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Effective Factors in Causing Leakage in Water Supply Systems and Urban

Water Distribution Networks

Article · July 2015

DOI: 10.11648/j.ajce.s.2015030202.22

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American Journal of Civil Engineering
2015; 3(2-2): 60-63
Published online November 28, 2015 (http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/ajce)
doi: 10.11648/j.ajce.s.2015030202.22
ISSN: 2330-8729 (Print); ISSN: 2330-8737 (Online)

Effective Factors in Causing Leakage in Water Supply

Systems and Urban Water Distribution Networks
Hassan Saghi*, Abbas Ansari Aval
Department of Civil Engineering, Hakim Sabzevari University, Sabzevar, Iran

Email address:
[email protected] (H. Saghi), [email protected] (A. A. Aval)

To cite this article:

Hassan Saghi, Abbas Ansari Aval. Effective Factors in Causing Leakage in Water Supply Systems and Urban Water Distribution Networks.
American Journal of Civil Engineering. Special Issue: Research and Practices of Civil Engineering in Developing Countries.
Vol. 3, No. 2-2, 2015, pp. 60-63. doi: 10.11648/j.ajce.s.2015030202.22

Abstract: Water has a vital role in the country‘s economic development, since most part of it is dry and desert. Whereas, water
has been cheap and easy accessing, the authorities of the urban water distribution organizations have not paid so much attention
to the decreasing of the unaccounted for water (U.F.W) as a solution for saving water, the decreasing of the cost of preparing
water and the increasing of their efficiency or income. In recent years, the U.F.W has been paid attention because of the shortage
of resources and the cost increasing of water preparation. Therefore, along with preparing water from new resources, the water
wasting in different stages of transmission, refinement and distribution of water should be prevented as a long term programing.
In this article, the effective elements in causing leak have been explained. The results show that the most leakage of water deals
with the parameters such as pressure, quality, diameter and age of the pipes.
Keywords: Economic Development, Urban Water Distribution, Water Leakage

leak points
1. Introduction Increasing the efficiency of the water and waste
In recent years, the international communities and the companies in technical engineering, performance and
dveloped countries have paid a special attention to the shortage subscription sections
of the water resources and finding new solutions for it, Increasing the income of the water and waste company.
especially to prevent water wasting. The U.F.W and leakage in Obtaining the consent of the subscribers.
the water supply system and the urban water distribution Decreasing the loss of water in water supply system
networks have been paid attention in many countries. In recent network involves knowing the amount of loss, causes,
three decades good experiences in theoretical and executions methods and priority of these factors. The next stage includes
in decreasing of the water leakage have been obtained through the location detection and determining the position of the
the scientific and systematic planning. Fortunately, in Iran, this most hazardous leakage points and the repairing and
subject has been dealt with for more than one decade. The first rebuilding the network.
step was preparing a national development plan for upgrading
the urban water distribution in the second development plan of 2. The Effective Factors in Causing Leak
the country. The second step has been done by controlling
offices of the U.F.W in the water and waste companies of the The accidents which happen in the water supply system
country in which the study of decreasing the water wasting has networks are usually high. For instance, about one million
been paid. accidents have happened in water supply system networks in
The unaccounted water has many privileges; some of them the country in 1998. This damage costs about 20% of the
are mentioned here: total income of the Water and Waste Company. This cost has
Decreasing the investment cost of the constructing of been for repairing, rebuilding and improving of the network.
the installations for water resources and the Over 30% of these accidents have happened on the pipelines
development of water supply system of the water supply system networks. Many factors are
Decreasing the entering of the pollution through the involved in the leakage detection of the water in the network.
 American Journal of Civil Engineering 2015; 3(2-2): 60-63 61

Some of these effective factors will be paid to in this article. supply system network, is pressure with a high importance.
High pressure causes the increasing of leak, and the loss of
2.1. The Material of the Pipes consuming water and the number of the accidents in the
One of the effective factors in water leakage is the material network. On the other hand, low pressure in the network
of the pipes. An experiment on the pipes in Chaloos showed causes the inability of complete supplying water or result in
that the asbestos pipes have the least ruins and the galvanized providing unsuitable water. The pressure also is effective on
pipes have the most efficiency [1]. This is shown in Fig. 1. The the stability and the structure of the system. With high
experience showed that in leakage detection methods, the pressure, the probability of the accidents and the crack of the
material of the pipes has been one of the most important system increase and the stability performance and suitable
parameters in the causing leakage in the networks. The results servicing of the network endangered. If the changing of the
of the studies, which have been done by Jing and Zhi-Hong, pressure happens according to the prescribed standards, it will
showed that the material of the pipes is the most important be appropriate for a network user. So that the different aims of
factor in causing leaks. Among different materials of pipes, the network which are usually contradictory on the basis of the
iron pipes have the most leakage accidents and asbestos pipes pressure reaches to a balance. Therefore, knowing the
have the least. conditions of the changing pressure has a high importance.
The loss is sometimes because of the network pressure
conditions. In other words, the cracks open with the high
pressure and close with the low pressure. The amount of loss
in a point has a direct relation with the amount of pressure on
that point so the amount of loss changes according to the
changes in pressure.
The pressure parameter is the most important one among
the different parameters; this element is paid attention so much
in the new methods of leakage detection.
2.5. The Movement of the Soil Around the Pipe
Fig. 1. Accidents percentages for various materials of pipes [1].
The movement of the soil may happen because of sliding of
2.2. The Age of the Pipes the ground or shaking of the earthquake. This movement
brings a lot of pressure on the pipe and can cause cracks in the
The age of pipes has a direct or indirect effect on the amount pipe, gaps in the joints or the breaking of the pipes.
of leakage. So a program can be planned with a time table for
the efficiency and rebuilding of the pipes with different 2.6. The Movement of the Soil Around the Pipe
qualities, so that the loss of water will decrease. On the basis
of the experiments, which have been done in Chaloos, the The corrosion of the environmental soil and water for all of
suggested time for galvanized pipe is 15 years and for the metal structures is inevitable (especially about the buried
polyethylene is about 16 years [1]. The studies of recent years pipes and joints). This corrosion in the motor pumps pipes and
show that with the increasing of the pipes age, the loss can taps can happen through cavitation or chemical corrosion of
reach to 50% of the entered water into the networks [2]. the water supply system pipes make corrosion by water from
inside and solid from outside. Both of them happen due to the
2.3. The Diameter of the Pipes existence of unsuitable components and salts in water and soil.
This corrosion happens through the forming the galvanic cells
The diameter of the pipes is one the effective element in the or concentration cells, so that a part of the pipe takes the role
rate of the accidents and the loss. The hydraulic pressure of anode and other part of pipe the role of cathode. So the
decreases when the diameter increases, so the loss comes currency of the metal happens from anode to cathode therefore
down. Although, using high diameter pipes involves more cost, the metals which has anode role is ruined.
this investment seems to decrease the loss of leaking water in a The iron or steel pipes have been used in the water supply
long range program. system networks for more than five centuries. The corrosion
The more diameter of the pipe, the thicker of the shell the usually happens over time. The corrosion of the pipes has an
pipe has. So the resistance of the pipe increases against the important role in the quality of the water. Some of the
outside or inside pressure and the destructive elements of the corrosions of the pipes are as follow [4]:
environment. For instance, on the basis of a research, which The water takes color, smell and taste.
has been done in Netherlands, in every 100 Km with 150 mm It prepares a good background for the growth of
pipe diameter, 25 cracks are expected annually [3]. microbes.
2.4. The Pressure It attracts and gathers the arsenic materials

Another hydraulic parameter, which determines the 2.7. Hit

performance condition and the servicing of urban water Most part of the water supply system network goes under
62 Hassan Saghi and Abbas Ansari Aval: Effective Factors in Causing Leakage in Water Supply
Systems and Urban Water Distribution Networks

the streets of the cities. In the cases of digging by the other especially the pipes with artificial material such as plastic,
organizations such as gas, electricity, communication and may polyethylene components, comes down very much. When the
damage the pipes. depth is not suitable or the coverage is not enough, the low
temperature causes freezing. This freezing makes some
2.8. Using Unsuitable Materials for the Basis and Coverage tension inside the pipes.
of the Pipes
2.13. The Depth of Placement of the Pipes
While installing the pipes, the surrounding of them should
be made so that a good basis is prepared for the setting of the The depth of placement of pipes in the ground can have a
pipes and the extra tensions does not transmit to the pipes. If role in leaking. The studies which have been done by Jing and
unsuitable materials (such as big seed materials or those that Zi-Hong showed that the depth of placement has an effect on
their summit is remarkable) are used, unbalance pressures are leaking. But the results show that other factors such as the
applied to the pipes and damage them. material and the diameter of pipe and the pressure have more
importance [6].
2.9. Incorrect Installation
2.14. The Pressure of the Cars on the Surface of Roads and
Installation by unprofessional workers or using incorrect Ground
and non-standardized techniques may result in incomplete
sealing of the joints. In this case there are some leaks in the Another factor of leaking is the pressure of the passing cars
joints from the beginning and this would increase over time. on road and ground where the pipeline buried. Although in
new methods of leakage detections, this factor mostly is not
2.10. Water Hammer Hit considered, the studies which were done by lee and his
When water is pumped directly into the water supply colleagues mention that this factor has a special importance.
system network a water hammer hit may cause accidents and This parameter should be considered in the future studies [7].
breaks the pipes and joints. Wherever the pipe is weak because 2.15. Corrosive Waters
of corrosion this hit becomes stronger. This hit makes some
quicks waves and passes away fast, so it may cause different The corrosive waters cause corrosion and weaken the pipes.
dangers and damages in the pipelines. Corrosion happens with tiny holes and developed over time.
Generally, this water hammer hit in the pipeline projects has
an important role and ignoring it results in very large damages 2.16. The Movement of Soil
in the equipment. In order to analyze the water hammer hit, The clay soil contracts or expands according to its moisture.
many types of software, on the basis of different mathematical The resulted movement may cause loosing of the joints and
methods and digits are provided. Three software, Hytran, AFT local cracks on the pipelines.
impulse and Hammer are used for analyzing the water
hammer hit in the pipeline network. The outputs of AFT 2.17. The Damages to the Pipes by the Other Service
impulse were the most realistic and Hammer’s result was far Organizations
from the reality and expectations. It was showed through
Hammer’s program that in spite of the installation of the The performances which are done by other service
controlling devices to decrease the minimal pressure, not only organizations such as gas and electricity may cause some
the minimal pressure did not change but the maximal pressure leakages, unsuitable joints and non-standard piping.
increased. But AFT impulse and Hytran had a good compiling 2.18. Poor Quality Connections and Nonstandard
with each other and with the practical results. Plumbing
Other performances against water hammer hit were done by
Daneshfaraz and Moradi [5]. They used a tank of air with 3 m3 The loss of water is usually very much when unsuitable
capacity with an air compressor and a one-way tap in a pump joints are used or incorrect piping is performed. Controlling
station. They also put an air tap and an empty tap along the these materials and performances can prevent loss of water,
pipeline, with using protection equipment, they succeeded to remarkably.
minimize the positive pressure and to omit the negative
pressure [5]. 2.19. The Summit of Ground

2.11. Clogging the Components Joints and Pipes So much using of the underground water in some areas
causes the ground summit in which the pipe may crack and
Clogging happens when some sediment and objectives leak.
enter into the pipes and their components. This makes a
condition in which the weak parts break. 2.20. Climate Conditions

2.12. The Effect of Temperature The climate conditions of the area which compose of the
maximum and minimum air temperature, the quality of soil,
When the temperature is high, the resistance of the pipes, raining, freezing and so on, have a remarkable effect on the
 American Journal of Civil Engineering 2015; 3(2-2): 60-63 63

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