintenance work. They can also optimise resources, and improve planning and risk management.

Julian Menadue, Met Office Business Manager for the Water Industry, said:

"Pilot studies with water companies in February have shown some excellent results in the prediction of weather effects on night use and pipe burst. With water resources very low in some areas at the moment we believe these weather intelligence models will be a great help to the UK's water companies in preparing for potential weather impacts."

Benefits to the water industry include:

• Access to four operational and strategic weather intelligence models, enabling the impact of weather on leakage, burst, demand and seasonal night use to be understood and mitigated.
• Using world leading models to make operational resourcing decisions and cost savings in the business and manage risk across the water distribution network.

Following successful pilots with other water companies the Met Office is now looking for other companies to trial the weather intelligence models.