Analysis of the effect of pressure control on leakages in distribution systems by FAVAD equation and field applications

Pressure has an important effect on the occurrence of failures/leaks in water distribution systems (WDSs) or the change of leakage in existing leakages. For this reason, monitoring the pressure is important especially for analyzing the changes in the day and night, determining the fluctuations and applying pressure management (PM) to ensure normal operating conditions. In this study, the effect of pressure on water losses and minimum night flow (MNF) was carried out according to the Fixed and Varied Area Discharge (FAVAD) approach, which allows the amount of leakage to be calculated based on the change in pressure and field tests. The minimum flow rate and potential leakage were determined under the network operating conditions before the pressure control in a region. Then, considering the features of the region, pressure was reduced with the pressure control system and MNFs and leaks were monitored. By reducing the pressure from 9.10 bar to 3.2 bar in the region, the MNF rate was reduced from 6.95 l/s to 3.29 l/s. The daily water savings in the system inlet volume is 78.44 m3/day and the annual saving is 28,624 m3/year. The results obtained are very important for practitioners in terms of implementing PM in the field.