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Letter from the Chair No 2
This second communication from the Chair aims to provide Task Force members with an update on the progress of Initiatives currently running in the Water Loss Task Force.
Dear Friends,
This second communication from the Chair aims to provide Task Force members with an update on the
progress of Initiatives currently running in the Water Loss Task Force. Each Initiative has a defined field
of investigation with specific targets and deliverables and a specified time frame during which the work
is to be carried out. A brief account of what has been achieved so far and what is planned ahead is given below.
I take this opportunity to thank all Initiative Leaders for providing me with the summaries and for their endless efforts and hard work in leading, coordinating and inspiring the work carried out in their
respective Initiatives. Many thanks also to all members involved directly or indirectly in the Initiatives for their dedication and contribution.
Bambos Charalambous
Chair, IWA Water Loss Task Force
May 2008
bambos@wbl.com.cy
PRESSURE MANAGEMENT
Leader: Julian Thornton (thornton@water-audit.com)
The pressure management initiative has been running since 2002 with the original goals to:
1. Identify and gather information and case studies on both successful and unsuccessful
pressure management projects.
2. Analyse and formalise the results and report conclusions.
3. Monitor and promote further research and testing of both existing and new methodologies for analysis and implementation of pressure management.
4. Create an international database of said cases for distribution to IWA members.
5. Produce suitable papers and presentations.
Goals 1, 2 and 5 have been met and over thirty papers have been presented on the subject since the
initiative was launched in Cyprus in 2002. Goal number 4 while not existing in a formal data base exists
in the form of conference proceedings and is not likely to proceed further. The initiative now needs to
finalise work on goal number 3. To date two IWA Water 21 papers have been published covering state
of the art methods for analysis of pressure management potential.
The initiative now intends to summarize the research of the last 6 years into a document which will be
the final product of the initiative and which can be freely distributed to practitioners around the world.
The final output will be a document of about 50 pages discussing advanced methods of assessing
potential for pressure management. It is intended that a draft version of this will be presented in paper
form at the “Water Loss 2009” conference in Cape Town, South Africa and shortly after will be
circulated for membership review and comment. A final document should be available in 2010.
ACOUSTIC NOISE PRINCIPLES AND APPLICATIONS
Leader: Stuart Hamilton (shamilton@hydrotec.ltd.uk)
The initial stage included the design of a matrix of activities and methods for Active Leakage Control
(ALC) taking into consideration all equipment currently available (not restricted to acoustic methods
only) which are dependent on material, pipe diameter, pressure and distance of fittings apart. This
matrix will provide at a glance the most appropriate method of activities to adopt depending on these
parameters. The team over the next 6 months will be undertaking separate investigations including
those listed below. These are not the end requirements of the Initiative but are fundamental for the
final investigations and reports.
1. Produce a methodology for each ALC approach. This will provide a methodology for each
technique that can be adopted by a company that has never completed any ALC activities in the past.
2. Investigate the prioritization of ALC by DMA or region to obtain the best economic return for
activities to take place i.e. best return in losses located for the time/money invested.
3. A paper and a document on the theory of Acoustic Technology covering aspects mentioned
below:
o Coverage of a broad spectrum of understanding and making the document relevant
to ‘everyone’, from novice through to more advanced including provocative discussion points from the
most experienced and knowledgeable in the field. As much as possible it should obviously be supported
by corresponding facts and research data.
o Listing the very basics of acoustic leak detection (and the fundamentals of its application in a
water distribution network) moving on through to advanced technical detail, latest research findings,
and philosophies for future advancement within the field.
o Place a very strong focus on to the scientific facts of acoustic noise transfer, including the
breakdown of the mathematical calculations and equations (cross referencing these to its limitations).
Expand this to explore what routes are being explored to improve upon current capabilities; to ‘fill the gaps’, so-to-speak.
o Ultimate goal is to help the ‘layman’ gain a very clear understanding for difficult issues such
as, why a leak cannot be found in a low pressure, non-metallic pipeline, etc.
The Acoustic Noise Principles and Applications Team plan to release the initial report and findings on
acoustic leakage at the “Water Loss 2009” conference in Cape Town, South Africa.
APPARENT LOSSES PRINCIPLES AND APPLICATION
Leader: Michel Vermersch [michel.vermersch@free.fr]
The Apparent Losses (AL) Initiative Team plans to issue Guidance Notes on Apparent Losses before
the “Water Loss 2009” conference in Cape Town, South Africa.
The four main categories of AL are: meter under-registration, illegal consumption, meter reading
errors, and water accounting errors.
Each category can be divided into many kinds of losses. The objectives are:
o to define each kind of AL,
o to create relevant and specific indicators,
o to explain how to reduce them to an economically and socially acceptable level,
o to propose specific tools and procedures to get them under control.
To date, 20 members have joined the AL team and, since the “Water Loss 2007” conference in
Bucharest, the team has worked on a first draft of the Guidance Notes comprising 18 Chapters which
include inter alia: basic definitions, detailed water balance, new indicators such as the unavoidable level
of AL and the economical level of AL, specific analysis on each type of loss, trials and case studies,
glossary and bibliography. The team also worked on the problem of unpaid bills that is not taken into
account as NRW in the traditional IWA water balance.
By the end of January 2008 the team produced a first “brainstorming “document in which 75% of the
members have provided their comments and suggestions. The two main findings of this first stage
were the following:
o There was a great participation on theoretical aspects such as definitions and indicators but
very little on practical aspects such as the way for quantifying and reducing the various AL components.
There is a need to develop this latter point that is essential for the practitioners.
o Since all members are very busy and have limited time available to work on the documents
we need to make the working process more direct and more fluid in order to produce the draft
Guidance Notes on time.
To address these issues the AL Team has decided to create 4 sub-committees, namely:
1. Sub committee AL1 on Economics,
2. Sub-committee AL2 on Meter Inaccuracy,
3. Sub-committee AL3 on Customer Management and Revenue Recovery,
4. Sub-committee AL4 on Procedures and Tools.
The above sub-committees commenced their activities at the beginning of March 2008 and should
provide their first outputs – version 2 of the draft Guidance Notes - before the World Water Congress in
Vienna in September 2008.
TARGET SETTING AND STRATEGY
Joint Leaders: Stuart Trow (stuarttrow@aol.com) & Dave Pearson (david.dpc@btinternet.com)
The idea of the initiative was first proposed in 2006, and was launched along with other new initiatives
in July / August 2007.
The first meeting of the group was held in September at “Water Loss 2007” conference in Bucharest
and was well attended, 26 people in total. The following Terms of Reference were presented and agreed
at the meeting:
- Develop a methodology for Setting Targets for NRW (including water loss).
- Discuss the appropriate measures for monitoring progress towards achieving targets.
- Summarise the issues to be considered.
- Consider targets for all different purposes.
- Ensure a consistent approach with other WLTF Initiatives.
The next stages are planned as follows:
Issues to be considered in the initiative include:
- Cost comparisons between the 4 main pillars of leakage management
- The role of ILI and other performance measures.
- Economic, Political, Regulatory, and Funding issues.
- Ensuring that targets are consistent with the mechanics of water loss components.
- The impact of topography and pressure management on water loss targets.
- The measures to be used for setting targets.
- Alternative and novel approaches
This initiative will have links with other initiatives, in particular that of Apparent Losses and the
economics sub-group.
TRAINING PEOPLE
Leader: Mary Ann Dickinson (maryann@a4we.org)
Since its announcement a year ago, the Training Team has been blessed with dozens of interested
persons wanting to join the team and work on developing an international training initiative.
Originally conceived as a small working group able to have productive conference calls from time to
time, the team has instead grown to a very large international group of nearly 40 people only able to
communicate effectively perhaps by email. So the strategy for putting together this team must now
change in response to the incredible interest shown.
At “Water Loss 2007” in Bucharest we presented a proposed schedule which would culminate in a
presentation at the World Water Congress in Vienna on the proposed training modules. We are still
aiming for that goal. Here is a revised work plan:
Due Date Task
5/2008 Email team members with a work plan and list of deliverables. Make specific assignments
for the inventory of existing training programs.
6/2008 Review the compiled list of existing training programs (including World Bank) and develop
concepts for new consistent training modules. Send concepts out for email review and post on IWA
WLTF web page. Seek comments from team and from IWA WLTF membership.
7/2008 Review comments received and identify needs for module elements. Review by email with
training team and post on IWA WLTF web page. Assign work groups for modules.
8/2008 Develop content for needed training modules in assigned groups.
9/2008 Team Meeting at World Water Congress in Vienna to review progress on training modules
and to discuss certification issues for both instructors and attendees.
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