Water Losses Analysis in Selected Group Water Supply Systems

Abstract

Water losses occur in every water distribution systems during their overall exploitation time. Losses cause not only additional operating costs but also generate negative social and ecological consequences. Water losses may have multiple possible reasons, differing in accordance to a water supply system. Therefore, there is a high need to individually analyze each water supply distribution system. The aim of this paper is to analyze and compare water losses in selected two group water supply systems, serving 5 000–10 000 consumers. Water balances, pursued in accordance to the methodology developed by IWA (International Water Association), enabled calculation of water losses indicators for both systems. The obtained results lead to evaluation of the condition of analyzed water supply systems and they suggest potential actions in order to minimize water losses. Moreover, the results indicate the great necessity for working out a reliable method for determination of unavoidable annual real losses in rural water distribution systems with no more than 20 connections per km.