Helium has been used in Sa Pobla to detect leaks in the municipal water network. This has led to the repair of twenty leaks which will mean a saving of 18,000 euros per annum. In terms of actual water, 480 cubic metres per day will now no longer be lost in the third of the network that has so far been covered by the leak-detection project.
Repairs have been carried out in only eight days at a cost of just over 7,600 euros plus 5,000 euros for the contracting of the service to do the work.
The town hall now also intends to issue a tender for a project to monitor the water network. The municipal technician, Joan Calafat, says that this will enable the detection of any "incidents" straightaway. All the water network will be monitored in real time. An additional benefit of this will be knowing exactly how much water is going through pipes in different sectors of the network. Calafat explains that this will bring about environmental improvement and drastic reduction in cost because of an analysis of water use.
The monitoring system is due to be implemented before the summer and will cost 150,000 euros. The Council of Majorca will fully subsidise this. All repair to leaks should be done by the end of June. A second phase of leak detection using helium is planned for the first week of April.