Affinity Water has awarded a major contract to Lightsonic to deploy its Distributed Fibre Optic Sensing (DFOS) leak detection technology, which is being trialled on Openreach’s existing fibre network. This marks a significant investment in their strategy to reduce leakage across its water supply system.
With the UK water sector under mounting pressure to tackle one of its biggest challenges — leakage — Affinity Water is stepping up efforts to drive meaningful change. Every day, the UK loses approximately 3 billion litres of treated water—equivalent to over 1,200 Olympic swimming pools. This represents nearly a quarter of the country’s water supply, highlighting the urgent need for action. The scale of the issue is stark, and the industry has committed to halving leakage levels by 2050.
Lightsonic’ is piloting the use of DFOS to convert Openreach’s fibre optic cables into thousands of virtual sensors. These detect the unique acoustic signatures of leaking water, allowing for pinpoint accuracy.
Machine learning algorithms filter out background noise—like road traffic or vibrations—ensuring reliable, real-time alerts. By using existing infrastructure, when compared to existing methods, this approach is significantly faster at detecting leaks, more scalable, and more cost-effective.
This continuous monitoring capability enables Affinity Water to identify and respond before issues arise—minimising disruption, reducing the need for emergency street works, and allowing for planned maintenance during off-peak hours.
This partnership represents a bold step towards a smarter, more sustainable water network—one that harnesses data, connectivity, and collaboration to protect vital resources and improve service resilience.
James Curtis, Head of Leakage at Affinity Water, commented:
"This is a transformative moment for our leakage strategy. By harnessing Lightsonic’s advanced fibre optic sensing technology and Openreach’s extensive network, we’re unlocking a new era of proactive leak detection. This will help us meet our ambitious leakage reduction targets and deliver a more resilient service to our customers."
Trevor Linney, Director of Network Technology at Openreach, said:
“Openreach is constantly looking at leveraging new technology and innovation to improve the resilience and efficiency of our network. “Openreach’s fibre network is already part of the critical national infrastructure of the UK – and this new technology could enable us to help protect the other networks critical to people’s lives across the country.”
“In supporting Affinity Water and Lightsonic in this pilot project we aim to show how our infrastructure can deliver value far beyond broadband—helping to solve real-world challenges like water conservation."
Tommy Langnes, CEO of Lightsonic, added:
"This contract is a major milestone for Lightsonic and a testament to the power of collaboration. We’re proud to scale our technology with Affinity Water and Openreach to help protect one of our most precious resources. This is just the beginning—fibre sensing has the potential to revolutionise utility monitoring across the UK and beyond."