Arlington shelter dog Splash sniffs out hidden water leaks for the city

One of Arlington Water Utilities' hardest-working team members wears a blue utility vest and does his best work nose-down in the grass. Splash, a 2-year-old husky mix, is the department's first leak detection dog, the Fort Worth Report reports. He was added to the team earlier this year.

Splash was adopted as a puppy from Arlington Animal Services. According to the Fort Worth Report, he began training to track underground water leaks at 4 months old. His skill comes down to smell: treated tap water carries a small amount of chlorine, and Splash is trained to find it. That lets the crew pinpoint leaks in the city's distribution lines that don't show on the surface, which saves water and avoids digging in the wrong spot. "The chlorine in the water is what they home in on," his handler, Richard Everhart, said in earlier coverage. GreenSource DFW reports that Everhart is also the city's water conservation supervisor and that Splash trained at the K9 Water Leak Detection University.

"Splash helps us with those leaks that we may not know are leaking for months or years," Alex Whiteway, Arlington's director of water utilities, told the Fort Worth Report. "He allows us to find these leaks and minimize that water loss."

The idea came with Whiteway from Mansfield. When he worked for Mansfield Water Utilities, that city added its own leak detection dog, River, who was also adopted from the local animal shelter. Earlier reporting said Splash had found 16 leaks in his first months on the job. Supporters also say having him around has lifted morale in the department.

This story is based on original reporting by Mica Magday for the Fort Worth Report's Arlington Report, with additional details from GreenSource DFW and NBC 5 DFW.