Accurate & Non-Destructive Pipe Condition Assessment
Aqua Analytics delivers high-quality pipeline condition assessments using advanced, non-invasive technologies that provide accurate data on the true condition of buried water and wastewater mains. Our approach equips asset owners with the confidence to prioritise repairs, schedule renewals, and defer capital works where appropriate, ensuring smarter and more cost-effective asset management decisions.
By combining free-swimming leak and gas pocket detection, high-resolution wall thickness profiling, transient pressure monitoring, and targeted on-wall inspections, we provide defensible, engineering-grade insights without the need for destructive excavation. This helps extend the remaining useful life of critical pipelines.
Contact our team to arrange a pipeline condition assessment across Australia or New Zealand.
Call 1800 264 262 (Australia) or 0800 345 697 (New Zealand).
Australia’s Leaders in Water Pipe Condition Assessment
Some of the reasons Aqua Analytics is the trusted pipeline condition assessment services provider include:
- Aqua Analytics has years of experience in water distribution and pipeline inspection and assessment, ensuring that we provide expert and reliable services personalised to your needs.
- Our team of highly trained and skilled technicians uses the latest technology and methodologies to deliver accurate and detailed assessments of your pipeline infrastructure.
- We employ advanced, non-invasive, and non-destructive technologies to assess pipeline conditions, ensuring precise data collection without the need for disruptive excavations.
- We have a proven history of delivering successful pipeline condition assessment projects, providing clients with actionable insights that lead to better asset management and cost savings.
- We offer customised solutions that meet the specific needs of each utility, providing detailed reports and recommendations for repair, replacement, and maintenance strategies that enhance the reliability and longevity of your water distribution network.
Understanding Pipeline Condition Assessment
ePulse®, developed by Echologics® (a Mueller Water Products brand), is a leading tool for non-invasive Pipeline Condition Assessment in Australia and New Zealand, and is delivered locally by Aqua Analytics.
Specialising in the measurement of remaining pipe wall thickness, ePulse® uses acoustic wave propagation to assess the structural condition of buried water mains. Acoustic sensors are attached to existing contact points, such as fire hydrants, valves or the pipe wall itself, and a low-frequency pressure wave is induced in the main. The speed at which that wave travels between sensors is governed by the stiffness of the pipe wall, allowing our engineers and data analysts to calculate the average remaining structural wall thickness of each pipe segment and compare it to the original nominal thickness. Nothing enters the water column, so there is no risk to water quality, no pipeline shutdown, no interruption to supply, and no risk of introducing potentially damaging transients.
Suitable for metallic and asbestos cement mains across a wide range of diameters, ePulse® is applied to both transmission and distribution pipelines within public, private and industrial water networks.
A unique advantage of ePulse® is that the same acoustic data is simultaneously analysed for leaks, so every survey delivers pipe condition and leak detection results in a single mobilisation.
The gathered data serves as an invaluable resource for asset owners, operators and managers in the domain of Pipeline Asset Management. Each segment is rated good, moderate or poor based on measured wall loss, providing a precise, evidence-based understanding of the Remaining Useful Life of critical pipeline assets. It enables informed decision-making in operations management, risk assessment and budget planning for replacement and rehabilitation initiatives—so you replace the right pipes at the right time, and leave serviceable mains in the ground.
- Cast Iron (CI)
- Cast Iron Cement Lined (CICL)
- Ductile Iron Cement Lined (DICL)
- Asbestos Cement (AC)
- Mild Steel Cement Lined (MSCL)
- Concrete
Aqua Analytics provides both one-off pipeline condition assessments for critical water mains and structured, long-term inspection programs to support strategic asset planning.
Our engineers and technicians identify defects, gas pockets, wall loss, and operational risks, delivering clear, evidence-based recommendations for repair, rehabilitation, or renewal.
Whether you require a targeted investigation or an ongoing assessment program, our methodology helps utilities and councils reduce failure risk, optimise capital investment, and extend the life of ageing water and wastewater pipelines.
Our pipeline inspection and assessment services are trusted by utilities and consultants across the region.
Case Study: Safeguarding a Critical Trunk Main at a Major Transport Hub
How Aqua Analytics assessed pipeline condition and informed long-term planning
A major Queensland transport hub identified a single trunk water main as a critical point of failure, with the potential to disrupt operations supporting 28 million tonnes of cargo annually. The client required clear, defensible insight into the condition and remaining life of the asset to manage risk and inform long-term planning.
We delivered a non-invasive pipeline condition assessment project, completing the work over three nights without disrupting operations.
Detailed analysis confirmed the main’s condition and projected a remaining useful life of approximately 40 years, giving the client confidence to defer replacement, prioritise maintenance, and protect a vital piece of infrastructure.
Understanding the Benefits of Pipeline Condition Assessment
Accurate Data for Smarter Asset Management
Pipe condition assessment provides precise and detailed information about the state of your buried pipes. This accurate data allows you to make informed decisions about maintenance, repairs, and replacements, ensuring that your resources are used effectively.
Identification of Pipes in Good Condition vs. Those Needing Repair or Replacement
Our services help you identify which parts of your infrastructure are still in good condition and which require attention by assessing the condition of each pipeline. This targeted approach helps prioritise repairs and replacements, preventing unnecessary work and focusing efforts where they are most needed.
Cost Savings Through Targeted Repairs and Maintenance
Using accurate data to guide your maintenance and repair efforts can lead to significant cost savings. By focusing on the areas that need attention and avoiding unnecessary work, you can reduce operational expenses and extend the lifespan of your infrastructure.
Extension of Asset Lifespan Through Pressure Management
Our pipeline condition assessment can also help determine whether pressure management strategies can be used to extend the life of your assets. By optimising pressure within the system, you can reduce stress on the pipes, minimise the risk of leaks and bursts, and enhance the overall durability of your water distribution network.
Why are the legacy approaches of condition assessment outdated?
Legacy condition assessment relies on proxies — pipe age, soil corrosivity, burst history, or a few exhumed coupons — rather than measuring the actual condition of the pipe wall. As a result, utilities often replace water mains that still have decades of service life, while mains in genuinely poor condition remain in the ground.
Desktop risk models and spot checks at convenient locations provide no “ground truth” along the length of the asset. Reactive approaches, where mains are renewed only after they fail, carry the cost and disruption of bursts without reducing future risk. Despite increased spending on monitoring, the information gap around buried pipe condition persists.
Non-invasive acoustic condition assessment closes that gap. Technologies such as ePulse® measure the remaining structural wall thickness of in-service mains without excavation, shutdown or entry into the water column, giving asset managers measured data on which to base renewal, rehabilitation and risk decisions.
Aqua Analytics applies these technologies, together with experienced engineering review, so utilities across Australia and New Zealand can move from age-based replacement to evidence-based pipeline asset management.
What technology is used for pipeline condition assessment?
Aqua Analytics uses ePulse®, a non-invasive acoustic condition assessment technology developed by Echologics® (a Mueller Water Products brand), to assess the structural condition of in-service water mains.
ePulse® works on the principle of acoustic wave propagation. The speed at which a low-frequency sound wave travels along a pipe is governed by the stiffness of the pipe wall; as a wall corrodes or degrades, the wave slows. By inducing a sound wave in the main and measuring its travel time between two acoustic sensors, ePulse® calculates the average remaining structural wall thickness of the pipe segment between the sensors and compares it to the original nominal thickness.
The sensors are attached above ground to existing contact points — fire hydrants, valves or the exposed pipe wall — so no excavation, cutting or shutdown is required and there is no risk to water quality or to the asset. The main stays in normal service throughout the survey.
Because the same acoustic data is also analysed for leak noise, every ePulse® condition assessment survey delivers leak detection results at the same time, in a single mobilisation. ePulse® is used by water utilities worldwide and has been applied to tens of thousands of kilometres of water mains.
What is the process for undertaking a condition assessment?
An ePulse® condition assessment follows four steps: desktop planning, field acoustic testing, engineering analysis, and reporting with a condition rating for each pipe segment.
- Desktop planning. We review the utility’s GIS and asset data to confirm pipe material, diameter, age and nominal wall thickness, and to identify suitable access points along the main. Test segments are typically 100–200 metres between contact points.
- Field acoustic testing. Two acoustic sensors are attached to hydrants, valves or the pipe wall at either end of each segment. A low-frequency pressure wave is induced in the main and the sensors record its arrival time. The main remains in service and there is no interruption to customers.
- Engineering analysis. Echologics® engineers use the measured wave speed, sensor spacing and pipe material properties to calculate the average remaining structural wall thickness of each segment and the percentage of wall loss against nominal. The same data is analysed for leak noise, with any leaks located and reported.
- Reporting. Each segment is rated good (less than 10% wall loss), moderate (10–30%) or poor (greater than 30%), and presented in a georeferenced condition report with an estimate of remaining useful life, supporting renewal prioritisation and capital planning.
Where the project warrants it, Aqua Analytics complements ePulse® with transient pressure monitoring using the Syrinix RADAR solution, on-pipe wall thickness measurement using Acquaint PipeScanner, and free-swimming inline leak and gas pocket detection for larger transmission mains. This combined approach — measured field data, high-quality diagnostics and experienced engineering review — gives asset owners across Australia and New Zealand defensible insights on asset condition and remaining useful life, so they can prioritise renewals, reduce failure risk and extend the life of critical water mains.
What materials and diameters can the technology be applied to?
ePulse® is used to assess metallic and asbestos cement water mains, including cast iron, ductile iron, steel and AC, across both distribution and transmission diameters, typically from 100 mm to over 1,000 mm.
Asbestos cement is a particular focus for utilities in Australia and New Zealand, where ageing AC mains make up a large share of the network and billions of dollars of renewals are required over the coming decades.
ePulse® allows a utility to assess large volumes of AC mains quickly and non-invasively, identifying which sections genuinely need replacement and which can safely remain in service, so renewal budgets go where they deliver the most risk reduction.
Aqua Analytics can also assess mixed-material mains, such as an AC or cast iron main with short sections repaired in ductile iron or PVC, provided the material and nominal wall thickness of each section are known.
For non-metallic plastic mains (PVC, PE, GRP) and for sewer rising mains, Aqua Analytics offers alternative condition assessment methods including inline inspection and on-pipe wall thickness measurement — contact us to discuss the best approach for your asset.
