TPI September 2021

Preventing water loss in global utility networks – pressure management

with polymer valves By Marco Alberti, utility sales manager at GF Piping Systems

Global network managers are now dividing the water utility grids into District Metered Area, to reduce the research surface in case of problems and balance pressures into smaller zones. These districts also guarantee an adapted pressure in the dedicated area, based on population density, building height, industrial areas or not, day-to-night consumption, or other important parameters for the management body. Pressure management To guarantee a constant pressure, calibrated to the needs of a piping system, pressure reduction valves can be introduced. They can receive an upstream pressure that is sometimes higher than necessary for distribution and regulate it to a suitable outlet pressure, balancing different day or night requirements. A water network is sized and designed accordingly to ensure an adequate pressure value over 24 hours. If consumption drops, the pressure increases. During a day, the water network is subject to different pressure levels, depending on the consumption. Most of the time it is under pressure above the minimum design limit. By reducing the pressure, we consequently reduce the losses and pipe bursts. Polymer valves The new polymer ‘NeoFlow’ valve from GF Piping Systems, for example, is designed with an axial flow technology and without a vertical adjustment diaphragm. This keeps pressure balanced and highly reliable, with extreme precision and stability of the pressure from 1 per cent to 100 per cent opening.

One of the great challenges of recent years is undoubtedly protecting the environment with the scarcity of water as a resource being one of the main problems. Hence, one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals is to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. Despite progress, billions still lack water and sanitation services. Globally, an equivalent of about $39bn dollars a year of non-revenue water is dispersed, with a percentage of losses between 20 and 50 per cent. It is not just an issue in less developed countries. In Italy, for example, the average water loss is around 37 per cent. Several factors cause water losses, including leakages or unauthorised consumption in piping systems. Preventing water loss Repairing leakages in aging pipelines sustainably leads to significant savings. Directly, costs for water consumption are saved. Indirectly, less energy is needed to power the networks, water treatment costs are lowered, CO 2 emissions and human resource costs for restoring pipelines, and expenses for researching losses and inefficiencies in the supply are Water losses due to leakages in global water networks, lead to the loss of 39 billion dollars’ worth of water a year. The introduction of durable, corrosion-free polymer pressure regulating valves into the water network can be a modern, easily installed alternative, to prevent non- revenue water (NRW).

reduced. Additionally, there are also possible penalty expense savings for non-compliance with the loss percentage parameters imposed by the authority. Water loss can be prevented passively, repairing the pipeline with the necessary tools or searching for leaks in the area to identify and then repair the pipelines that generate the leak. A proactive approach to prevent water loss would be to install constant flow control and pressure control to avoid the consequences listed above while continuing operations. The efficiency of the networks is maintained by protecting the system from the too high pressure that can lead to accelerated aging, causing micro-fractures. These can turn into major breaks with traceable losses calling for traditional loss detection methods in the long run. Reducing the pressure in the network by 25 per cent, for instance, will lead to a reduction in losses of up to 75 per cent.

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September 2021 TUBE PRODUCTS INTERNATIONAL