A study of the administrative water loss in the drinking water network: a case study in the seventh sector in the city of Damascus

Water losses have been identified as one of the leading problems common to any water utility in the world. High levels of losses can significantly affect future water resources availability, energy consumption associated to water production and distribution, overall quality of service to customers, water quality levels and operational costs and life of the assets. Depending on their nature, the International Water Association categorises water losses in two components: real losses and apparent losses. Real losses are mainly caused by leakage in pipes, valves, tanks, and other elements in the network. Apparent losses include the volume of water stolen by the users, the measuring errors of the metres and data handling errors. The research includes a study aimed at determining the value of the total water loss in the water network in the seventh sector (the first three avenues of immigrants) in the city of Damascus, by applying an experimental study and determining the percentage of the administrative water loss contribution to the total water loss. The research also provides recommendations on best practices that must be taken into account in order to reduce water loss and conserve it in accordance with the permitted national levels.