Leak monitoring

Abstract

The efficient use of water resources is a subject of major concern for water utilities and authorities. One of the main challenges in improving the efficiency of drinking-water networks is to minimize water loss in pipes due to leakage. Water leaks in water distribution networks are unavoidable. They can cause significant economic losses in fluid transportation and an increase in reparation costs that finally generate an extra cost for the final consumer due to the waste of energy and chemicals in water treatment plants. Besides, leaks may also damage infrastructure and cause third-party damage and health risks. The loss of about 15% of treated water in developed countries and 35% in developing countries is a rather critical issue in a world struggling to satisfy water demands of a growing population. This chapter presents the state of the art of the leak management including the real-time monitoring that allows the leak detection and localization techniques for repair. Special attention will be devoted to model-based approaches. The deep description of a leak location method based on the sensitivity matrix and the correlation analysis will be provided in this chapter with the application to a real case study.