Application of IWA standard water balance in strategic water loss analysis: Benefits and problems

Abstract

Water losses occurring in distribution systems have effect on the operating cost, water and energy efficiency, service quality, customer satisfaction, maintenance and new resource demand. The standard water balance recommended by International Water Association (IWA) were used for defining, analyzing, regularly monitoring the water balance and sub-components, and determining the weakness and strengths of system. Water Utilities in Turkey are required to fill the water balance annually in order to analyze and monitor the performance with the regulation published in year 2014. However, in the use of this table, important problems are experienced due to the lack of technical, technological, personnel and economic conditions, data representing the field are not used and in many cases the real performance of the system is not revealed. In this study, the importance of IWA water balance in water loss management and monitoring system performance is emphasized, and the benefits and advantages are detailed by analyzing the pilot regions. In addition, problems encountered during filling the water balance, mistakes made, incomplete or incorrectly filled data and other problems were discussed. It is thought that this study will constitute a reference for the technical personnel in Utilities for measuring the data, analyzing the components and interpreting the results.

Keywords

• Water losses
• water balance
• water loss management
• performance monitoring

References

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