Leakage reduction in water distribution system using efficient pressure management techniques. Case study: Nagpur, India

Abstract

Abstract Leakages in water distribution system (WDS) are directly proportional to its operating pressure. Pressure management is becoming an important technique for reducing leakages in the water networks. This paper presents a pressure management technique for leakage reduction in north central WDS of Nagpur City, India, using variable speed pump and pressure reducing valves (PRVs). Variable speed pump is utilized for eliminating pressure deficiency during high demand and for reducing excess pressure causing leakage reduction during lower demand, by controlling the pump speed. PRVs have been used for further leakage reduction. This paper proposes a modified reference pressure algorithm for determining the location of valves in WDS. A multiobjective genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) is used to determine the optimized control value of pressure reducing valve with respect to change in demand pattern and to minimize the leakage rate in the WDS. Proposed pressure management technique leads to leakage reduction of 16.57% to 26.30% with respect to changes in demand pattern, causing daily average saving of 5.066 Ml. Minimum required pressure is maintained on every demand nodes to avoid pressure deficiency in WDS.