Brad Blan with the Mansfield Water Utilities encourages River, a water leak detection dog, to continue searching for a hidden container of water during a demonstration in Mansfield. River can detect water leaks by sniffing out chlorine.
Angela Piazza/The Dallas Morning News
Before Richard Everhart can fully open the back door of his white Ram 1500, a fuzzy, brown snout pokes out and a glistening nose wiggles as it sniffs the air.
Splash, one of Arlington Water Utilities’ newest full-time employees, wags his tail and pants in excitement as he waits for his next assignment.
Everhart grabs the leash and Splash jumps from the vehicle. The two move into a huddle.
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“It’s kind of like riling up a football player or athlete before they go into a game,” Everhart says before bending down to ruffle Splash’s hair. “Are you ready, boy? You ready? Let’s go.”
The pair takes off into a field as the husky-Labrador mix leads, nose to the ground smelling for any trace of chlorine — a telltale sign of an unwanted water leak.
Read more: Could Texas’ water crisis spread to Dallas-Fort Worth? Experts warn of future risks
In less than a minute, Splash finds the small cup of water his handler planted to show off how a K-9 water leak detection team operates. Splash signals that he’s found the scent by laying next to the spot and Everhart rewards him with a treat for a job well done.
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“These dogs tend to be either food motivated or toy motivated,” Alex Whiteway, Arlington Water Utilities director, said. “In this case, Splash is paid in hot dogs and a lot of love.”
Richard Everhart, a K9 handler with the Arlington Water Utilities, rewards Splash with some hot dog for locating a cup of water in an empty field Arlington. Splash is trained to sniff out chlorine, indicating underground pipe leaks.
Angela Piazza/The Dallas Morning News
Water leak detection K-9s are a new tool water utilities across the globe are using to locate leaky pipes quicker, including ones that are sometimes more difficult to detect than obvious ones spouting from the surface.
In a place like Texas, where water scarcity and conservation are top of mind, detecting leaks quickly is important. A minor leak of just 1 gallon per minute can result in over 500,000 gallons of water loss per year.
Satellite technology is first used to detect any potential underground water leak within about a 300-foot radius, then the K-9 and its handler can use that information to narrow in on a more exact location. The dogs are trained to sniff out chlorine, a chemical found in treated water and easy to differentiate from the smell of natural groundwater.
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“Most of our water leaks are reported through phone calls from the public alerting us to water bubbling up out of the ground,” Whiteway said. “The difference [with Splash] is finding the leak that’s going through the dirt, that’s going in our storm sewers, that’s going in the sanitary sewer system that we don’t see. We want to try to be good stewards with water, so that’s where Splash has been instrumental in helping us.”
’Collaboration to save water’
Water leak detection dogs were first used in Australia and the United Kingdom, according to industry reports. Podcasts and articles about the K-9s spread the idea to the United States soon after.
Arkansas became the first place in North America to implement a K-9 water leak detection dog when Central Arkansas Water introduced Vessel in 2019. A couple years later, Aqua Water Supply Corp. in Bastrop adopted and trained Charlie, making him the first water leak detection dog in Texas.
Though the practice isn’t yet common, there’s a growing number of water leak detection dogs across the country, and North Texas is home to two of them: Arlington’s Splash and Mansfield Water Utilities’ River.
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Splash takes a drink before searching a field for water in Arlington.
Angela Piazza/The Dallas Morning News
“Dogs are not replacing anything,” Lolita Shaffer, CEO of K9 Water Leak Detection and K9 Water Leak Detection University, said. “This is a collaboration to save water.”
Shaffer is based in Oklahoma and has worked with Carrie Kessler, who trained Splash and River. She says water detection dogs are gaining traction because of the growing number of trainers and teams acting as ambassadors, speaking to its effectiveness and the increasing amount of data that proves it works.
Data some K-9 teams are tracking include the depth of each discovered leak, the pipe type and size, and how much flow is coming out as a way to describe it as a big or small leak.
Shaffer said the dogs are efficient because they can smell a single drop of chlorine in 20 Olympic-sized pools.
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Brad Blan, of the Mansfield Water Utilities, puts a couple splashes of water into a container he uses to train River.
Angela Piazza/The Dallas Morning News
“The K-9s teams are saving water so much faster because they’re able to cover so much more area quickly and narrow it down,” Shaffer said. “It’s important because our [water] infrastructure is failing, and it’s never not going to be failing.”
The cost of preventing a water crisis in Texas over the next half-century soared to $174 billion, according to a draft of the 2027 State Water Plan. New infrastructure to create and transport supplies is a major part of the plan, but so is the cost of fixing the state’s aging infrastructure and dedicating resources to conservation and reuse.
Adam Stark, Mansfield’s interim executive director of public works, said their Labrador-mix River has been successful in finding leaks, but his greatest contribution is more likely the public outreach the program has provided.
Read more: How North Texas leaders are thinking about region’s water future as challenges mount
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When they aren’t actively searching or responding to leaks, River and his handler Brad Blan are engaging the community about the importance of water conservation, Stark said.
River and Splash, who were adopted within their localities, have become celebrities of sorts as they tour educational events at schools, hospitals and other locations like country clubs.
Brad Blan directs River to search for a hidden container of water.
Angela Piazza/The Dallas Morning News
Both North Texas departments hope their programs can be a model for others.
“We’ve had a few people reach out from other utilities, curious about effort, cost, all those types of things,” Stark said. “I think it’s something that can be replicated as long as everybody goes into it with an open mind and a reasonable expectation of what the program is about.”
River has already helped out one neighboring municipality. When there was a water leak in Crowley, just to the west of Mansfield, officials reached out to have him visit and show them how the process works.
Those wanting to implement water leak detection K-9s in their area can likely adopt the dog through a local animal shelter, like River and Splash, but Stark and Whiteway noted the employee chosen to be the handler is a critical decision since they have to undergo training, too. The training isn’t a one-and-done course, but instead involves continued education.
Most importantly, the dog lives with its handler — a big commitment for everyone involved.
“This not only gives a dog a job and home, but it also gives utilities another resource to use to help with water conservation,” Whiteway said. “This is a great tool in helping us be good stewards of the water.”
River is rewarded with a tennis ball — and a break — after searching for a container of water during his demonstration.
Angela Piazza/The Dallas Morning News
This reporting is part of the Future of North Texas, a community-funded journalism initiative supported by the Commit Partnership, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, the Dallas Mavericks, the Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Lisa and Charles Siegel, the McCune-Losinger Family Fund, The Meadows Foundation, the Perot Foundation, the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and the University of Texas at Dallas. The News retains full editorial control of this coverage.