YORKSHIRE Water is trialling new technology which it hopes will help reduce the number of bursts – and speed-up repairs where incidents do occur.

The company has teamed-up with R2M Limited to pilot 34 remote battery-powered ‘actuators’ – which mean water flows can be managed centrally from a control room.

As well as saving time, it’s estimated that costs will be slashed by thousands of pounds.

Sarah Gledhill, innovation project manager with Yorkshire Water, said: “Using the remote battery-powered actuators has already seen us save time and money – and has allowed us to redeploy colleagues who would usually operate the valves manually.

“Our customers may not always be aware of ‘behind the scenes’ updates like this one, but they will see the benefit through a reduced number of bursts and much quicker resolutions if something does go wrong on the network.”

Jim Tattersfield, R2M business development manager for the north, says the initiative is proving hugely beneficial.

He adds: “The actuators offer many benefits to Yorkshire Water, from protecting the health and safety of its staff to hugely-increased network resilience and risk mitigation.

“It is amazing to see how Yorkshire Water is embracing this cutting-edge technology and is willing to invest in its networks and the wellbeing of its workforce.”