Page 31 - Water Loss Control

W ater Loss Contr ol: A Topic of the Twenty-First Century 13

achieving great success in reducing leakage, the U.K. water industry still continues to
study all aspects of water loss, as well as conservation, reuse, and other water efficiency
practices. The relatively sophisticated system that is in place continues to be refined due
largely to the motivation of the government, environmental, and consumer sectors,
which have placed a high value on protecting water resources.
The British water loss control methodologies and technologies have had a dramatic
effect on other nations as these methods have begun to take hold in perhaps several
dozen countries. National or regional governments in South Africa, Malaysia, Austra-
lia, New Zealand, Brazil, and Canada during the late 1990s have adopted major new
programs that emphasize leakage reduction. Strong programs in Germany and Japan
are being refined. Extensive initiatives were completed in past several years in Malaysia
and Brazil that extended for 10 years or more with ongoing investments of over
$100 million in each project and based on the success of these projects new projects have
been started since then. The projects include auditing, pressure management, improved
leakage monitoring, detection and repair, and revenue enhancement.
The past has shown that the leakage management methodologies and technologies
used in the United Kingdom are easily transferred to systems around the globe. Its
techniques can be applied to water systems of varying characteristics and its perfor-
mance indicators allow comparisons to be drawn for systems around the world. This
aspect of the technology is perhaps its most compelling and is likely a primary reason
why it has spread so quickly in its use in the United Kingdom and around the world.
A recently completed American Water Works Association Research Foundation
(AWWARF) study assessed the transferability of international (mainly from the United
Kingdom) applied leakage management technologies to North America. Comprehensive
field testing carried out during this project has proven that these technologies are transfer-
able to North America where some water suppliers previously denied the transferabil-
ity because of the different characteristics and requirements of the distribution system
(mainly fire flow and insurance requirements).
The World Bank and its capacity development arm, the World Bank Institute, has
acknowledged the serious problems arising from excessive water losses and has there-
fore launched an initiative promoting the IWA best practice in NRW reduction and
water loss management through training courses and manuals provided to water utili-
ties in developing countries around the world.

2.7 Program Needs and Requirements for Water Loss Control
According to American Water Works Association (AWWA) estimations, approximately
$325 billion needs to be spent on upgrading distribution systems in the United States in
11
the next 20 years. Using average demand figures, the annual value of lost water and
revenue, and therefore the approximate annual
value of the water loss control market in the United
States and worldwide, can be approximated. Inter-
AWWA projects that $325 estingly, water loss control is estimated at approxi-
billion needs to be spent on mately 29% of the above AWWA figure, or $94
water system upgrades in the billion. These estimations can be found in Table 2.2
United States over the next and are approximations only. However, even if in
20 years. error by 50%, this finding represents a huge, virtu-
ally untouched potential market that exists for water