Shazam that water leak!Sensors and faults

Contact: l.alfonso@unesco-ihe.org

Solomon Seyoum Ad GroenewegenLeonardo Alfonso Joanne Craven

Schalk Jan van Andel Sandra de VriesNick van de Giesen

Some facts on household’s leaks (US)

• Average household leak loss: 35,000 L/year– More than 11 million households worth (over the whole USA)

• 10% of homes have leaks that waste more than 124,000 L/year (340L/day)

• Fixing easily corrected household water leaks can save homeowners about 10% on their water bills

Source: EPA website

Objective

• To develop an automatic leak detection method for households, including:– a new, low cost, easy to install acoustic

sensor, capable to continuously record pipe vibrations and send data to a server

– an acoustic detection software based on audio fingerprinting, to analyse the data sent to the server

Lab setup Prototype sensors

Acoustic sensor

Audio fingerprinting softwareSensor

InternetHousehold

Suspicioussignal? NoYes

FingerprintDatabase

Server

PossibleleakageDatabase

Reportpossibleleackage

Fingerprintingsoftware

end

Example: Shazam App

ALD software

• Feed mode– The ALD software creates fingerprints of

each sound recording and build database

• Detection mode– Once the database is complete, ALD is like

Shazam: listen to new recordings, check if they exist in database and retrieve message

Water meter

To demand points

Sensor

Connection

SensorInternet

Household

Suspicioussignal? NoYes

FingerprintDatabase

Server

PossibleleakageDatabase

Reportpossibleleackage

Fingerprintingsoftware

end

Dr. Solomon Seyoumtesting sensor at a household meter

Silence

Shower

Shower+ Kitchen

Kitchen only

ExperimentsHouse 1 House 2

Number of 30 sec files

3800+ files (every 5, 10 or 30 mins)

1700+ files (every 5 or 10 mins)

Appliances ToiletKitchen tap

Bath tapShower

Washing machineDishwasher

+Toilet 2

Garden tapN/A

Issues • Sensor regularly offline• Loose cables, not detecting

• Solved: sensor always online

• But: SD card fills fast

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 01 02 03 04

05 06

Num

bero

fana

lysedau

diorecordings

Day(above)andMonth(below)

DETECTION-Found FEED-Found FEED-NotFoundandInserted

Feed vs detection House 1

Feed vs detection House 2

0

2

4

6

8

10

12Recorded water use

Bathtub Dishwasher ShowerShower ShowerTapKitchen ShowerToiletTapDishwasher TapKitchen TapToiletTapToiletTapKitchen Toilet WashingMachine

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Detection mode - 15 seconds analysis

Bathtub Dishwasher ShowerShowerTapKitchen ShowerToilet TapDishwasherTapKitchen TapToilet TapToiletTapKitchenToilet WashingMachine

Conclusions

• Automatic leak detection method for households has been developed

• Results show sensor can “learn” how a pipe normally sounds and detect anomalies (potential leaks)– Further testing required for sensor location

and false alarms• Not conclusive if sensor can distinguish

water uses

Thank you for your attention

Any questions?

Opportunities

• Market opportunities– Categorisation of domestic water use– Survelliance of water systems

• Aquaseca: 1-year old company doing the same

@WATERNOMICS_EU www.waternomics.eu18

waternomics.eu @waternomics_eu

@WATERNOMICS_EU www.waternomics.eu19

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no 619660.

waternomics.eu @waternomics_eu

This project is member of and