Water utility opens market engagement on leakage management platform
A water utility is exploring options for a data‑driven leakage management system, highlighting rising demand for smart, integrated control of water losses.
A water utility is exploring options for a data‑driven leakage management system, highlighting rising demand for smart, integrated control of water losses.
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Northern Ireland Water has opened early market engagement for the development of a new Leakage Management System Development, signalling a move towards more data-driven control of water losses and day-to-day operations across its network.
Published on 31st July 2026 as a prior information notice, the project sets out three clear aims for the new leakage platform: to enhance data-driven leakage capabilities, improve operational decision-making, and adapt to evolving best practices in leakage management.
The notice is short on technical detail, but the emphasis on data and operational decisions points towards a system that can bring together multiple data sources, support analysis and reporting, and keep pace with changing ways of finding and fixing leaks.
That direction is reinforced by a contract notice issued by Northern Ireland Water on 5th August 2026 for a managed service provider to deliver a secure, configurable SaaS application for managing and reporting on its Leakage Management System, with explicit requirements for integration with existing data sources and compliance with regulatory standards. Taken together, the two notices suggest the utility is moving quickly from market sounding to procurement and implementation.
Elsewhere in the sector, a similar focus on network-wide visibility is evident. On 24th April 2026, Northumbrian Water Limited’s Water Network Management System tender set out a need for a comprehensive clean water network platform, aimed at enhancing monitoring, analysis and management, improving usability, and integrating with existing systems while meeting regulatory requirements.
On 8th May 2026, Thames Water Utilities Limited’s clean water network equipment project focused on the physical layer of this challenge: supplying and installing data logging and leak detection equipment, including pressure, flow and acoustic loggers, backed by maintenance and repair services.
Together, these notices underline how leakage control is increasingly built on two pillars: dense networks of sensors in the field, and central systems that can interpret that data and feed it into operational workflows. Northern Ireland Water’s new leakage system is positioned firmly in the second category, but its success will depend on how well it can exploit the information coming from the first.
The leakage initiative also sits within a broader push by Northern Ireland Water to modernise its digital estate. On 16th April 2026, Northern Ireland Water Ltd published a prior information notice seeking a delivery partner for Digital Services platform support, covering ongoing support, maintenance and enhancement to ensure continuity and evolution in line with business needs.
On 30th July 2026, the company went to the market again for feedback on a modular, cloud-hosted Compliance Management System for lifting equipment and pressure systems. That system is expected to support maintenance and compliance, enable contractor collaboration and improve document handling.
These notices point towards a digital architecture built around cloud-hosted, configurable applications that manage core operational and compliance processes. A modern leakage platform that can plug into a wider Digital Services environment and sit alongside other modular systems would be consistent with this direction of travel.
Other infrastructure bodies in the region are taking a similar route. On 19th June 2026, Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council signalled plans for a contract for maintenance, effluent haulage and compliance management of rain and wastewater drainage systems, while on 16th February 2026 Newry, Mourne and Down District Council sought a water levels monitoring system combining low-maintenance sensors with a real-time web-based dashboard for flood management.
Across the wider public sector, buyers are specifying the same mix of cloud, integration and usability. Leicester City Council’s contract notice of 13th February 2026 for an income management system sought a single provider to supply, install and maintain a cloud-hosted system that integrates with existing host and accounting software. The Scottish Government’s tender of 9th March 2026 for laboratory information management system support focuses on maintaining remote access for users in multiple locations, while Liverpool City Council’s leisure management system contract from 10th April 2026 includes an implementation phase and options for extension.
Even highly specialised environments are simplifying their estates. On 2nd March 2026, Sellafield Limited announced, through an ICT infrastructure and application services prior information notice, that it intended to consolidate previous lots into a single contract for hosted infrastructure and application management, with participation limited to specific suppliers.
The common thread is that core operational systems are moving to managed, often cloud-hosted models, with strong integration requirements and an emphasis on ongoing evolution rather than one-off projects. Northern Ireland Water’s leakage programme, framed in terms of data-driven decision-making and best practice, fits squarely within this pattern.
The interest in smarter leakage management is by no means confined to a single utility. On 11th February 2026, the Municipal Water Company of Málaga launched a framework agreement for leak detection services and related work to manage Non-Revenue Water in its supply networks. On 27th March 2026, APA CANAL S.A. went to market for a water loss reduction system, seeking products to locate and manage water losses in underground and building distribution networks.
For some buyers, leakage control is part of a wider water security agenda. On 16th April 2026, the Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation invited bids for equipment to support Non-Revenue Water reduction measures, including active leakage management and training as part of the Sierra Leone Water Security and WASH Access Improvement Project.
Many utilities are pairing such field work with advanced monitoring and data platforms. In February and March 2026, several Polish water and sewerage companies went out to tender for intelligent network management systems. Miasto i Gmina Białobrzegi’s water supply monitoring system, published on 16th February 2026, covers water meters, software, training and licences to improve leak detection, optimise consumption and speed up failure response. Przedsiębiorstwo Wodociągów i Kanalizacji Sp. z o.o. w Wyszkowie’s intelligent radio management system of 27th March 2026 is aimed at reducing water losses through an ISM radio-based stationary reading system, while Miejski Zakład Wodociągów i Kanalizacji Sp. z o.o.’s intelligent water supply management system from 20th July 2026 combines network monitoring with remote reading of consumption points.
Further tenders reinforce this shift towards integrated, data-rich operations. On 13th May 2026, Gmina Gidle issued a procurement for intelligent management and monitoring of water supply infrastructure, including advanced water meters, software and a GIS, with explicit links to accessibility and sustainability regulations. On 15th June 2026, Przedsiębiorstwo Wodociągów i Kanalizacji Sp. z o.o. w Gdyni tendered for a remote water meter reading system. And on 7th August 2026, EXPLOATARE SISTEM ZONAL PRAHOVA SA launched a contract for an integrated operational monitoring IT system, aiming to boost efficiency and sustainability in water infrastructure management through GIS, SCADA and IoT components.
Hydrological monitoring is also drawing attention. On 30th March 2026, N.V. Waterleiding Maatschappij Limburg began a market consultation on a high water level measurement network, seeking input on sensors, data logging, telemetry and data platforms for groundwater monitoring. In a similar spirit, the Junta de Gobierno del Ayuntamiento de Logroño’s contract of 11th March 2026 for a water cycle management platform and remote reading system couples common services and municipal use cases with intelligent meter reading.
Across these projects, the same ingredients recur: networks of sensors and meters, telemetry and remote reading, GIS and SCADA integration, and cloud or SaaS platforms that turn raw data into operational insight. Northern Ireland Water’s focus on enhancing “data-driven leakage capabilities” and “operational decision-making” places its new Leakage Management System squarely within this broader movement towards smart, integrated water networks.
As utilities digitise core operations, resilience and compliance are becoming as important as analytics. On 21st May 2026, United Lincolnshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust issued a prior information notice for an all-in-one cyber resilience solution to provide secure backup across its integrated care system. On 15th April 2026, Northern Trains Limited’s planned preventative maintenance tender for tanks, bunds, separators and containment systems placed compliance with environmental standards alongside asset longevity.
Water network platforms are being shaped by the same concerns. Northern Ireland Water’s managed service tender for its Leakage Management System stresses security, configurability and regulatory compliance, mirroring Northumbrian Water Limited’s insistence that its own network management system support regulatory requirements, and Gmina Gidle’s linkage of its intelligent infrastructure system to accessibility and sustainability regulations.
The 31st July 2026 prior information notice is an early-stage signal rather than a full specification, and it leaves room for suppliers to shape how “modern” leakage management should look in practice. With a managed service contract already advertised and a wider programme of digital platform and compliance projects under way, the next steps to watch will be how Northern Ireland Water defines the technical architecture of the leakage system, the interfaces it requires with existing data sources and platforms, and the metrics it prioritises for operational decision-making and leakage performance.
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