Analysis of Domestic Consumption and ...

Water is a scare resource whose conservation through water loss reduction is significant. This paper seeks to introduce the significance of comparative method that combines hydraulic flow data preparation techniques, minimum night flow method as well as classical linear regression methods to analyze customer consumption and background leakage trend. The authors selected Alexandra, a socioeconomic township in Johannesburg, South Africa, as a case study. Existing challenges in Alexandra are high population, high water demand exacerbated by ageing infrastructure and exponential background domestic leakages. The results showed the minimum night flow of 14.01 % measured at a flow rate of 196.39 l/s and a linear regression value (R2 ) of 0.096. Two comparative property consumption results show linear regression values (R2 ) of 0.0088 and 2 x 10-5 and a combined flowrate of 364.41 kl per year. The study demonstrated that combination of hydraulic flow data, minimum night flow and linear regression methods are viable alternative methods for analyzing water loss trend. The authors suggest that reduction of static pressure in water distribution systems will proportionally reduce water losses and improves the objective of water loss reduction. These results will assist policymakers and managers to improve their leakage analysis method and operational approach to minimize water leakages in socio-economic urban cities.