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    Buildings and Cities - Water Distribution

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    Andrea Rossi
    1) Water distribution systems around the world lose a significant amount of water due to leaks, with an estimated 8.6 trillion gallons lost each year. Addressing leaks can reduce losses by 20% globally by 2050. 2) Cutting water losses in half could provide water to serve an additional 90 million people. One city, Manila, was able to cut losses in half to serve 1.3 million more residents with 24-hour water supply. 3) Reducing leaks through improved pressure management and active leakage control could lower carbon dioxide emissions by 0.9 gigatons and provide $903 billion in utility savings by 2050 at a cost of $137 billion to implement.

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    Buildings and Cities - Water Distribution

    Uploaded by

    Andrea Rossi
    7 views2 pages
    1) Water distribution systems around the world lose a significant amount of water due to leaks, with an estimated 8.6 trillion gallons lost each year. Addressing leaks can reduce losses by 20% globally by 2050. 2) Cutting water losses in half could provide water to serve an additional 90 million people. One city, Manila, was able to cut losses in half to serve 1.3 million more residents with 24-hour water supply. 3) Reducing leaks through improved pressure management and active leakage control could lower carbon dioxide emissions by 0.9 gigatons and provide $903 billion in utility savings by 2050 at a cost of $137 billion to implement.

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    Water distribution

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    Water

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    1) Water distribution systems around the world lose a significant amount of water due to leaks, with an estimated 8.6 trillion gallons lost each year. Addressing leaks can reduce losses by 20% globally by 2050. 2) Cutting water losses in half could provide water to serve an additional 90 million people. One city, Manila, was able to cut losses in half to serve 1.3 million more residents with 24-hour water supply. 3) Reducing leaks through improved pressure management and active leakage control could lower carbon dioxide emissions by 0.9 gigatons and provide $903 billion in utility savings by 2050 at a cost of $137 billion to implement.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    7 views2 pages

    Buildings and Cities - Water Distribution

    Uploaded by

    Andrea Rossi
    1) Water distribution systems around the world lose a significant amount of water due to leaks, with an estimated 8.6 trillion gallons lost each year. Addressing leaks can reduce losses by 20% globally by 2050. 2) Cutting water losses in half could provide water to serve an additional 90 million people. One city, Manila, was able to cut losses in half to serve 1.3 million more residents with 24-hour water supply. 3) Reducing leaks through improved pressure management and active leakage control could lower carbon dioxide emissions by 0.9 gigatons and provide $903 billion in utility savings by 2050 at a cost of $137 billion to implement.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 2

    RANKING AND RESULTS BY 2050

    0.87GIGATONS $137 .4 BILLION $90�


    REDUCED CO2 NET COST NET SAVING-=>

    Buildings and Cities - Water Distribution

    W
    ater is heavy. Pumping it from source to treatment Leakage Initiative in the early 1990s." Their methodologies and
    plant to storage and distribution requires enor­ techniques are now in use far beyond the British I sles.
    mous amounts of energy In fact, electricity is the The issue of water loss exists around the world. In the
    major cost driver of processing and distributing United States, an estimated one-sixth 6f distributed water escapes
    water within cities, underlying the sums on water bills. But those t he system. Losses are typically much. higher in low-income
    bills do not account for all of the·water flowing through munici­ regions-sometimes 50 percedt:of total.volume. If t hose losses
    pal systems. Utilities use the phrase "non-revenue water" to de­ alone were halved, that water could supply some 90 million peo­
    scribe the gap between what goes in and what ultimately comes ple. Manila, the capital city of the Philippines, did just that. By
    out the tap. The World Bank calculates that 8.6 trillion gallons success fully cutting its losses in half, the water utility was able to

    are lost each year through leaks, split roughly in half between serve an additional 1.3 million people and achieve twenty-four­
    high- and low-income countries. hour supply for almost everyone.

    That the gallons lost during distribution are dubbed To date, success stories like Manila's are few and far be­
    "non-revenue water" reveals what is at stake for utilities and mu­ tween, even in high-income countries. Too often utilities fail to
    nicipalities : a sinking bottom line. Also at stake are emissions tackle the issue of water loss because their institutional or techni­
    from needlessly producing billions of kilowatt-hours of electric­ cal capacity is weak, they are not incented or required to act, or
    ity to pump water not into homes or businesses but through even because building new treatment facilities is easkr and more
    breaks in the worlds water-distribution networks. Minimizing exciting, if costly. Because acknowledging leakage problems also
    those leaks and losses means using energy more sparingly, while means acknowledging management problems-and potentially
    conserving water as a scarce resource. provoking the ire of customers and politicians -utilities are
    In many places, aging water infrastructure and its deterio­ loath to do so, yet pressure is growing to insist they must. Given
    rating pipes and valves are a challenge. But their wholesale re­ the financial investments and engineering excellence that can be
    placement is neither financially tenable nor necessary outside of required, global enabling efforts such as the World Bank­
    extreme cases or whenever public health is at risk. Instead, im­ International Water Association partnership are essential.
    proving t he efficiency of water distribution largely depends on The high-water mark for municipalities is this : In addition
    management practices. Those at the tap end of a water system to increasing a utility's efficiency and improving customer experi­
    know that pressure matters. It is just as fundamental for the sys­ ence, addressing leaks is the cheapest way to source new supply
    tem's health overall. To borrow a description from the New Yorh and serve a growing population. Those same practices make mu­
    Times : "A steady, moderately low level of pressure is best-just nicipal water systems more resilient to water shortages, increas­
    as [with blood flow] in the human body." Too much pressure ingly common events on a warming planet. Water distribution
    and water looks for ways to escape; too little and water lines can efficiency can be put to work to address climate change and to
    suck in liquids and contaminants that surround them. Water cope with its effects -a solution that is proactive and protective
    utilities face a quest for pressure that is "just right." One of their at the same time.
    common approaches is creating contained "district metered ar­
    eas" within the larger system, each with a special valve t hat acts IMPACT: Modeling only the impact of press ure management and
    as a gatekeeper. active leakage control, we estimate that water losses can be reduced by
    Even under conditions of first-rate pressure management, an additional 20 percent globally by 2050. The resulting emissions
    leaks can and will happen. The torrential bursts that cut off ser­ reduction from pumped distribution could be .9 gigatons of carbon
    vice and submerge streets are not actually the worst from a waste dioxide. Total installation cost is $137 billion and operating savings
    perspective: They demand attention and immediate remediation. for utilities could be $903 billion by 2050. Implementing this s imple
    The bigger problem is with smaller, long-running leaks that are s olution could save 215 quadrillion gallons of water over thirty year s .

    less detectable. Vigilant, thorough detection and speed to resolu­


    tion are key. A range of tools and techniques can aid in scanning
    for and pinpointing leaks, a process most effective at night, when
    the system is relatively quiet. Ongoing evolution of sensors and
    software is aiding both leak detection and pressure management.

    In fact, an entire industry has emerged to address water loss,


    growing out of groundbreaking work by what the New Yorh
    Times called "a bunch of brilliant, obsessive, far-thinking engi­
    neers in Britain who started something called the National

    BUILDINGS AND CITIES 105

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