Page 33 - Water Loss Control

W ater Loss Contr ol: A Topic of the Twenty-First Century 15

Water System Optimization
Sustainable solutions for improving water system performance
Optimized revenue

Revenue
$
Profit No intervention
Intervention cost
Overhead
Optimized overhead

Time

FIGURE 2.1 Sustainable solutions for improving water system performance.

Water loss optimization programs are sometimes undertaken on a performance
basis. This means that the utility enters a special partnership agreement with a contrac-
tor or consultant. The contractor or consultant is paid a portion of the money recovered
from the project over a certain time frame. This is an excellent way of undertaking a
project, especially for utilities that do not have a substantial initial budget to allocate for
loss control, but do have an existing operating budget, which includes a fixed cost to
operate the system with losses. The performance approach allows the utility to continue
budgeting their normal allocation, however the actual cost of operation will drop and
the revenue stream increase as the work continues. At a certain point the contractor
drops out of the equation and the annual operating budget either reduces with an
increased income, therefore profitability; or the additional funds can be redirected into
other maintenance or training functions as required.

2.7.1 The General Structure of a Water Loss Control Program
In general water loss control programs are implemented in four phases:
• Phase one: Water audit, assessment of economic optimum volume of water
losses, and performance indicators.
• Phase two: Pilot study to demonstrate initial recommendations of the water
audit analysis in the field.
• Phase three: Global intervention using apparent and real loss reduction
methods.
• Phase four: Ongoing maintenance of the loss control mechanism.
Budgets may be relatively restricted for phases one and two, until methodologies
and techniques have been identified with paybacks in line with the expectations of the
utility for their system.
Operators must learn to be proactive and identify realistic programs and budgets to
combat loss. They must learn to identify efficient, inventive methods to reach economic