Letter from the chair No1 Feb 2008
A brief update as to the activities carried out by the WLTF over the past period

Letter from the Chair

February 2008

The Chair of the IWA Water Loss Task Force, Bambos Charalambous, reflects briefly on the

achievements so far of the Water Loss Task Force, outlines future priorities and provides an insight to

the current activities. This new communication aims to periodically update TF members of the progress

and developments within the Water Loss Task Force.

The Water Loss Task Force is a tireless group of people who continuously take on new challenges,

extending the limits of current knowledge and freely share information for the benefit of all concerned.

Over the past five years the Water Loss Task Force network has grown at a tremendous rate

generating interest worldwide and has developed and promoted international best practices in water

loss management. This includes the initiation of and participation in research projects to keep at the

forefront of new developments as well as the organisation of specialised conferences and workshops

around the world. The biggest and most successful event so far was “Water Loss 2007”, a specialised

conference that took place in Bucharest, Romania in September 2007, where over 275 delegates from

45 countries attended. Water Loss 2007 focused on a wide array of water loss control activities

developed through the IWA Water Loss Task Force. There were 99 technical presentations over the

three days covering the full scope of water system and loss analysis, water loss control programs,

equipment, strategies and performance measurement assessments and results. All papers have been

published in a comprehensive publication comprising three detailed and well edited volumes and also in

an electronic format.

It is evident that water is a limited resource in many parts of the world, a situation that has highlighted,

among other things, the need to reduce leakage from urban water distribution systems to levels that

are considered economically acceptable. The thrust of the Task Force is spearheaded with this in mind,

building and expanding on current and new activities and initiatives, in particular the following:

• Maintaining a leadership role in water loss management.

• Consolidating current knowledge and practices.

• Developing and disseminating “best practice” Guidance Notes.

• Encouraging and supporting research in new areas.

• Promoting awareness through seminars, workshops and conferences.

• Enhancing communication and strengthening membership.

• Collaborating with other Task Forces within the Specialist Group.

More specifically we have been able to accomplish the following:

Publications

• The practices promoted by the WLTF are well documented in articles, conference

proceedings, guidance notes, software, manuals and text books. It is worth mentioning that the World

Bank Institute has used the work of the WLTF as a basis to produce a series of training manuals which

are currently being used for capacity building in Developing countries.

• The WLTF publishes in every issue of Water 21, the Magazine of the International Water

Association, articles relating to water loss management, updating progress on current initiatives and

reporting on new developments and research findings.

Website

The Water Loss Task Force has its own website www.iwaom.org/wltf, which is continuously updated with

news, articles, documents and information. The access to the website is open to any visitor and all

downloadable material is available free of charge. It is worth while mentioning that judging from the

number of downloads of the various articles, guidance notes and other information the website has

been extensively used and has proved a useful tool in promoting the work of the WLTF.

Guidance Notes

The Guidance Notes were the result of endless hours of hard work by many dedicated people in an

effort to put together in a simple, practical and easy to follow step by step methodology of useful

information for leakage professionals.

Within the above context the WLTF has so far developed two sets of Guidance Notes:

• The DMA Guidance Notes which cover the technique of DMA management which has been

practised around the world for many years with excellent results in minimising and controlling leakage.

• The Leak Location and Repair Guidance Notes, a comprehensive document which is intended

as an introduction to leakage practitioners to the process of identification, location and repair of leaks.

Initiatives

New initiatives have been launched in areas where it was felt that further knowledge is required:

• Repair or Replace Dilemma for Services and Mains: This initiative aims to identify when

infrastructure renewal should be carried out as the most effective approach for controlling leakage.

• Acoustic Noise Principles and Applications: This initiative investigates the methods of leakage

detection using acoustic noise and reviews current and new techniques applied across all pipe materials

and diameters.

• Training People: Great importance is placed on the issue of sustainability which in our view

involves the people, and has to do with their degree of dedication and knowledge. It is therefore,

important to properly train people and to provide them with the right incentives in order to build the

corporate knowledge needed for long-term sustainability.

• Apparent Losses Principles and Application: The area of research includes but not limited to

unbilled authorised consumption (such as corporate service consumption) which forms part of non

revenue water but is not considered as being either real or apparent loss and the boundary conditions

between real losses and apparent losses in certain controversial cases.

• Target Setting: This initiative consider issues such as understanding the mechanics and

components of water loss, the cost comparisons of alternative water loss reduction measures, the role

of comparative performance measures such as ILI in target setting and alternative and novel

approaches to target setting.

Water Loss 2009

The next major event of the Water Loss Task Force is the specialised conference “Water Loss 2009"

which will be held in Cape Town, South Africa, in April 2009. “Water Loss 2009” will be the fourth event

in a series of IWA Water Loss Task Force specialised conferences.

The conference will present and discuss the latest developments, strategies, techniques and

applications of international best practices in water loss assessment, management, leakage reduction

and control and improvement of customer metering. The technical sessions will provide a platform for

specialists from around the world to present latest thinking and research as well as interesting case

studies dealing with water loss related topics. There will be a specialised exhibition which will provide an

ideal opportunity for companies to promote their services and products relating to all aspects of water

loss management.

Details and information will soon be available on line from the conference website

www.waterloss2009.com.

Bambos Charalambous

Chair, IWA Water Loss Task Force

February 2008