When Ong Guan joined what was then PUB as a technician in 1976, detecting water leaks was a tedious, time-consuming affair. Detecting leaks was often done late into the night as it would be too noisy during the day to be able to detect the source of a leak, he explained. The tools back then were quite rudimentary, with the main device for operators and engineers being a listening stick, a 1.5m long stainless steel rod placed on the ground to pick out water leaks from buried pipes. Ageing water pipes, wear and tear, corrosion, changing soil conditions, corrosion and damage caused by excavation – all these could contribute to leaks occurring, said Waseem Khan, a senior engineer. The agency is expanding its arsenal of equipment to include smart tools and new technologies. These include noise loggers and correlators, first deployed in the early 2000s. The agency’s leak detection teams were also recently equipped with smartphone sensors. Sensors connected to a phone are placed on pipe fittings such as hydrants and valves to pick up sounds from pipes.... Continue Reading