Page 291 - Water Loss Control

260 Cha pte r S i x tee n

Losses flex with pressure Pressure Economic level of real losses
management

Unavoidable
annual real
losses
Speed and quality Active
of repairs leakage control
Potentially
recoverable real
losses

Pipeline and
asset management
Current annual real losses selection,
installation,
maintenance,
renewal,
replacement

FIGURE 16.1 Four potential intervention tools of an active real loss management program.
(Source: IWA Water Loss Task Force and AWWA Water Loss Control Committee.)

• Reducing leakage may help to avoid or defer capital expenditure needed to
develop new resources for water supply to meet the needs of a growing
service area.
• Helps prevent damage to the infrastructure if leaks are found and repaired
before they can cause a catastrophic failure.
• Reduces the liability to the utility.

• Increases supply standards and reliability.

• Has positive impact on the public perception of the water utility.
2. Reactive Leak Detection: also known as passive leak detection, this mode is
practiced by most North American water utilities—whether economically
justified or not. Reactive leak detection means responding to leaks only when
they are brought to the attention of the water utility, typically when they become
visible on the surface or they are causing a drop in pressure to a customer.
Under this operational approach the utility does not seek to actively identify
leaks that are not visible or causing supply problems. Under normal
circumstances, the overall volume of leakage will continue to rise when only
reactive leak detection is used to control the volume of real losses.
In order to schedule field activities properly, it is first necessary to prioritize inter-
vention against real losses. Most utilities have limited budgets, so the methods of inter-
vention with the shortest paybacks are usually the ones that are put into place at the
start of the program. In this way the programs start to self-fund out of savings after a
certain period of time.