Water pipe leaks to be sniffed out by spaniels

According to the Romford Recorder, Essex and Suffolk Water has added a springer spaniel to its water leakage detection team.

The three year old dog, Denzel has been trained to ‘sniff out’ and locate leaks on the water company’s pipe network. Denzel is trained to recognise even the tiniest traces of the chlorine used to disinfect water supplies.  

The Romford Recorder reports that the water company has also trained another, younger dog named Snipe. Snipe works beside Denzel on a daily basis.

Essex and Suffolk Water has supplies across Redbridge and Havering in the UK. The company’s network performance specialist, Joe Butterfield said “We are so excited to have Denzel as part of the team here and can’t wait to see what he can do.”

He added, “We’ve seen so many stories where working and searching dogs have produced results for the likes of the police and the military that it would be foolish of us not to give this a try and to see if the technique can be applied to our supply area.”

Dog trainer and Denzel’s handler, Luke Jones told the Romford Recorder, “Using dogs to search for drugs and explosives is well known, but there are a host of other applications that we are only just starting to explore. We’re really excited by the progress Denzel and Snipe have made over the last six months.”