Water Saving and Energy Reduction through Pressure Management in Urban Water Distribution Networks

Qiang Xu, Qiuwen Chen (), Jinfeng Ma, Koen Blanckaert and Zhonghua Wan

Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), 2014, vol. 28, issue 11, 3715-3726

Abstract: Water shortages and climate change are worldwide issues. Reduction in water leakage in distribution networks as well as the associated energy saving and environmental impacts have recently received increased attention by scientists and water industries. Pressure management has been proposed as a cost-effective approach for reduction in water leakage. This study conducted a real-world water pressure regulation experiment to establish the pressure-leakage relationship in a district metering area (DMA) of the water distribution network in Beijing, China. Results showed that flow into the DMA was sensitive to inlet water pressure. A 5.6 m reduction in inlet pressure (from 38.8 m to 33.2 m) led to an 83 % reduction (12.1 l/s) in minimal night flow, which is a good approximator of leakage. These reductions resulted in 62,633 m 3 of water saved every year for every km pipe, as well as associated savings of 1.1 × 10 6 MJ of energy and 68 t of CO 2 equivalent greenhouse gas emissions. The results of this study provide decision makers with advice for reducing leakage in water distribution networks with associated energy and environmental benefits. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Keywords: Leakage reduction; Pressure management; Water distribution network; Energy saving; Greenhouse gas emission reduction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:waterr:v:28:y:2014:i:11:p:3715-3726

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DOI: 10.1007/s11269-014-0704-1

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