Water Leakage During Pipe Transport

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Does anyone have quantitative data in their area for the leakage of treated water as an average over a specified distance?  

Smart meters help and cut down the time needed to locate the leak. As many countries are upgrading their technology, the differences in the leakage are expected in different regions.
However, it seems impossible to find the mean value percentage of the water loss by transportation due to leakage.

I know that longer distance needs higher pipe pressure which creates more leakage.  
I am trying to figure out how far away from coastlines and inland salt water bodies desalination technology can be used and still be economical.

Any research or data about this is appreciated.

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6 Answers

  1. Hi Nick - Australian water utilities are benchmarked each year, and comparative averaged data on leak rates for each utility is available at: http://www.bom.gov.au/water/npr/

    Kind regards

     

    Bob Humphries

    3 Comments

    1. Nick,

      I have read the Australian water utilities report and my country has always preferred this report. And the water transparent is increased in socially that is a good thing. 

      http://plumberinbedford.com/

    2. Thank you Bob very much! Every country should follow Australian example on this subject...water utilities must do business transparent and socially responsible!

  2. Today, a water supply system consists of infrastructure that collects, treats, stores, and distributes water between water sources and consumers.This is an important topic for several reasons:

    1.Water losses represent a lost opportunity. According to the latest estimates from

    Environment one in every six cubic metres of water supplied by municipal water

    agencies never reaches a customer. If all of this water were recovered, it could

    supply all of the needs for a city of over three million people.

    2.Water losses cost money. They represent over a billion dollars in potential revenue lost

    annually across Canada by municipal governments.

    3.Losses from water supply systems force water agencies to draw more water from lakes

    and streams thereby putting more stress on aquatic ecosystems.

    4.Leaks reduce the reliability of the water supply network. 

    5.This may lead households and businesses to locate elsewhere, find alternative sources of potable water and otherwise

    If undetected, leaks in water pipes may contribute to future pipe failures. In the city of

    Toronto alone, there are roughly 1,400 water main breaks a year and the vast majority

    occur in the winter—up to 70 a week (Hough, 2010).

    Leaks in water pipes may allow contaminants to enter water systems thereby reducing

    water quality and threatening the health of water users. 

    On average approximately 13% of the water that municipal water suppliers is lost before it reaches final users. This is an important topic for several reasons: water losses cost money, losses force water agencies to draw more water from lakes and streams thereby putting more stress on aquatic ecosystems, leaks reduce system reliability, leaks may

    contribute to future pipe failures, and leaks may allow contaminants to enter water systems

    thereby reducing water quality and threatening the health of water users.

    Some benefits of leak detection fall outside water agencies’ accounting purview (e.g. reduced health risks to households connected to public water supply systems) and, as a result, may not be considered adequately in water agency decision-making. Because of the regulatory environment.Many water utilities in Asia practice passive leakage control, meaning that they repair only those leaks that are visible. This is clearly not enough since 90% of the leaks are usually not visible on the surface. This means it takes far too long, often many years, until the utility is even aware that there is a leak. Since awareness time largely determines the volume of water lost from a pipe burst, utilities need a strategy to reduce awareness time.

    https://books.google.co.in/books?id=GxtJFFsShOUC&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=water+loss+%E2%80%8Bby+transportation+%E2%80%8Bdue+to+leakage.+%E2%80%8B&source=bl&ots=iJIttgeS7Y&sig=kgLT5Y4VeMPxToL-8Pqn4wsqF8U&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj33cqzhPTRAhWKuo8KHTrkBYUQ6AEILDAC

    1 Comment

  3. Dear Nick, 

    I have been involved in N.R.W. and water demand management since 30 years. As Igor and Kumar commented, you are engaging yourself in a very complex and lengthy process. It is impossible to reply in few lines and not even few books to your question. Water leak management requires deep involvement integrating miscellaneous technical as well as non technical components. But the fundamental principle is that you need to know your network. Before undertaking your leak investigations, you must understand the network configuration and the way it has been managed. You need to build a very comprehensive data base, starting with the reconciliation of drawings, technical data sheets, manufacturers brochures, SOP, incidents lists. You need a dedicated task force team and a reliable leader as well as the required authority to investigate the hidden "potential reasons". Once this is in place and depending on your targets and CAPEX budget, you can start field operations using smart meters (fixed or movables), as well as many other hardwares (DMA, PRV, .../...), using active leak detection (acoustic or other),.../...), GIS softwares and don't forget the local culture and habits. In many emerging countries, like the one I am presently (Indonesia), the non technical component can reach 60% in some places. It mainly comprises illegal connections or parallel illegal network, cheating (from client as well as staff), failing reporting procedures or administrative mistakes in data management, as few exemples. In any case, your leak investigation efforts will fail, if you do not have any clear understanding of your construction lay-out. If it is missing, you need to start investigating it. Don't start your leak management campaign if your network understanding is below 75%. Just to make sure for instance that valve in the drawing is really in the field and that the closed valve is actually closing... Of course you can progress at same speed with your network clarification and leak investigation, but give priority to clarify how is your network built. It's a fantastic task and your adrenaline will jump regularly as the leak grows . Good luck and do not hesitate to ask for advise   

  4. Dear Nick.

    You are unable to find such results as it is very hard to generally speak in that matter. You can estimate possible leakages using common methods like FAVAD or using emitter coefficients in hydraulic modelling software. But still, I can give you few examples:

    1. WS system in my region has around 10% of water loss in 8 km of mains. Pipe material is cast iron, 30 years old, internal diameter of 600 mm, pressure of 6 bars. Total yearly flow of 15.000.000 m3

    2. WS system I recently analysed has around 6 km of main distribution pipe with under 1% of losses. It is new ductile pipe, 400 mm diameter with 7 bars pressure. Total flow around 7.000.000 m3

    So you can see that it varies based on pipe material, pressure, construction quality, etc. There are always good examples how to impact on it like working with minimal required pressure by filling a water tank and then continue distribution from that point rather then direct supply to customers. There are many ways for impacting it and from professional point of view, the best way is to consult an expert to make you option analysis with hydraulic model.

    good luck... 

    1 Comment

    1. Thank you for this, very helpful, gives me somewhere to start.  I also have some average loss rates at national level due to leaking...are there data resources that track the length of water piping per country?

  5. @ Nick Stene Dip Dig,

    Leakage detection is a very vast subject, and is just not confined to the loss attributed in the pumping/distribution/gravity system to convey treated water. An indepth study of material science, terrain, soil parameters, apart from the length of pipeline is to be considered. If multiple piping materials are used, the demarcation with respect to the material used for that particular stretch needs to be critically viewed. There could be unaccounted losses not attributable to the pipeline but internal plumbing at take off points (e-g, a dripping tap, a malfunctioning flush in a toilet, etc). Leakage identification markers come inbuilt with the latest piping materials to pinpoint the spot of leak. The long term effects of corrosion and biofouling that happens even in treated water  long term can not be ignored. By and large the average break rate of different piping materials have been studied by leading water companies like Anglican Water which uses many piping material. It has to be noted that leakage at the jointing of the pipes takes place first than a pipe burst. The study from Anglican water authority indicates that long term average pipe break per 10 Km of a laid pipeline is lesser in the case of Ductile Iron pipe (despite tyton joints) and properly laid polymeric materials like PE. The pressure in the system you are referring to about is the transmission pressure in the pipeline which needs to be designed at the project stage. As a rule of thumb it is persay ideal to design a pipeline considering frictional losses and static head losses. The Piezometric head principle   need to be incorporated to identify use of water transportation using the potential energy during a rising main and use of kinetic energy accumulated from the raising levels to minimize the cost of pumping. Normally it is ideal to ensure that the pumping head is kept below 100 m, and the concept of boosters need to be considered for conveying long distance pipeline. 

    Thank you for your intersting question.