An event hosted by Balfour Beatty to showcase some of the latest innovations being used to investigate, clean, and repair water mains brought over 60 water industry representatives to Yorkshire Water’s test facility at Esholt recently.

The demonstration event was part of Balfour Beatty’s commitment to bringing together innovative products, services and approaches from a range of suppliers as part of a single service offering to the water industry. Delegates were shown a number of techniques from specialist suppliers, as well as by Balfour Beatty’s own teams.

HTC / Whirlwind demonstrated how it uses powerful air vortexes to scour the inside of water mains, vastly cutting the amount of water needed compared to a traditional mains cleaning process. It also showed how it is using the same concept to push relining material along the internal walls of lead pipes, cutting the lead content of water in line with European regulations.

Balfour Beatty’s Network Intelligence unit demonstrated its range of sensory equipment for inspecting and evaluating live water and gas mains. JD7, the specialist technology company which supplies this equipment to Balfour Beatty, showed off its latest innovation – the ‘crawler’ camera unit which can be programmed to remotely navigate around mains.

Delegates also got a first glimpse of the new ‘Network Intelligence Portal’, being developed by spacecraft and military software experts SCISYS to host the wealth of network data being captured by Balfour Beatty on site. Once operational later this year, the portal will become the ‘Streetview’ of water mains, allowing operators and engineers to access any data gathered about a particular section of main at the click of a button.

Also on display was a new mini-vacuum excavator developed by PSS Plant at Balfour Beatty’s request. Known as the iVac, each unit is light enough to be towed by a standard LGV and offers a safer, fuel-efficient excavation alternative to the mini-digger in some circumstances.

Mike Brockhurst, Innovation General Manager at Balfour Beatty – Gas & Water explained the purpose of the event:

“At Balfour Beatty we’re focused on bringing the latest innovative techniques to our clients in the water sector. We’ve talked for a while about the need for a ‘national innovation strategy’ spanning the water industry to coordinate and direct resources. This does not need to be a formal structure as such, and events like this are our way of supporting and advancing the role of innovation in our daily operations."

Peter Coddington, Network Asset Planning Manager at Yorkshire Water commented:

“Having seen some of these innovative products and techniques a few years ago in the early stages of development it was great to see them fully developed and part of new and innovative processes for managing the water network. To get to this stage takes a lot of effort and dedication but without it the water industry will not progress."