Water Science & Technology: Water Supply—WSTWS Vol 9 No 2 pp 141–147 © IWA Publishing 2009 doi:10.2166/ws.2009.088

Leakage management in a low-pressure water distribution network of Bangkok

Mukand S. Babel, Md. S. Islam and A. Das Gupta

Losses of water due to leakage occur in every distribution network, the only difference is in the amount of leakage. The leakage levels are relatively high in cities of developing Asian countries. Among the several factors, operating pressure is the most important affecting the leakage. This paper describes how the management of pressure can help reduce the leakage in the water distribution network. EPANET is used to develop the hydraulic model to analyse the effect of alternative pressure profiles on the leakage in a pilot area within the water distribution system of Bangkok. One of the alternatives is implemented in the field to verify the applicability of the model. Results indicate that the average reduction in pressure by 2.4 m can reduce the leakage by 12.5% of the system inflow without compromising the level of service.

Keywords: Bangkok; EPANET; leakage; pressure management; water distribution network

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