Emfuleni Municipality
| The Challenge The Emfuleni Municipality was faced with extremely high unaccounted for water losses in their water networks, and wished to accelerate some of the initiatives already launched to address this issue. The Solution The municipality awarded a tender to WSSA to carry out an accelerated UFW reduction programme in one of their worst UFW areas, working with their partner consultant, WRP. Achievements Through the area labour desk and community representatives, several local labour intensive UFW initiatives were launched, including: *Trial holes to locate and verify the pipe network, its diameter, material and condition * Locating and exposing all valves, control valves and pressure relief valves within the system, and cleaning and reinstating valve chambers * Locating and exposing all household meters * Identifying and repairing visible leaks within the system * Formalising illegal connections * Repairing all defective or missing meters, valves and control valves * Replacing problematic pipelines This programme progressively moved from identified zone to zone within the area, including establishing discrete zones, with cross-zone pipelines closed or metered. This was followed by mapping and hydraulic modelling, with fieldwork to determine system pressures, minimum night flows, zone and house connection metering. The second UFW reduction phase involved establishing pressure zones, further fieldwork with more sophisticated leak detection equipment and the repair of any additional leaks identified within the system. The project was extremely successful, with significant UFW reductions realised. |
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