Evaluation of Real Water Losses and the Failure of Urban-Rural Water Supply System

• Main Authors: Joanna Gwoździej-Mazur, Kamil Świętochowski
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Polish Society of Ecological Engineering (PTIE) 2021-01-01
• Series: Journal of Ecological Engineering
• Subjects: water losses; water supply system failures; urban-rural water supply system; iwa water balance; infrastructure leakage index
• Online Access: http://www.journalssystem.com/jeeng/Evaluation-of-real-water-losses-and-the-failure-of-urban-rural-water-supply-system,128862,0,2.html

The topic of failures and water losses in the urban-rural water supply network was discussed. The purpose of the work was to assess the level of real water losses and the failure rate of the urban-rural water supply network in 2010-2016. The article's introduction contains information on the types and causes of breakdowns in the water supply network. The life cycle of the leakage from its inception to its removal is also described. Next, the methodology and indicators for assessing actual losses in the water supply network are presented according to the guidelines of the International Water Association (IWA), i.e. ILI, CARL, UARL, RLB and water balance. The material and methods chapter describes how to calculate the failure rate. Based on the literature review, a method of assessing the failure of the water supply network and the level of actual water losses has been presented. The research part presents the results of the water losses indicators values and assesses them against literature data for the entire urban-rural system. The results of the failure of the water supply of the urban area and the rural area were also presented and compared with literature data. A method of calculating limit values of the failure intensity index for the entire water supply system has also been proposed. Changes in the intensity of failure occurrence during the year are presented. The object described in the studies achieved the A rating according to the classification of ILI and RLB values throughout the entire analysis period (2010-2016). Failure intensity in the analyzed period exceeded the average values calculated for water supply networks in Poland many times. The values in individual cases exceeded the limit values specified in the literature.