You'd think that of all the leaks in the country, the one that pops up on the street where a professor of water systems lives would get fixed pretty quickly. But as Vanessa Speight will tell you, that's sadly not the case. "It just comes out of the pavement and runs down the road," says Prof Speight, an expert in drinking water quality at the University of Sheffield. It was roughly a year ago that she first reported the problem to her local water firm. Despite efforts to locate the source of the leak, the company has come up dry. "It's probably been six different times they've dug up the road," Prof Speight adds.

Water company United Utilities is using artificial intelligence (AI) technology that is expected to help reduce electricity costs by 10% a year. Around 8MW of pumps, motors and biogas engines across eight of the water firm's sites will be connected to the technology provided by Open Energi over the next 12 months. It will enable a flexible approach to energy management with continuous monitoring of power demand and generation across the sites to reduce costs and increase renewable self-generation. The fully automated technology is expected to shift United Utilities' demand so it consumes more when it is generating high levels of electricity and much less during expensive peak periods as well as responds to fluctuations on the grid. Andy Pennick, Energy Manager at United Utilities said: "We are committed to providing safe, cost efficient and sustainable water and wastewater services to our customers… By bringing all our energy disciplines together, we can focus on future proofing our energy strategy and providing low carbon, secure energy at least cost.