Determination water losses and leakage in water distribution networks using ZFT algorathm

The global increase in water demand due to climate change, population growth, agriculture, energy and the improvement in technology in other sectors causes the amount of water per capita to decrease day by day. It is clear that the same situation applies to our country as well. As a matter of fact, it is inevitable that our country will become a water-poor country in the near term, depending on the increase in population. Therefore, it is necessary to protect the existing water potential both on a global scale and in our country and make the best use of it. In this context, it has become mandatory to minimize losses and leakages in drinking, utility, industrial and irrigation water networks within the framework of legislation. In order to do this, first of all, it is very important to determine the losses and leaks realistically. In the current literature, there are some methods developed for this purpose, most of which are based on the pressure change in the networks. As it is known, losses and leaks in water networks are evaluated in two classes as physical and administrative losses. Separate models are proposed for the two types of losses and total losses in the current literature. The fairly new ZFT Algorithm (Zoom Function Technique) determines both losses separately and detects total losses or leaks accordingly. In this study, it is aimed to determine the losses and leakages in the drinking water networks of Bingol city center on the basis of neighborhoods with the ZFT algorithm. With the ZFT algorithm, total city and neighborhood population data, water coming into the network and recorded water consumption data are needed. Water data were obtained from Bingol Municipality. Population data were obtained from the official website of TUIK. As a result, physical, administrative and total drinking water losses/leakages of 15 neighborhoods of Bingol city center were determined by ZFT algorithm. From the difference between the consumed water data and the produced water data, the amount of water lost in January was calculated as 186540.01m3. This loss gives the rate of 28.54%. It has been stated by the Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs that a maximum loss rate of 25% should be reached. Of the neighborhoods studied, 11 neighborhoods were matched with the algorithm. A one-fifth deviation was observed for the other 4 neighborhoods.