Former Ludlow rugby player tackling new challenge finding leaks for water company

Gareth Edwards, 42, was born in Ludlow and enjoyed a successful amateur rugby career, playing for Ludlow RFC along with Worcester and also Droitwich RFC.

But now Gareth is working for Severn Trent, across the region to find leaks in the company's network.

Gareth, named after the Welsh rugby legend, has reported more that 330 leaks since last April. The information goes to the company's repair teams who head out and fix them.

The father-of-one uses a traditional ‘listening stick’ to detect the tell-tale sound of escaping water on the underground pipe network, accessed through boundary boxes dotted across pavements and in roads.

Data and electronic acoustic devices, including correlators, are other devices in his armoury.

“You can’t see the underground leaks, but you can definitely hear them,” said Gareth, whose official title is Water Network Technician

“Finding them is a little like being a detective. We use water flow data to identify a suspected leak in a District Metered Area (DMA) and you can narrow down your search with the listening stick, before using the correlators to find the exact spot.

“In the daytime you can pick up noise from road traffic and residential water usage – like flushing toilets and using washing machines. So working at 2am at night is sometimes the best option, particularly in busy areas like the city.”

Gareth is part of a team in north Worcestershire who monitor their part of a sprawling Severn Trent pipe network. Other similar teams are dotted around the region, each playing their crucial part in early leak detection.

Gareth joined Severn Trent some 18 months ago, having previously run his own business reading commercial water meters.

Before that he had been a paint sprayer of fire trucks – a job that took him to Botswana to help renovate that country’s emergency fleet of vehicles.

He said: “Becoming a Water Network Technician was the perfect job for me. I love being outdoors and this job involves a LOT of walking – I can cover up to 20,000 steps a day.

“And there is huge satisfaction with every leak recorded. They may not be the biggest leaks, but each one found and repaired reduces the risk of a big leak – and that’s great for customers.”

Gareth's healthy competitive nature has seen him currently competing for the most successful leak spotter across the whole Severn Trent region – with only one person ahead of him in the company.

“I am competitive, it must come from my ruby playing days,” he laughed.

“The thought of being number one in the company at identifying leaks really spurs me on. And some of my areas are now at record lows in terms of leakage, which I’m very proud of.

“But I am part of a team and there is a lot of teamwork involved in this job, including others identifying suspected leak areas from data and also the repair teams coming in to fix them.

“I also really enjoy passing on my experience to new staff. I’ve had young apprentices spend time with me and they are now doing really well in their own areas.”

"As we walk the streets of Worcester checking for leaks with the listening stick at the boundary boxes, people stop and say hello, others ask what we are looking for," added Gareth.

“You meet some really nice people doing this work.

“One woman recently opened her window to ask what I was doing, so I explained it all to her. She said, ‘That’s really interesting, I had no idea. That will give me something to tell my husband at dinner tonight – we haven’t spoken in days!”

Gareth’s day normally runs from 7am to 3.30pm, with occasional 2am starts for which he teams up with fellow Water Network Technician Adam Mapp.

As well as spotting leaks, Gareth also helps identify high usage hotspots and is occasionally called in to help Severn Trent teams as they carry out large repairs.

But most of his time is spent outdoors, walking the streets or fields in search of more leaks.

He said: “No two days are the same in this job and that’s another reason why I love it.

“One day I might be sweeping a whole area for leaks, another day I might be sent to investigate a leak in a customer garden or to deal with meter faults, or assisting one of our repair gangs.”

Away from work, Gareth enjoys camping trips with his young daughter, attending music festivals and is currently renovating a VW T4 van.