De Watergroep is Flanders' largest drinking water company, operating a pipeline network of nearly 35,000 kilometers that supplies drinking water to 3.3 million people across 177 municipalities in the provinces of West and East Flanders, Flemish Brabant, and Limburg. In Belgium, approximately 170 million liters of water are lost daily due to pipeline leakages, resulting in a financial loss of €600,000. By reducing these leakages by up to 10%, an estimated €25 million could be saved. De Watergroep has committed to significantly reducing these leakages to improve both operational efficiency and financial performance.

Siemens together with the contractor Deckx provided an integrated, all-in-one solution that allows faster leak detection and repair. In the coming years, Deckx will install 400 SITRANS flow and pressure sensors in the pipeline network, which are being installed at strategic locations in the pipeline network throughout Flanders.These new sensors are on top of the 1,000 already in the pipeline, bringing the total to 1,400 sensors that continually measure how much water flows through the pipes and at what pressure – thereby giving operators an indication of where leaks may be located. In addition, 300 obsolete sensors will be replaced. Siemens is using SIMATIC RTU3041C data loggers and 4G to connect the sensors to its central management platform SIWA Leak Finder. The platform, which allows for extensive data management, is connected to De Watergroep’s cloud environment, where self-learning data models provide insights to detect leaks faster – and even predict them.