Article submitted by Engineers Australia’s Western Australia Division Partner, Water Corporation.
When Nicola Lazaroo started her career at Water Corporation as an engineer in the Regional Asset Investment Planning Branch, she had no idea one year later she would be combining her asset management knowledge with her love of dogs.
That’s exactly what has happened after Water Corporation made the decision to trial to use of dogs to detect water leaks on buried water mains. Nicola explained how the decision came about.
“Most traditional leak detection technologies are not effective at detecting leaks on long sections of underground water mains across farmlands areas in the Wheatbelt,” Ms Lazaroo said.
“The use of a detection dog was identified as a possible solution to the challenges of leak detection in buried mains, and was explored as a project through our Research and Development Program – which exists to foster creative solutions for today’s problems and tomorrow’s challenges.”
Nicola worked on the project with one of Australia’s leading dog trainers, Steve Austin. Two of Steve’s experienced detection dogs - Tommy and Emma - were trained to detect the scent of scheme water, and ignore all other scents such as rain water, pipes and fittings. Their reward for finding the target scent was to chase a tennis ball.
In June 2017, Nicola was involved in field trials near Northam with Tommy and Emma. The trials were successful and confirmed that a detection dog is capable of locating a leak in an underground main buried up to 60cm deep.
As a result of the success of the trials Water Corporation made the decision to invest in their own leak detection dog. By early 2018, Nicola’s newest colleague will be Kep; an working English Springer Spaniel now being trained to detect leaks by Steve Austin.
A Facebook poll was hosted by Water Corporation so the community could vote for their favourite name for the new puppy, with Kep the clear winner from more than 7,450 votes. Kep is a Noongar word for ‘water’ and has one syllable, making it a perfect name for the dog.
“This is a great example of Water Corporation’s value - Future Thinking,” Ms Lazaroo said.
“To me, Future Thinking is about keeping an open mind when assessing new technology or ways of doing things. At the beginning of the project it seemed both so simple, and impossible, that dogs could smell underground water leaks.
“But I kept an open mind, trusting in the science behind a dog’s olfactory system, and the dogs amazed me with their finds in the field. This project is an example showing that new technology doesn’t always have to be complicated!”
Nicola Lazaroo is Water Corporation’s Associate Planner – Integrated Water Cycle.
Image: Nicola Lazaroo with Water Corporation CEO, Sue Murphy and leak detection dogs, Tommy and Emma.