Qatar Science and Technology Park is the site for an ambitious research project designed to create a water saving device that will reduce water leakage to a minimum.

Water wastage is considered a major problem globally. Over 50% of the water in the world gets wasted in transportation and, while countries like Singapore have reduced their water leakage to 4%, in other countries like Italy, the percentage of water waste is believed to touch 60% to 70%.

Qatar wastes approximately 30% of its water in comparison, and the makers of the device claim it will help the country bring down this percentage significantly.

Headed by Professor Daniele Trinchero, a professor at Politecnio and head of iXem Labs in Italy, has overseen the development of a device that records the sound of water flowing through the pipes.

If there are any leakages or damages, the sound emitted by the water changes and gives off different sound frequencies. By recording the sounds and detecting the location of this difference in frequencies, engineers will be able to locate the leak and solve the problem.

“With this device, Qatar will be able to reduce its water leakage to about 20% to 25%,” Abdullah Kadri, a research scientist working on the project told the newspaper.

He added that the application strategy of water companies, maintenance operations and the commercial spread of the device would make it more effective later.

“I wanted to develop a low cost device that could be used worldwide. We are developing in Qatar a device that has an important functional use, not only Qatar, but also throughout the world, especially in the Gulf region, Algeria, Morocco, Italy and North America,” Professor Trinchero added.

The multicultural team, backed by the Qatari government, consists of 20% Qatari scientists, as well as other principal investigators, PhD students, research engineers and scientists operating out of both Italy and Qatar.