The small city of Macedo de Cavaleiros , in the north of Portugal, wastes a lot of water due to leaks in its supply network. This is a common problem in Portugal, but TeroMovigo performed a pilot-study using drones with thermal sensors and, with the collaboration of Geodetect Lda., a Ground Penetrating Radar.
Water leaks will saturate the ground around the leak site, altering the ground's thermal properties. As the volume of the leak increases, it can even saturate the ground near the surface. The change in the soil's thermal properties introduces variations in reflectance. TeroMovigo used termal sensores installed on a drone (DJI Mavic) to measure small variations in temperature of the pavement in the small city of Macedo de Cavaleiros in the north of Portugal. This helped to detect two leaks which were located with the GPR and consequently dug up and repaired.
