A PERFORMANCE-BASED TOOL FOR PRIORITISING WATER METER SUBSTITUTION IN A URBAN DISTRIBUTION NETWORK

Abstract

User water consumption is usually measured by volumetric water meters. Water meters also provide indispensable data used by the utilities for issuing bills, obtaining the system water balance, identifying failures in the network, water theft and anomalous user behaviour. Therefore, the utilities rely on such instruments for the technical and economic management of water systems. Despite their importance, water meters are characterised by relevant intrinsic errors that are responsible for a part of so-called apparent losses, i.e. water volumes reaching a final user without being accounted for. The aim of this paper is to provide a water meter management tool that analyses the meters performance during their operative life suggesting a replacement strategy aimed to the reduction of apparent losses. The performance analysis is based on the estimation of a composite "Replacement Indicator" (RI), obtained as combination of the most significant parameters such as meter age, network pressure, water volumes passing through the meter. A Monte Carlo uncertainty analysis was carried out in order to test the reliability and the robustness of the proposed indicator. The methodology was applied to a real case study: a district metering area in Palermo (Italy).