Integrated approach to reducing drinking water losses in the distribution networks in the city of Sebastopol

Summary

The natural scarcity of water resources coupled with a high degree of deterioration of water supply systems result in a tense situation with the drinking water supply in Crimea. Over the past few years, a number of programs of upgrading the peninsula’s water industry have been developed and are being implemented in order to solve the problem at the regional and federal levels. One of the key objectives of these programs is to reduce water losses that currently reach 40–60%. A set of measures aimed at reducing water losses in Sebastopol is described. The set of measures developed in accordance with the international experience and Russian recommendations takes into account the current condition of the Crimean water supply system. The activities include designing an advanced network management complex, zoning of the water supply network, pressure regulation, monitoring and elimination of leaks. Based on the results of the analysis of the performance indicators, it was determined that the priority measure for Sebastopol was the introduction of an advanced acoustic monitoring system in the water distribution networks that would provide for detecting effectively latent leaks and saving the city thousands of cubic meters of scarce drinking water. The results of a pilot project on the inspection of 5 km of the water supply networks using the acoustic monitoring system are described.

Key words

hidden leak search , water supply optimization , water scarcity , reducing drinking water losses and unaccounted-for-water , failure rate analysis , pressure control in the network , monitoring and diagnostics of the water distribution networks

Improving the system of the water distribution network
operation control in Tumen

Summary

Owing to large-scale housing construction in 2004–2008 the water consumption in Tumen significantly increased. The growing loading on the water facilities resulted in intermittent insufficient pressure level at the pumping stations in separate municipal districts. These irregularities actually «shattered» the water supply system; and in case of continuing water consumption pattern they could have caused complete water deficiency and water supply collapse because of the lack of the capacity reserve already in 2009. To handle the problem the upgrade projects were urgently updated – the parameters of the pumping units and their control algorithms were revised. The key role in calculations played the studies of Boris Semenovich Leznov, a famous research worker in the field of variable speed drives for pumping units. The system of water intake control was qualitatively modified. Pressure gauges were installed at ten critical control points in the distribution network that transmitted on-line data to the Central Control Service. Upgrading pumping stations and using reliable information on the distribution network operation provided for uninterrupted water supply of the entire city. Operator’s control of the emergency situations in the water distribution network was an additional advantage of pressure monitoring. In 2011 and 2012 variable speed drives were put into pilot operation at the second-stage pumping stations of the Tumen public water supply. As a result the stable operation of the pumping equipment and energy saving were ensured; throttling was abandoned. At present the control algorithms for complete automation of the municipal water supply are being designed.

Key words

pumping station , control points in the distribution network , water supply optimization , pressure monitoring