Rural North Texas Community Cuts Non-Revenue Water By 42% With Pipeline Leak Detection Technology

Water utility leaders in Iowa Park, Texas, faced a common challenge: unexplained water loss in their decades-old 13-mile transmission line that delivers drinking water to 6,000 residents. The aging infrastructure, installed in the 1970s, traverses challenging, rugged terrain, making traditional inspection methods costly and time-consuming.

To address the suspected leaks and protect their vital water supply, the city deployed a free-swimming, inline leak detection tool that uses advanced acoustics to pinpoint anomalies. The tool completed a 10-mile inspection in just over eight hours, traveling with the flow of water without disrupting service. This process identified three leaks—one of which was a massive hole in the pipe barrel—that would have been nearly impossible to find otherwise. The precise data enabled targeted, rapid repairs, dropping the city’s non-revenue water from 14% to 8%. Learn how this forward-thinking approach delivered tangible savings of up to 500,000 gallons per day and provided crucial planning data for long-term system resilience.