Leakage in water supply networks has received significant media
attention in the UK over the last three years due to the intensity
of the drought that started in June, 1995. This culminated in
government action forcing mandatory leakage targets on the
water-operating companies. These targets are imposed via the
Regulator, with significant implications if not achieved, either
by a fine or, in the extreme case, the loss of a license to
operate. Furthermore the United Kingdom is one of the oldest
industrialised nations that developed its water distribution
infrastructure generations ago. With the passage of time
distribution systems age and deteriorate resulting in high leakage
levels and burst frequency.
The present Water Infrastructure and Treatment Engineering (WITE)
programme addresses medium and long term strategic research
priorities of the water utilities. Currently, the UK water
industry (through UKWIR) is providing support to the present WITE
research programme carried out at Imperial College (IC, project 1:
Management of Uncertainties and Data Accuracy for Monitoring and
Burst Detection in Water Networks) and to the research carried out
at Exeter University (EU, project 2: Whole Life Costing Approach
to Distribution Network Management). In consultations with UKWIR
during the Workshop organised for the approval of the existing
programme, it had been agreed that the next phase of the WITE
programme should include aspects of advanced leakage detection and
quantification, in which UK water companies have a strong
interest. The programme of the new project proposed here is
designed so that it covers the topics that were excluded from the
previous projects in order to allow for a gradual development of
problem solving methodology. It is thus seen as an “added value"
to the ongoing programmes. The advantage of this is significant
due to the fact that most of the software products and
problem-solving tools being developed within the present ongoing
project will be usable within the proposed research.