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Video length: 8 min
VIDEO. These dogs detect the invisible and locate water leaks
Using their sense of smell, these dogs locate water leaks, an essential help when almost 20% of drinking water in France disappears into the pipes before reaching the tap.
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Using their sense of smell, these dogs locate water leaks, an essential help when almost 20% of drinking water in France disappears into the pipes before reaching the tap.
According to Nathalie Delon, cynotechnician, they would not be “only two in France” to train dogs to search for drinking water leaks, a technique “really brand new, which will tend to develop logically in the years to come.” François Bourdeau, also a dog technician, explains that “for dogs, it’s in their instinct” to hunt and “There, ultimately, they hunt for leaks. So it’s a game for them.”
David Maisonneuve, engineer at Veolia, underlines the importance of this method: “In France, we are between 81 and 83% yield, 17 and 19% of the water that is put into the networks is lost. We use the resource, which is increasingly rare, so we cannot rely on it. allow it to be lost between our factories and customers.” Dogs detect the smell of chlorine in drinking water to locate leaks.
According to François Bourdeau, “the success rate is very, very high since each marking cannot be wrong. Where there can be small differences is the distance.” David Maisonneuve adds that “dogs complement other methods where they are good, and there are areas that are complicated” such as countryside paths where acoustic equipment is difficult to deploy. “The dog runs away, he’s going to smell that.”
Canine leak detection is now fully operational at Veolia, highlighting the importance of preserving this “essential resource” what is drinking water, particularly in the face of drought problems.