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Distribution networks
Sectoring of the drinking water network helps to raise the main indicators of service quality and eliminate exogenous factors that affect micro-measurement. Prevention of water loss in networks brings about considerable savings in water, human resources and materials.
At Aguas de Torremolinos, the control centre monitors the minimal nocturnal flow recorded in the 18 sectors into which our distribution network is divided. This project began in 2013, with the installation of the first pressure-regulating valves to minimise potential losses in our network, followed by the implementation of micro-sectoring, which has increased the network's water performance rate near 80% and reduced absolute losses by over 600,000 m³.
One of the sustainable development goals of Aguas de Torremolinos is raising public awareness of the sustainable use of resources and responsible consumption.
An active plan is in place to find leaks in the supply network in the entire town, to reduce water losses.
To achieve this, we search for all kinds of physical losses and anomalies in the supply network to minimise the amount of non-revenue water (NRW): leaks or incidents in installations with no active contract, among other measures that help to rationalise water consumption.
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Methods to reduce losses in the network
Aguas de Torremolinos works to ensure good use of the resource. To achieve this, it carries out various actions focused on controlling water losses in the network or fraudulent water use. What actions are carried out?
- Monitoring of the minimum night-time flow rate: this is the most immediate use of sectoring, as any variation in this flow could indicate a leak or malfunction in the network. The method consists of reviewing daily the water flow curves in all sectors to compare the minimum value of the day with that obtained on previous days. This monitoring enables the generation of various alarms for use in each of the network sectors.
- Pressure regulation: the flow of a leak is directly proportional to the pressure in the network. Therefore, reducing the pressure locally when possible, that is, when demand is at a minimum, reduces the volume of hidden leaks in our network. Sectoring enables local pressure regulation limited to the sector's network. As we know the daily demand curve of each sector, we can choose the best time of day for pressure regulation (day or night, holidays, weekends, etc.).
- Continuous search for leaks: we can distinguish between two main types of leak in the network: hidden leaks (those that cannot be seen) and sudden leaks (those that can be seen).
- Search for fraud and abnormal consumption: it is important to undertake anti-fraud campaigns that consist in reviewing the situation of each customer with respect to the supply company. Once the review has been completed, in the required cases and in coordination with the affected departments, the necessary administrative and/or legal methods are implemented to normalise the situation of potential fraudulent consumption.
An efficient anti-fraud campaign enables the supply company to register the water that is consumed, the revenue for this volume, and raise customer awareness of responsible water use. - Data analysis: the aim is to calculate indicators that can be used to characterise each of the sectors to establish priorities in the planning of improvements, whether they involve searching for leaks or investments in the network, supply connections or customers' meters.