WA’s Water Corporation has welcomed it first four-legged employee.

Ten-month-old Kep is the authority’s new leak detection specialist, and is the first dog to be employed by an Australian water utility.

Kep has been has been trained to recognise the scent of scheme water, and ignore all other scents such as rain water, pipes and fittings.

Her reward for finding the target scent is to chase a tennis ball.

The springer spaniel's - named 'Kep' for the Noongar word for 'water' - employment follows a successful trial of leak detection dogs in regional areas by the Water Corporation in 2017.

The trial was conducted to find an alternative to traditional leak detection technologies in regional areas, which are often not cost effective.

“Kep's first job will be to sniff out any leaks in about 400 kilometres of mains in areas around Dalwallinu, Pithara, Wongan Hills, Goomalling and Dowerin,” said WA Water Minister Dave Kelly.

“A trial last year estimated that the use of leak detection dogs in identifying broken water mains could be two times cheaper than other traditional methods.

“The Water Corporation manages more than 34,000 kilometres of water mains across 2.6 million square kilometres in WA - making it the largest water utility in the world in terms of the geographical area serviced.

“This is why they are always looking for new and innovative ways to detect leaks and save water. It's great to see the Water Corporation thinking outside the box and investing in research and development,” he said.