A three-year leak detection program being rolled out throughout the Cairns region’s 1981 kilometres of water pipe could potentially save millions of litres of water.
Council’s previous leak detection program, from 2015 to 2018, identified 464 leaks across both Council infrastructure and private property, resulting in saving of almost 400 million litres of water after repairs were completed.
Cairns Mayor Bob Manning said the program was one of four focused actions identified in Council’s Water Demand Management Strategy 2016-2025 to address water demand and provide water savings of 10% over a 10-year period.
“This next round of leak detection will also take three years to complete, with contractors starting in the south and making their way through to the northern beaches,” Cr Manning said.
While investigation works are underway, residents might see Council’s contractor, Detection Services Pty Ltd, in their suburbs.
The team will be using acoustic monitoring equipment to connect to Council’s water meters on private property boundaries and will be checking 684 kilometres of infrastructure in the south, 634 kilometres of infrastructure in the central areas of Cairns, and 663 kilometres of pipes in the northern and western suburbs.
The contractors will not need to access private properties, but they will require access to water meters to carry out the checking.
If the contractors do detect a leak on private property, the property owner will receive a letter from Council advising them about the steps they should take to find and fix the potential hidden leak to save water and money on their water bills.
