A DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR IDENTIFYING REAL LOSSES IN WATER DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS

摘要

The investigation of real losses due to pipe aging is of paramount importance for water utility willing to control operational costs and environmental and social impacts of water supply. Real losses reduction could be achieved by continuous maintenance actions and occasional pipe substitutions. Maintenance activities in the distribution network represent one of the largest items in a water utility economic balance and, therefore, any approach aimed at maintenance optimization catches the interest of water managers. These strategies are constrained by the amount of funds, which are usually yearly available for maintenance. For this reason, a procedure is needed to prioritize maintenance tasks and focus the water manager on the most important leakages in the network. Several models have been developed for determining network components' optimal replacement time and rehabilitation planning by means of a Decision Support System (DSS). In the present paper, a procedure for leak detention in a water distribution network is proposed. The procedure is based on network flow and pressure monitoring, joined together with numerical dynamic modeling. The procedure was applied to a laboratory case study and the results obtained show that the proposed procedure has the potential to be a useful tool for rehabilitation scheduling.