Engineers develop platelet patch up for England’s water pipes

England may soon bid farewell to inconvenient road construction and interrupted water supplies. Engineers at Yorkshire Water are ready to test a new technology that aims to fix leaks in water pipes from the inside out.

Inspired by the human body, the pipe doctors plan to avoid costly and cumbersome repair projects through the use of what they call Platelet Technology. Just as platelets travel down the veins of a human body and stop up gaps when they occur, so do these little British balls of rubber clog wounds in England’s water system.

“It is a fantastic technology. You put them in through the fire hydrant, let the water take them to the leak and then they plug it from the inside. That means you don’t have to turn water supplies off. It reduces the amount of roadworks and traffic jams around them,” Yorkshire water told the U.K.’s Daily Mail.

The company estimates that they can repair 90 percent of leaks with this technology, cutting down significantly on the usual 50,000 dig ups required annually. The technique should also save water wasted during extensive above-ground projects.

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Source: Daily Mail