Regulating Water Pressure and Achieving Water and Energy Savings
Savings through leak detection and pressure regulation
Water networks are not watertight: they change and age, and new leaks appear over time. Leak detection must be an ongoing process. The IWA has concluded that the following measures must be taken to reduce leaks:
Active leak detection
Pressure management
Minimization of repair times
Infrastructure management
Leak detection involves installing meters in network districts, dividing the network into “sectors,” installing meters, data loggers, and analyzing night flows sector by sector. While this system cannot locate the leak itself, it does help identify the sector where the leak is located.
María del Prado Torrecilla Llamas
Head of the Technical Department
and Product Manager, LACROIX Environment Spain
To do this, the data loggers record data and send it to the central station for analysis by operators. This minimizes travel and clearly defines priority intervention areas. Data loggers provide real-time alerts for any anomalies and, in addition to measuring volume and flow, they can measure pressure and even regulate it by controlling PRV valves (see SOFREL LS-V). Acoustic listening tools are then used to pinpoint the exact location of the leak.
Water pressure and its variations pose several problems in the network: they make it difficult to meet user demand and increase water losses through existing leaks. Additionally, because drinking water distribution systems are designed to ensure optimal pressure at every point in the network, 24 hours a day, and since the amount of water required varies significantly based on changing consumption throughout the day, supply systems generally operate at excessive pressure.
As a result, pressure regulation is necessary to ensure efficient operation. This requires the installation of pressure reducers and their active regulation so that pressure varies according to peak and off-peak consumption periods. The SOFREL LS-V data logger, in turn, allows this regulation to be automated based on schedules or thresholds not to be exceeded.
The benefits are multiple:
Diffuse leaks are reduced when demand is lower
Pipes are less stressed and wear out more slowly
On-site visits and working time are reduced
Service quality is continuously monitored
Sanitary flushes can be carried out more easily…
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