Leakage in water distribution systems is an important issue which is affecting water companies and their customers worldwide. It is therefore no surprise that it has attracted a lot of attention by both practitioners and researchers over the past years. Most of the leakage management related methods developed so far can be broadly classified as follows: (1) leakage assessment methods which are focusing on quantifying the amount of water lost; (2) leakage detection methods which are primarily concerned with the detection of leakage hotspots and (3) leakage control models which are focused on the effective control of current and future leakage levels. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the above methods with the objective to identify the current state-of-the-art in the field and to then make recommendations for future work. The review ends with the main conclusion that despite all the advancements made in the past, there is still a lot of scope and need for further work, especially in area of rea...

A review of methods for leakage management in pipe networks

Water supply systems (WSSs) are one of the most important and expensive core public infrastructures. The primary objective of a water supply utility is to have this valuable asset operate at its ma...

Performance indicators for small- and medium-sized water supply systems: a review

The efficient distribution of water is a subject of major concern for water utilities and authorities [1]. While some leaks in water distribution networks (WDNs) are unavoidable, one of the main challenges in improving the efficiency of drinking water networks is to minimize leaks. Leaks can cause significant economic losses in fluid transportation and extra costs for the final consumer due to the waste of energy and chemicals in water treatment plants. Leaks may also damage infrastructure and cause third-party damage and health risks. In many WDNs, losses due to leakage are estimated to account up to 30% of the total amount of extracted water [2]; a very important issue in a world struggling to satisfy water demands of a growing population.

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Leak Localization in Water Networks: A Model-Based Methodology Using Pressure Sensors Applied to a Real Network in Barcelona [Applications of Control]

Evaluation of the apparent losses caused by water meter under-registration in intermittent water supply.

In the context of smart city development and rapid urbanization worldwide, urban water supply system (UWSS) has been of vital importance to this process. This paper presents a comprehensive review on the transient flow research for UWSS management. This review consists of two aspects as follows. The first aspect is about the development and progress of current transient theory, including transient flow models, unsteady friction and turbulence models, and numerical simulation methods. The other aspect is about the utilization and application of transient-based methods for effective UWSS diagnosis and management, including leakage, discrete and extended partial blockages, unknown branch, and other defects in water pipelines. A total of 228 publications have been reviewed and analyzed in this paper. In addition to the state-of-the-art progress and achievement of the research on transients, the advances and recommendations of future work in this field are also discussed for the development and management of next-generation smart UWSS in the paper.

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State-of-the-art review on the transient flow modeling and utilization for urban water supply system (UWSS) management

Since the 1991 IWSA International Report on “Unaccounted for Water and the Economics of Leak Detection”, the topic of management of water losses in distribution systems has received increased attention. This International Report seeks to present an overview of the “state of the art” in management of Water Losses, based on the Reports prepared by National Rapporteurs, the recent recommendations of the IWA Task Forces on Water Losses and Performance Measures, and improved concepts for modelling components of leakage and pressure: leakage relationships. The IWA Task Force recommendations provide overdue clarification and guidance on several issues that have caused persistent problems in quantifying Water Losses and comparing the effectiveness of their management. It is hoped that this Report will assist in the promotion of a more standardised international approach to the definition, assessment, monitoring and management of Non-Revenue Water and Water Losses.

A.O. Lambert

Papers

International Report: Water losses management and techniques