Author: Scott McCarthy

Water is precious – the more we can save, the better for our planet

Every year on April 22nd, the world marks Earth Day to demonstrate support for environmental protection. When we talk about pipe repair, it is mostly in the context of saving money or protecting homes and properties from water damage, but fixing a leaking pipe quickly and easily can also help save the environment.

Planet Earth has a water problem which is mainly attributed to climate change. Hotter, dryer summers have brought on widespread, record-breaking droughts to put extreme stress on supplies.

Eastern Australia experienced its worst ever drought in 2019. Water shortages became so bad in São Paulo in 2015 that it caused rioting and looting. An official state of calamity had to be declared and the army was on standby to restore order.

California meanwhile was in a constant state of drought between 2011 and 2017, the most extreme known in 1200 years. 95 percent of the state’s winter salmon were killed in 2013, 62 million trees were lost in 2016 and residents were frequently placed under mandatory water restrictions of 25 percent.

In the United Kingdom, the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee warned in a September 2020 report that taps could run dry by 2040 unless more was done to protect supplies in the face of not only climate change, but population growth. More people on Earth results in more water being drawn from nature.

To help the environment, the world cannot afford to waste water. Every drop is precious. One of the biggest contributors to water waste – arguably the biggest – is leakage on public supply networks. In 2019-20, 2.95 billion litres of water were lost every day to leaks on the UK water network.

That might seem like an eye-watering amount, but it is actually the lowest ever leakage figure since records began in the mid-1990s, when 4.5 billion litres of water was lost. A combination of new leak detection technology, innovative pipe repair methods and a firm focus on saving water from government and stakeholders has been responsible for the drop.

Still, there is clearly much to do if the UK is to avoid running out of supplies by 2040, as forecast by the Public Accounts Committee. Ofwat used its PR19 five-yearly review into the water industry to demand water companies in England and Wales reduce leaks by 16% by 2025, saving enough water to supply every person in the cities of Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Leeds, Liverpool and Sheffield.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs have gone further, saying that leakage must be cut by half its 2020 levels by 2050. That would mean nearly 1.5 billion litres of water being saved via pipe repair, a huge boost to supplies in the UK, the environment and the planet.

Detecting and fixing leaking pipes is not always easy. Bursts and leaks often occur deep underground and can go unnoticed for months. Even when they are discovered, many are not straightforward to repair. Access may be difficult, the problem could be on a challenging joint, or the only solution considered might be replacement.

For particularly challenging leaks and bursts, water companies may consider it too costly and disruptive to carry out a repair or replacement. Instead, they will simply leave pipes to leak water for many years. One example of this comes from a burst water main which had been leaking for 15 years.

The traditional means of repair used by water companies is a pipe repair clamp. Whilst extremely effective in the right situations, clamps are hefty and bulky. They cannot be applied around elbows or tees, and are not always flexible enough to be fitted in confined spaces.

This was the problem faced by the company responsible for the burst water main. Only one worker could access the hole at a time, there was no room for a clamp, and to replace the main would have meant severe disruption caused by shutting off supplies and digging up the surrounding area. As a result, it was considered unrepairable.

That was until a Sylmasta Live Leak Pipe Repair came along. Using a SylWrap Universal Pipe Repair Kit, the latest contractors hired by the water company to find a solution were able to carry out a permanent live leak repair in under an hour.

A SylWrap repair consists of a simple two-stage process. The leak is first sealed using either Wrap & Seal Pipe Burst Tape (if pressure cannot be isolated) or Superfast Epoxy Putty (if water can be turned off). A SylWrap HD Pipe Repair Bandage is then applied over the initial leak sealant to complete the repair. 

SylWrap HD is a water-activated, resin impregnated fibreglass tape which sets rock hard to provide an impact-resistant, protective shell around damaged pipework, strengthening it and extending its lifespan. Repairs can be made to pipes of any diameter or type, to leaking elbows, tees, rivet joints and other challenging sections of pipework, all without the need for any formal training.

Pipe repair becomes a task any person can carry out using a SylWrap Kit – including in domestic settings. A SylWrap Pipe Repair Kit means that a small leak on a bathroom or kitchen pipe not worth paying a plumber to look at can now be fixed by the property owner in less than 30 minutes for under £20.

The speed and ease with which repairs can be made using SylWrap has seen several of the UK’s water companies approve the SylWrap Contractor Case for use on their networks. The national supplier in Malaysia is also using the Contractor Case to fix leaks on the vast pipe network of Kuala Lumpur. SylWrap is a global solution to a worldwide leak problem.

Each case contains enough products to make up to six repairs and can be easily stored on a van. Whenever a leak is detected, a contractor simply has to reach for their case, where everything they require to make a live leak repair can be found.

Pipe repair is not the only way to save water and protect the environment. We can all do more to reduce the amount of water we use through simple, everyday lifestyle changes such as spending less time in the shower and not leaving the tap running when brushing our teeth. Those savings may seem like a drop in the ocean compared to the near-3 billion litres lost to leaking pipes every year, but every little helps.

A concerted push from the whole world can help preserve water supplies and play a part in saving the environment, and pipe repair should be at the forefront of it.

To speak to a Sylmasta technician about how your company might benefit from using SylWrap Pipe Repair solutions for carrying out pipe repairs, then please contact Sylmasta via email or on +44 (0)1444 831459.

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