Preventing Leaks In Aging Water Infrastructures

Across the globe, our towns and cities depend on aging water infrastructure. Along with this, urban populations are increasing, placing growing demands on existing distribution networks. Immediate efficiency gains can be achieved by reducing the volume of water lost through leakage.

Dramatically Reducing Leakage

This can become an effective approach through reliable and early detection of leaks. Leakage was cut by nearly 40% when ABB’s world-leading flowmeters were installed in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.

Aging Water Infrastructure

Cities are at the heart of the present society. Migration towards urban environments continues without any restriction and the number of megacities with their mega populations is increasing. Although existing water distribution networks were built for a different era, the need to supply water as efficiently as possible to these growing populations is a main concern.

A key part of this is to minimize leakage in existing networks, particularly where renewing piping on a large scale is not feasible. Riyadh is a sprawling city stretching more than 200 square miles, but its 6,000 miles of piping was losing about 60% of all water transported. Any solution had to be reliable, easy to install and maintenance-free to ensure long-term productivity gains.

Reducing Leakage

Exceptionally robust solutions are required for large-scale projects to upgrade aging water distribution networks. ABB’s FlowMaster delivers excellent performance and accuracy, and it monitors how much water is flowing and detects when and where leaks occur throughout a piping network to minimize wastage.

ABB’s robust AquaMaster and WaterMaster flowmeters could deliver excellent performance even in Riyadh’s harsh climate. Their battery-powered options and maintenance-free operating life enable reliable monitoring of the most remote locations. Further, water leakage has been reduced by about 40% across Riyadh by installing ABB’s flowmeters.

The strong, durable design of ABB’s flowmeters ensures a long, maintenance-free operating life, even in the most difficult conditions.

This information has been sourced, reviewed and adapted from materials provided by ABB Measurement & Analytics.

For more information on this source, please visit ABB Measurement & Analytics.