“It is important to realize that water is life. As cities grow, we are going to need a lot of clean water. People take water for granted – but it just doesn’t work like that.”

These are the words of Owen Sihle Ngcobo, the senior leak detection technician who heads up Bosch Munitech’s leak detection teams in KwaZulu-Natal. While it is obvious that highly visible pipe bursts cost municipalities dearly, even the trickles of water seeping from verges are worth millions. However, unseen leaks are the ones that count the most as they are often precursors to bigger problems.

Both personally and professionally, Ngcobo has embraced the Department of Water Affairs’ policy that ‘Water is Life’. He believes he and his teams at Bosch Munitech will contribute to bringing cities in line with the Presidential Directive to halve water losses by 2014.

Bosch Munitech, a member of the Bosch Holdings group, specialises in the development and implementation of sustainable water and solid waste management solutions and assists with managing, operating and maintaining municipal engineering infrastructure. The company began investing in state-of-the-art acoustic technology and initiated an innovative GIS based management system for leak detection and repair when problems with leaks and aging water infrastructure first became blips on municipal radar screens in 2008.

“We have invested significantly in training, equipment and employing specialists in this field,” says Bosch Munitech’s managing director, Steve McCarley, who views Ngcobo’s career path as one of the department’s biggest successes. “In just two years, he has worked his way through the ranks to the point where he now oversees up to 11 teams, is responsible for operations in the field, equipment, vehicles and complex  logistics. This is a very hands-on aspect of our business. Active leak detection encompasses everything from walking the reticulation lines and observing visible leaks to the deployment of sophisticated acoustic sensing equipment that ‘listens’ for leak noise on submerged pipes.  Once prospective leaks have been identified, leak pin-pointing follows and once the leak is confirmed, a plumbing team is called in to excavate and do repairs.”

Chris Otto, Bosch Munitech’s operations technician, remembers Ngcobo joining the company in March 2009. With basic training as a leak detection technician in another company, he’d spotted opportunities to grow and become a specialist in this area. His first stop was a compulsory competency test set. “Ngcobo passed both the theoretical and practical competency tests with ease, outscoring other candidates who had been working in the same field for much longer. It soon became apparent that he not only had a strong work ethic but plenty of enthusiasm. He’s a man who always leads by example and has a unique ability to recognise and hone potential in his fellow team members.”

Now, in addition to overseeing the Bosch Munitech teams and operations, he is also the middleman between field staff and operations technicians and liaises with clients and consultants. Training is another responsibility and one that he says is a particular challenge. “This job is 90% about the person and about 10 about the equipment. We need people with technical skills who can think both in and out of the box.”

As Ngcobo explains, the process usually begins with level 2 leak detection and a technician ‘walking the line’.  A graph reflects readings from water meters at either end of a segment of a pipe. If a leak is suspected, then a ground microphone is brought in. “Using this, you can reach the exact spot – that is how accurate it is. We then mark and report the leak.”

He reports leaks to eThekwini Water and Sanitation (EWS) daily. But the real challenge is not just finding them, but fixing them. He points out that private companies are often more efficient and effective and believes that companies such as Bosch Munitech will play an increasingly active role in managing leaks and conserving water.