UNSW researchers have been successful in securing $237K from Sydney Water to detect leaks in the city’s water pipes.

UNSW researchers, and founders of Zedelef – François Ladouceur and Leonardo Silvestri have been successful in securing $237K from Sydney Water to test whether their optical acoustic telemetry technology can accurately pinpoint leaks in the city’s water pipes.

An estimated 10% of water is lost daily from Sydney Water mains and this research effort is part of a wider $3.2M project led by the NSW Smart Sensing Network (NSNN) to find better ways to detect and fix leaking pipes, funded by Sydney Water, NSW Government and various utilities. The project involves industrial partners Zedelef Pty Ltd and Thales Underwater Systems

The optoelectronics transducers used as the core tech for the project is partially made at ANFF-NSW. Zedelef Pty Ltd is a startup company created to commercialise technologies developed by its three founders from the University of New South Wales – François Ladouceur, Leonardo Silvestri, and Zourab Brodzeli.

Zedelef website: https://zedelef.com.au/wp/

GOVERMENT NEWS media release: https://www.governmentnews.com.au/sydney-waters-anti-leak-pipe-dream/

UNSW media release link: https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/science-tech/unsw-researchers-tasked-locate-leaks-sydney-water-network-0