Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans Water Loss Control Program

摘要

The Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans (S&WB) is charged with providing drinking water, wastewater, and drainage services to the City of New Orleans. The events of August 29, 2005 – Hurricane Katrina – significantly increased the challenges facing the S&WB. Before the August 29, 2005 storm, New Orleans’ residents used about 120 mgd, with about 30 percent of that considered non-revenue. That means that 84 mgd was used by the residents and industries prior to Katrina, while the rest was used to fight fires or for other public uses - or was lost through faulty pipes in the distribution system. Immediately after Katrina, these statistics were reversed – whereby close to 85 mgd of treated water was now unaccounted for and probably leaking out of the system. Although the S&WB has made great strides in addressing the unaccounted for water loss, they have yet to reach pre-Katrina levels. Not only do the leaks represent added cost to the S&WB with no revenue offset, but pressure is extremely difficult and costly to maintain. This has interfered with the operation of some businesses and compromises fire protection. To address water loss attributed to leaking pipelines, S&WB has undertaken a strategic water loss control program including flow monitoring and a leak detection program to accurately and reliably identify water leaks. Using this information, the S&WB can prioritize pipeline leaks and pro-actively identify and repair leaking pipes. In addition to savings from the reduction in lost water, such an approach offers significant cost savings when compared to emergency repairs. Two technologies are currently being utilized by the S&WB to identify leaks in the water pipeline systems: noise loggers and digital correlators to identify and locate