Southern Water set for LeakBot pilot trial in bid to drive water efficiency

Ondo InsurTech Plc has announced an agreement with Southern Water, which provides services to millions of customers across Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, which will see the former's LeakBot claims prevention technology piloted in coming months with over 1,000 customers.

The aim is to achieve similar water reduction results as a Portsmouth Water trial carried out earlier this year.

READ MORE: Southern Water invests over £8m in Hampshire water

LeakBot is a patented solution that connects to a home's wireless network. If it detects a leak, it notifies the customer via the LeakBot mobile app and provides access to LeakBot engineers.

Ondo CEO Craig Foster said: "We're increasingly excited about the opportunity to work with water companies to reduce water wasted through leaks. When combining the business cases for both water companies and insurers, we have a proposition which could scale quickly and really add benefit to both industries and their customers.

"To get us closer to this large-scale opportunity, we're looking forward to working with Southern Water on our second pilot within the water industry ."

Tim McMahon, managing director of water at Southern Water, added: "There has never been a more pressing time to save every drop of water.

"The South East is officially water stressed. Climate change, causing hotter summers and less rainfall, and population growth means we have more people and less water to go around. So, we must act to reduce water wastage.

"We're working with our customers to reduce water use and are exploring new technology to help us find and fix more leaks quickly in our network.

"We've been impressed by the results of the activity we've seen so far from LeakBot and we're looking forward to seeing the impact this technology could have on reducing leaks and improving engagement in the Southern Water area."

LeakBot achieved a 60% reduction in water leaks within the Portsmouth Water area, which is estimated to equate to 24 litres per day, or 67% of the 36 litres/day Ofwat target.

The results were announced at the Spring Innovation Showcase in June, attended by over 100 professionals in the water industry, including representatives from all UK water companies.

Southern Water provides water to over 2.5 million homes and Odo said that, based on the Portsmouth Water findings, if LeakBot were to be rolled out to Southern Water customers, 83 megalitres of water a day could be saved - the equivalent of 32 Olympic swimming pools.

Ondo InsurTech Plc is a London-listed provider of claims prevention technology for home insurers. Its focus is on the global scale-up of LeakBot.

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