Issues in Implementation of EU Regulations in Terms of Evaluation of Water Losses: Towards Energy Efficiency Optimization in Water Supply Systems

Agnieszka Ociepa-Kubicka, Iwona Deska () and Ewa Ociepa
Additional contact information
Agnieszka Ociepa-Kubicka: Department of Management and Entrepreneurship, Faculty of Management, Czestochowa University of Technology, Armii Krajowej 19 B, 42-218 Częstochowa, Poland
Iwona Deska: Department of Sanitary Networks and Installations, Faculty of Infrastructure and Environment, Czestochowa University of Technology, Brzeźnicka 60 A, 42-215 Częstochowa, Poland
Ewa Ociepa: Independent Researcher, 42-215 Częstochowa, Poland

Energies, 2024, vol. 17, issue 3, 1-22

Abstract: The water and sewage sector is responsible for approximately 3.5% of energy consumption in the European Union (EU). Leaks causing water losses in water distribution systems (WDSs) are responsible for approximately 24% of water consumption in the EU, which contributes to additional energy losses and emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). The implementation of the Directive of the European Parliament and the EU Council on the quality of drinking water (Directive (EU) 2020/2184) introduces the obligation to report water losses by large water utilities in EU Member States. The reported indicator will be the infrastructure leakage index (ILI) which is the ratio between current annual real loss (CARL) and unavoidable annual real loss (UARL). The paper presents a comparative analysis of selected water loss performance indicators calculated for 12 Polish WDSs. Results show that values of calculated indicators were diverse. The overestimation of both the reported value of operating pressure and total length of service connections may lead to the overestimation of UARL and thus to the underestimation of ILI. Obtaining a satisfactory, but incorrect, value of ILI may result in the abandonment of activities aimed at water loss reduction. Water losses in water distribution systems (WDSs) contribute to a significant increase in both energy consumption and GHG emissions. Total approximated electrical energy related to CARL consumed in 2021 by eleven utilities (except for one company) amounted to 3.276 GWh and total approximated carbon emissions amounted to 2807.84 MgCO 2 eq. In the case of four WDSs, reduction of ILI to the value of 1.5 may reduce GHG emissions by 31–54%. It can be concluded that the implementation of Directive (EU) 2020/2184 will require unification of methodology for calculation of parameters used in ILI evaluation in all EU Member States.

Keywords: water distribution system; water loss; water loss performance indicator; water loss management; infrastructure leakage index (ILI); drinking water directive; energy efficiency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/3/633/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/3/633/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:3:p:633-:d:1328325

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().