Framework to Establish Economic Level of Leakage for Intermittent Water Supplies in Arid Environments
Publication: Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 145, Issue 2
Abstract
Municipalities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) are putting serious efforts into reducing the water losses to around 8% (i.e., national benchmark) of supplied water through active leakage control (ALC). In this research, a framework is conceptualized and developed to establish economic level of leakage (ELL), keeping in view the specific conditions of arid regions. In general, water loss control actions, including ALC, passive leakage control, pressure management, and infrastructure asset management, are performed by the municipalities up to the service connections until the cost of these actions becomes equal to the cost of the water lost. For the explicit scenario of KSA, the framework also investigates the possibilities of water losses beyond the property line where water is intermittently supplied for a certain duration in a week and stored in underground tanks to ensure a continuous supply within the house. Night flow analyses were conducted to establish the relationship between pressure and water losses. The framework is implemented on a case study in the Alryan neighborhood of Buraydah (Qassim, KSA) to evaluate its practicality. Scenario analyses are conducted to appraise the economic viability of different management actions for establishing ELL. The study results reveal that conventional ALC can reduce the infrastructure leakage index from around 20 to 7.28, and an additional 43% decrease can be economically achieved by implementing pressure management and control measures on the homeowner side. Environmental valuation analysis demonstrates that upgrading the effectiveness of ALC with a small increase in water prices could further improve the ELL.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the Deanship of Scientific Research at Qassim University for their financial support of this research (Project No. Qec-2016-1-12-P-3530) during the 1437 AH/2016 CE academic year. The cooperation of the General Directorate of Water in Buraydah and the AlQassim Municipality in sharing their experience and relevant data is highly appreciated. The authors are also grateful to Arsan Contracting Company for their help and efforts in completing the water loss detection survey in the field.
References
Ahmed, I., Y. Nazzal, F. K. Zaidi, N. S. N. Al-Arifi, H. Ghrefat, and M. Naeem. 2015. “Hydrogeological vulnerability and pollution risk mapping of groundwater in the Saq and overlying aquifers using the DRASTIC model and GIS techniques.” Environ. Earth Sci. 74 (2): 1303–1318. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-015-4120-5.
Alegre, H., J. M. Bapista, E. J. Cabrera, F. Cubillo, P. Duarte, W. Hirner, W. Merkel, and R. Parena. 2006. “Performance indicators for water supply services.” In Manual of best practice series. London: International Water Association.
Al-Salamah, I. S., Y. M. Ghazaw, and A. R. Ghumman. 2011. “Groundwater modeling of Saq aquifer Buraydah Al Qassim for better water management strategies.” Environ. Monit. Asses. 173 (1–4): 851–860. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-010-1428-1.
Al-Washali, T. M., S. K. Sharma, and D. Kennedym. 2018. “Alternative method for nonrevenue water component assessment.” J. Water Res. Plann. Manage. 144 (5): 04018017. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)WR.1943-5452.0000925.
Ashton, C. H., and V. S. Hope. 2001. “Environmental valuation and the economic level of leakage.” Urban Water 3 (4): 261–270. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1462-0758(01)00046-2.
Carson, R. T. 2000. “Contingent valuation: A user’s guide.” Environ. Sci. Technol. 34 (8): 1413–1418. https://doi.org/10.1021/es990728j.
Cheung P. B., V. G. Girol, N. Abe, and M. Propato. 2010. “Night flow analysis and modeling for leakage estimation in a water distribution system.” In Proc., Integrating Water Systems (CCWI 2010) Conf. London: Taylor & Francis Group.
Creaco, E., and T. Walski. 2017. “Economic analysis of pressure control for leakage and pipe burst reduction.” J. Water Resour. Plann. Manage. 143 (12): 04017074. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)WR.1943-5452.0000846.
Criminisi, A., C. M. Fontanazza, G. Freni, and G. L. Loggia. 2009. “Evaluation of the apparent losses caused by water meter under-registration in intermittent water supply.” Water Sci. Technol. 60 (9): 2373–2382. https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2009.423.
EU (European Union). 2015. EU reference document good practices on leakage management WFD CIS WG PoM. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.
Farley, M., and S. Trow. 2003. Losses in water distribution networks. London: International Water Association.
Francisque, A., S. Tesfamariam, G. Kabir, H. Haider, A. Reeder, and R. Sadiq. 2017. “Water mains renewal planning framework for small to medium sized water utilities: A life cycle cost analysis approach.” Urban Water J. 14 (5): 493–501. https://doi.org/10.1080/1573062X.2016.1223321.
Global Water Market. 2017. “Meeting the world’s water and wastewater needs until 2020.” Vol. 4 of Middle East and Africa, 1379–1385. Saudi Arabia: Global Water Market.
Haider, H. 2017. “Performance assessment framework for groundwater treatment plants in arid environments: A case of Buraydah, Saudi Arabia.” Environ. Monit. Assess. 189 (11): 544. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-017-6271-1.
Haider, H., I. S. Al-Salamah, and A. R. Ghumman. 2017. “Development of groundwater quality index using fuzzy-based multicriteria analysis for Buraydah, Qassim, Saudi Arabia.” Arabian J. Sci. Eng. 42 (9): 4033–4051. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-017-2578-z.
Hardeman S. 2008. A cost-benefit analysis of leak detection and the potential of real water savings for New Mexico water systems. Albuquerque, NM: UNM Digital Repository, Univ. of New Mexico.
ILMSS (International Leakage Management Support Services). 2013. Guidelines relating to the assessment and calculation of average pressure in water distribution systems and zones. Gwynedd, UK: ILMSS.
Islam M. S., and M. S. Babel. 2013. “Economic analysis of leakage in the bangkok water distribtion system.” J. Water Resour. Plann. Manage. 139: 209–216. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)WR.1943-5452.0000235.
IWA (International Water Association). 2017. “Water loss.” Accessed December 15, 2017. http://www.waterloss.com.ba.
Kanakoudis V., and S. Tsitsifli. 2010. “Results of an urban water distribution network performance evaluation attempt in Greece.” Urban Water J. 7 (5): 267–285. https://doi.org/10.1080/1573062X.2010.509436.
Kanakoudisa V., S. Tsitsiflia, P. Samarasb, A. Zouboulisc, and P. Banovec. 2013. “A new set of water losses-related performance indicators focused on areas facing water scarcity conditions.” Desalin. Water Treat. 51: 2994–3010. https://doi.org/10.1080/19443994.2012.748448.
Khadam M. A., N. K. Shammas, and Y. Al Feraiheedi. 1991. “Water losses from municipal utilities and their impacts.” Water Int. 16 (4):254–261. https://doi.org/10.1080/02508069108686121.
Lambert, A., M. Fantozzi, and M. Shepherd. 2017. “Pressure-leak flow rates using FAVAD: An improved fast-track practitioner’s approach.” In Computing and control for the water industry (CCWI). Sheffield, England: Univ. of Sheffield.
Lambert A. O. 2002. “International report: Water losses management and techniques.” Water Supply 2 (4): 1–20. https://doi.org/10.2166/ws.2002.0115.
Lambert A. O., and M. Fantozzi. 2005. “Recent advances in calculating economic intervention frequency for active leakage control, and implications for calculation of economic leakage levels.” In Proc., IWA Int. Conf. on Water Economics, Statistics, and Finance. Rethymno, Greece.
Laucelli, D. B., A. Simone, L. Berardi, and O. Giustolisi. 2017. “Optimal design of district metering areas for the reduction of leakages.” J. Water Resour. Plann. Manage. 143 (6): 04017017. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)WR.1943-5452.0000768.
Mutikanga, H. E., S. K. Sharma, and K. Vairavamoorthy. 2011. “Assessment of apparent losses in urban water systems.” Water Environ. J. 25: 327–335. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-6593.2010.00225.x.
Ofwat (Office of Water Services). 2000. 1999–2000 report on leakage and water efficiency. Birmingham, UK: Office of water Services.
Ojeda, M. I., A. S. Mayer, and B. D. Solomon. 2008. “Economic valuation of environmental services sustained by water flows in the Yaqui River Delta.” Ecol. Econ. 65 (1): 155–166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2007.06.006.
Phuong, D. M., and C. Gopalakrishnan. 2003. “An application of the contingent valuation method to estimate the loss of value of water resources due to pesticide contamination: The case of the Mekong Delta, Vietnam.” Int. J. Water Resour. Dev. 19 (4): 617–633. https://doi.org/10.1080/0790062032000161409.
Rashid S., S. Qaisar, H. Saeed, and E. Felemban. 2014. “A method for distributed pipeline burst and leakage detection in wireless sensor networks using transform analysis.” Int. J. Distrib. Sens. Netw. 10 (7): 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/939657.
Rokstad, M. M., and R. M. Ugarelli. 2017. “Investigation of the ability to accurately estimate background leakage parameters in WDS network simulation model.” J. Water Resour. Plann. Manage. 43 (4): 04017002. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)WR.1943-5452.0000745.
Van Zyl, K., A. Lambert, and R. Collins. 2017. “Realistic modeling of leakage and intrusion flows through leak openings in pipes.” J. Hydraul. Eng. 143 (9): 04017030. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)HY.1943-7900.0001346.
Walski, T., and E. Creaco. 2016. “Selection of pumping configuration for closed water distribution systems.” J. Water. Resour. Plann. Manage. 142 (6): 04016009. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)WR.1943-5452.0000635.
WLRandA and ILMSS (Water Loss Research and Analysis and International Leakage Management Support Services). 2018. “Water leakage and pressure management.” Accessed February 6, 2018. http://www.leakssuite.com.
World Resources Institute. 2018. “Water stress by country.” Accessed January 3, 2018. http://www.wri.org/resources/charts-graphs/water-stress-country.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
©2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 5, 2018
Accepted: Jul 30, 2018
Published online: Nov 29, 2018
Published in print: Feb 1, 2019
Discussion open until: Apr 29, 2019
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.