Eau du Ponant, which serves more than 105,000 subscribers and 310,000 users, or a third of the population of Finistère, is innovating in the maintenance of its network. On August 29, the local public company used a robot and an aquatic drone to inspect the city’s main water supply pipe which had broken on February 23, 2023, causing significant disruption. “At a time when the preservation of water resources is an imperative for the future and where local authorities are subject to strong budgetary constraints, we must implement increasingly sophisticated asset management strategies for our networks,” says Arnaud. Bechennec, deputy director in charge of operations at Eau du Ponant.
Size of a tennis ball. The technology used is a SmartBall, a robot the size of a tennis ball, equipped with ultra-sensitive acoustic sensors. Its advantage is to be able to circulate in the pipes without interrupting service to users. “With a locating capacity of more or less 1 m, it can identify leaks from 0.1 liter per minute at 7 bar, the size of a pinhead,” says Xylem, the The company which developed the solution and was entrusted with the operation for an amount of 100,000 euros. The SmartBall also detects the sound of gas trapped in pressure lines.
The 22 km route that the SmartBall followed is located on the main supply pipe for the Brest metropolitan area, between the Pont ar Bled drinking water plant in Plouédern and the Petit Paris reservoirs. Monitored in real time by technicians on the surface, the robot left the factory at 6 a.m. and scanned for 15 hours the pipeline which runs along the Elorn river crossing the municipalities of Landerneau, La Forest-Landerneau, Guipavas , Le Relecq-Kerhuon and Brest. Once the device arrived at its destination, an aquatic drone came to retrieve it from the tank without the need for a diver to intervene. “The analysis of the inspection will allow us to have reliable and precise data to guide our future decisions,” believes Arnaud Bechennec.
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