From detection to rectification.

Why detection dogs?

Dogs have an extraordinary sense of smell. With the right training, they can learn to indicate a specific target odour in a working environment.

A drainage network can cover hundreds of properties, which makes a single bad connection slow and costly to trace by conventional methods.

Our dogs screen accessible drainage assets and narrow a catchment down to the points that need investigating. It is non-intrusive, it needs no excavation, and it works alongside conventional drainage investigation rather than replacing it.

Our six-stage process

This usually means redirecting the incorrectly connected wastewater into the foul drainage system where it belongs, subject to professional assessment and approval.

Our focus is stopping contamination at its source. Where funding allows, we aim to remove cost as a barrier to getting eligible work completed.

• 1. IDENTIFY: Work with the relevant organisation to select a priority drainage catchment or contaminated surface water outfall.
• 2. DETECT: Trained detection dogs screen accessible drainage assets for wastewater contamination.
• 3. LOCATE: Record indications, map suspected contamination pathways and narrow down likely sources.
• 4. CONFIRM: Support appropriate follow-up investigation to determine whether a drainage misconnection exists.
• 5. RECTIFY: Where a misconnection is confirmed, we liaise with the homeowner and an independent, appropriately qualified and insured plumber to arrange corrective work.
• 6. VERIFY: Follow-up screening checks whether the contamination has been resolved.

Set up to work alongside you.

• Experience. Our team brings more than two decades of professional detection dog training and handling, including specialist survey work delivered for the UK water industry.
• Insured. Eco Dog Solutions CIC holds public liability insurance.
• Documented. We work to written risk assessments and method statements, available on request before any survey.
• Mapped. Every indication is recorded with its location, photographs and survey observations, in formats that can be shared with your team.
• Welfare led. Our dogs work managed sessions with rest and reward built in.

Working together, without blame.

Drainage misconnections are rarely the homeowner's doing. A connection may have been installed wrongly years before they moved in, or simply never noticed.

Our approach is to work with homeowners, not blame them.

A detection dog indication does not automatically mean a property has a confirmed misconnection.

Where one is confirmed, we help arrange corrective work through an independent, qualified and insured plumber. Where funding allows, we aim to remove cost as a barrier to getting eligible work completed.

• No blame: Our aim is to solve the problem, not assign blame.
• Proper investigation: An indication must be investigated before a misconnection can be confirmed.
• Practical support: We help homeowners understand the next steps and access suitable professional support.

Important operational distinction

A dog indication identifies suspected contamination.

It does not, on its own, confirm that a particular property has a misconnection.

Appropriate investigation is required before corrective work is undertaken.

Operational boundaries

Eco Dog Solutions CIC provides detection and survey activities.

We do not undertake excavation, plumbing repairs, confined-space entry, in-water operations or intrusive drainage investigations.

All surveys are subject to safe access, appropriate permissions and risk assessments.

Turning detection into useful evidence.

Eco Dog Solutions CIC is a member of the Esri UK Nonprofit Programme and works with ArcGIS Online. Our team has completed formal ArcGIS training, and we work with water company drainage network mapping under agreed access arrangements.

Every indication is recorded with its location, supporting photographs and survey observations, producing clear practical evidence that supports further investigation.

Survey findings can be shared with partner organisations in agreed mapping formats.

Detection dog indications are screening observations that help prioritise further investigation. Survey records are supporting evidence, not definitive proof of a misconnection.

Survey methods, validation protocols, performance results and case studies are areas for evaluation through pilot work where they have not yet been independently established.

• GPS-referenced indication locations
• Photographs and timestamps
• Drainage asset observations
• Maps of suspected contamination pathways
• Survey findings and technical summaries
• Recommendations for further investigation
• Optional follow-up screening

Evidence-led catchment surveys.

You may know an outfall is contaminated without knowing where the pollution enters the network. That is the gap we are built for.

Our dogs screen accessible drainage assets across the catchment and identify the locations that need investigating, so your team's time goes where it counts.

What a pilot establishes:

Where agreed with the partner organisation, a pilot may include:

The exact scope is agreed before work begins.

Technical information for partners:

• Practical survey productivity
• Operational access requirements
• Patterns of dog indications
• Quality and usefulness of mapping outputs
• Follow-up investigation requirements
• Opportunities to support rectification
• Potential for wider deployment
• 1. Reviewing available catchment and drainage information.
• 2. Selecting accessible surface water drainage assets.
• 3. Conducting detection dog screening.
• 4. Recording and mapping indications.
• 5. Producing a summary of findings.
• 6. Recommending appropriate follow-up investigation.
• 7. Supporting further engagement where potential misconnections are identified.
• Surveys are non-intrusive.
• Work is subject to safe access and permissions.
• Dogs indicate target odours.
• Findings are recorded with supporting evidence.
• Results help prioritise further investigation.
• Confirmation and rectification remain separate stages.
• Animal welfare and operational safety are fundamental.

Discuss a Pilot