20260917 Richard B. - Water Strategy Ideas

The Situation

Water scarcity is becoming more of a risk today. The demand is increasing and water availability is reducing.

Water distribution and treatment is energy intensive and as such has a large carbon footprint.

Water scarcity is not a new problem. Many parts of the world have experienced this problem for decades. International best practice can be drawn upon to generate a strategy to reduce demand.

Reducing Demand

Reducing water demand can form part of a risk based strategy aimed at reducing energy consumption and assisting a trend toward net zero. Some ideas are listed below. These are not new, but they have rarely been implemented properly in the UK.

Leakage / seepage can be reduced by automatically detecting leak location by monitoring changes in pressure loss across networks.

Pressures can be stabilized using advanced pressure control systems. Networks with stable pressure are less likely to burst and existing leaks will leak less.

Acoustic loggers, permanently placed on the network can accurately identify leak locations.

Failures should be pinpointed and those sections of main that experience the greatest failure rate should be replaced.

When pressure control systems under go maintenance then leakage survey work should occur at the same time as leaks are more prominent at that time.

Computer network models should be developed for all water companies. These models can be sued to help optimise pressure and optimise energy consumption. They can be used to provide real time operational support, reducing leakage during a burst event.

Richard B.