D E V E LO P I N G CO U N T R I ES

abatement. Bangkok, Thailand, 16 to 21 January 2000.

International Water Association, UNEP (Nairobi) and Land
Development Department, Thailand.
Water Loss
IWA (2003). Specialist group on diffuse pollution newslet-
ter. Newsletter No 19, June 2003, London. I W A TA S K F O R C E
Iwugo K, Andoh R, Feest A (2001). Cost-effective urban
drainage and wastewater management systems. International
Water Association, Water 21, pp51 – 54, April 2001.
Iwugo K, Andoh R, Feest A (2002). Cost-effective integrat-
Managing leakage
ed drainage and wastewater management systems. Journal of
Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental by District
DIFFUSE POLLUTION

Management, Vol 16, No 1, pp53 –57.

Krieger, L et al. (2002). The GESCOME difference: lessons
learned from Gestion Communautaire de Santé Metered Areas:
a practical
Environnementale (GESCOME).
www.ehproject.org/PDF/Strategic_papers/SR-5.pdf,
www.ehproject.org/live/EHPNews.htm)

approach
Mara.D and Feachem, R (2001). Taps and toilets for all –
two decades already, and now a quarter century more.
WATER 21, pp13-14, August 2001. International Water
Association, London.
Novotny (2003). Water quality – diffuse pollution and ● This article, by JOHN MORRISON, is the fifth in a
watershed management. John Wiley, Chichester. special series of articles for Water21 by the IWA
Rottie, E and Ince, M (2003). Controlling and preventing
disease – the role of water and environmental sanitation Water Loss Task Force. It highlights the work
intervention. Water Engineering and Development Centre, being undertaken by the DMA Manual team to
Loughborough University, UK.
Schertenleib, R (2001). Principles and implications of produce an international manual to assist
household centred-approach in environmental sanitation. leakage practitioners implementing leakage
Paper presented at first international conference on Ecological
sanitation 5 to 8 November 2001, Nanning, China. control by district metered areas (DMAs) or
UNCDF (2003). Empowering the Poor – Local governance 'sectorization'.
for poverty reduction. UNCDF, New-York
UNDP (2003). Clean water and sanitation for the poor
fact sheet, UNDP, New-York
UN-HABITAT (2003). Water and sanitation in the
world’s cities – local action for global goals. Earthscan
Publication, London.
World Bank (2002a). Globalization, growth, and poverty
– building an inclusive world economy. Washington.
World Bank(2002b). Lessons learned from rural water
projects. World Bank, Washington.
World Bank (2003). World Bank development report –
he scope of this series of techniques he referred to Sextus
making services work for poor people. Washington.
World Resources Institute/World Bank/UNDP/UNEP
(2003). World resources 2002-2004: decisions for the earth -
T articles,‘A Practical
Approach to Water Loss
Julius Frontinus, Water
Commissioner to Rome in 90 AD,
balance, voice and power. UNDP, UNEP, World Bank, World Reduction’, was recently outlined who used a crude measuring
Resources Institute, Washington. ISBN: 1-56973-532-8. in Water21 by Ken Brothers1, device to determine leakage in the
WSP-AF ( 2003). Blue gold series of field notes and leaflets Chair of the IWA Water Loss Task system. Many advances have been
on success stories in water, sanitation and hygiene in the Force. This article outlines the made since Roman times, but
African region. World Bank, Washington. role of district metered area leakage occurs even in the newest
management as an effective distribution system and leakage
leakage control methodology and engineers require a range of
the aims and objectives of the equipment and techniques to
The authors: IWA Water Loss Task Force in measure, control and reduce
Professor Kenneth Iwugo, Faculty of Engineering, University of producing an international leakage in today’s networks.
Bristol, UK. Brian D’Arcy, Scottish Environmental Protection DMA manual. One of the options, which has
Agency, Perth, Scotland. Dr Ralph Heath, Pulles Howard and In Richard Pilcher’s recent proved highly successful in
Delange, Johannesburg, South Africa. Professor Bob Andoh, Hydro article (Water21, December 2003) particular in the UK - where it
International, Clevedon, North Somerset, UK on leak detection practices and was originally promoted - is

44
00 WATER21
WATER 21 •• DECEMBER
FEBRUARY 2004
2000
 Water treatment works Typical 24 Hour DMA Flow Profile

Source meter
Local service reservoir

Varying customer use

Customer night use

Burst leakage

Minimum flow Leakage Background leakage

Key
Trunk main 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
Distribution mains
DMA boundary Figure 3. A typical 24 hour flow profile of the components of leakage
Closed valve
Main meters and customer use
DMA meters Consumption 2002 therefore intended to provide
Figure 1. Division of Distribution Network into DMAs ● Background Leakage 2003 guidance to a staged approach to
leakage control using what are has done considerable work to ● Service Pipe Leakage 2003 best practice, which will provide
termed district metered areas improve the understanding of an appropriate route to the
(DMAs). The concept of DMA leakage by DMA management. Aim of the IWA Manual key actions required to start
management was first introduced The industry’s research group The IWA manual is aimed at staff implementing leakage control by
to the UK water industry in the UKWIR has produced the that have little or no experience of DMA management.
early 1980s, in UK Report 26(2), following collaborative leakage control using DMAs. It
where a district is an area of a documents dealing with key will draw on the experience of The role of DMA management
distribution system which is issues affecting DMA leakage international leakage practitioners The key to effective management
specifically defined, e.g. by the management within the UK to pull together the key essentials of leakage using DMAs is to have
closure of valves, and in which water industry: of best practice and outline the a clear understanding of the
the quantities of water entering Typical Minimum Night Flow into a DMA
and leaving the district are ● UK Water Industry Managing Occurance of large burst & repair
metered as shown in Figure 1. Leakage - Interpreting
Gradual increase in Bursts repaired
The subsequent analysis of flow, Measured Night Flows (1994) burst leakage
particularly of the night flow, ● UK Water Industry Managing
calculates the level of leakage Leakage - Using Night Flow
within the district. This is to Data (1994)
determine not only whether work ● Manual of DMA Practice 1999
should be undertaken to reduce ● Leakage Estimation from Customer night use assumed constant with time
leakage, but also to compare Night Flow Analysis 1999
levels of leakage in the different ● The Natural Rate of Rise of
districts to assess where it is most Leakage 1999 Background leakage assumed constant with time at current pressure

beneficial to undertake leak ● Estimating Legitimate

location activities. Non-Household Night Use 0 20 40 60 100 80120 140 160 180
Time in Days
Since Report 26 was first Allowances 1999 Figure 3. 4. UK Water Industry Managing Leakage (1994), Engineering & Operations
published, the UK water industry ● Household Night Committee Reports A- J
technical understanding behind theory of leakage. Leakage is split
Distribution Main burst with flow rate of 4m3/hour DMA management. The manual into two main components -
should be seen as a starting point, background leakage and annually
3 days 2 days 1 day Total runtime of leak = 6 days
and the influence of local variations occurring bursts (sometimes
Flow Total loss of water = 576m3
rate must always be considered. referred to as breaks). (3)(4)
Runtime Whilst the manual will outline Background Leakage is the
Awareness Location Repair best practice, we should remember aggregation of sources of loss
that DMA methodologies and from all fittings on the network
Service Pipe leak with flow rate of 0.4m3/hour
flow data analysis techniques that are individually too small to
Total runtime of leak = 75 days
have been highly developed by be detected.
Total loss of water = 720m3
Flow many water utilities over many Burst Leakage is the loss of
rate 60 days 14 days 1 day years. For example, systems such water resulting from annually
Runtime as geographical mapping systems occurring holes/fractures in the
Awareness Location Repair have been customised to provide network pipework, including
data to support DMA design and customer service connections,
Figure 2 Effect of burst duration on total leakage
management. The manual is which can be located using a

WATER 21 • FEBRUARY 2004 45

range of specialised equipment.
The role of DMA management
is to divide the distribution
network into manageable areas or
sectors into which the flow can be
measured to determine whether
bursts are present. The duration
of water being lost is kept to a
minimum by analysing the flow
data so that the leakage practitioner
is aware as early as possible that
bursts have occurred. The total
volume of water lost is:
Burst leakage =(the rate of flow)
x (the length of time over which
the break/burst has occurred)
The detailed analysis of the
flow in the DMA enables the
leakage practitioner to identify
when the incidence of a burst has
occurred and to plan work to
locate and repair the failure. It is
the frequency of this analysis
followed by location and repair
work that will limit the loss of
water. It should be noted that
depending on the nature of the
network a large percentage of
bursts will be reported to the
utility as water seeps or gushes to
the surface or causes reduction of
network pressure. Often this
apparent activity, dealing with a
large number of reported bursts,
leads a water utility to wrongly
consider that it is dealing
effectively with leakage.
Figure 2 shows the importance
of dealing with bursts other than
those reported by the public. The
total runtime of larger (reported)
burst tends to be much less than
that of the smaller bursts. The
much longer awareness and
location time of these smaller
bursts can in a lot of cases lead to
higher overall losses.
Introduction of DMAs
DMAs are often used as a tool to
control and drive down leakage
in networks that have received
little or no leak location work
other than dealing with reported
occurrences. Initially the DMAs
will be used as a tool to determine
which parts of the network are
experiencing the highest level of
leakage and to discount areas
where there is limited leakage, so
46 WATER 21 • FEBRUARY 2004
that resources can be targeted to
the greatest effect. As work
progresses and bursts are located
and repaired, the success of this
work can be measured at a local
level, as initially the impact of the
work is unlikely to be perceived
within the larger network.
The manual aims to provide
broad guidance on how DMAs
should be designed and the key
parameters that should be taken
into account. One area that is not
always fully linked to DMA
management is that of pressure
management. Julian Thornton’s
article Managing Leakage by
Managing Pressure (Water21,
October 2003) clearly identified
the relationship between leakage
and pressure and the potential
leakage savings to be made. What
is common to the introduction of
pressure management and DMA
management is the requirement
to define the area of the network,
to close the boundaries and to
measure the inflows and outflows
- whether for DMA analysis or to
control inlet pressures. Clearly
where the topography dictates,
the planning of Pressure
Management Areas (PMAs) and
DMAs should be undertaken as
one overall concept, although
implementation of one stage may
come before the other.
As work progresses and leakage
is reduced in the established
DMAs, the purpose of the
analysis switches to a monitoring
role, where the flow into the
DMA is monitored to ensure
early identification of new bursts,
which will trigger the need for
new leak location work. In many
instances where the ongoing
requirement of DMA management
has not been implemented, the
early leakage savings have been
lost due to the occurrence of
these new ongoing bursts not
being dealt with.
Many water utilities have
integrated DMA data capture
into their SCADA (supervisory
control and data acquisition)
systems. This provides ease of
data capture and availability of
additional flow data to assist in the
resolution of network problems.
This approach has proved
particularly effective when it is
implemented together with a
sophisticated analysis package
that provides the leakage
practitioner with guidance to
which DMAs require leak
location work.
Estimating leakage
Best practice analysis of DMA
flows, requires the estimation of
leakage when the flow into the
DMA is at its minimum. This
typically occurs at night when
customer demand is at its
minimum and therefore the
leakage component is at its largest
percentage of the flow.
Techniques are now available
to analyse the minimum night
flow to estimate the level of
leakage and additionally to split
this estimate into background
and burst volumes as shown in
Figure 3.
The analysis of leakage is based
on the minimum night flow,
which can be recorded and
analysed continuously night after
night with the use of data loggers
and appropriate software. This
analysis enables the leakage
practitioner to monitor the DMA
or groups of DMAs for the
occurrence of new bursts and
their subsequent repair, as shown
in Figure 4.
Based on this analysis, summary
reports of estimated leakage from
bursts in individual DMAs can be
developed to provide the leakage
practitioner with a schedule of
leakage that can be reduced. This
reduction can be represented as a
volume of water, a potential
number of bursts that can be
found, an estimate of the cost of
leakage that is being lost, or a
ranking system developed to suit
local conditions. When fully
developed this analysis will
enable a leakage practitioner to
monitor a large number of DMAs
effectively and focus work in key
DMAs, which will generate most
benefit from leak location.
The level of leakage can be
further confirmed by a 'top
down' assessment of leakage. This
analysis requires an assessment of
customer use, which is subtracted
from the total flow into the area
to estimate leakage. In most
instances this leakage volume,
measured over a period of 6 to 12
months, will be compared with
the aggregate of leakage from
DMAs in the same area.
Whilst the above analysis of night
flow represents best practice
guidance, the manual will outline
possible interim approaches, so
that analysis can be carried out in
the interim to enable leak
location targeting to progress
whilst additional data is gathered.
This may take several years.
Assistance
The small team currently working
on the manual would welcome
additional participation from
leakage practitioners. In particular
we are looking for examples of
DMA management and details of
any work undertaken on assessing
customer night use on networks
outside the UK.
Please contact Ken Brothers,
Chair of the WLTF at:
Kenb@hrwc.ns.ca if you feel you
can offer such information. ●
References
1. Brothers, K.J. A practical approach
to Water Loss Reduction. Water 21,
2003 54-55
2. Report 26 Leakage Control
Policy & Practice (1980), UK Water
Authorities Association
3. Lambert A.O. and Morrison
J.A.E. (1996) Recent Developments
in Application of Bursts and
Background Estimates Concepts for
Leakage Management. Water &
Environmental Management
Journal volume 10 No2 April 1996
4. UK Water Industry Managing
Leakage (1994), Engineering &
Operations Committee Reports A- J