Scope of Services

The agreed scope of services included:
• flow and pressure logging
• house counts
• step testing
• meter readings
• usage / connection estimates
• leak location and reporting

The leaks identified should be presented and marked in such a way that our operations team readily direct contractors to make the repairs, i.e. GPS coordinates, marked drawings, location / pipe notes.

Benefits

By implementing effective leakage reduction, more treated water is available to customers and this replaces the need for development of new resources and treatments works in the longer term.

Prior to the leakage detection, many man hours spent were spent carrying out valve operations to shut down estates to allow reservoirs to fill. This work was generally carried out at night and reversed early in the morning, incurring overtime costs and associated costs.

During this time, there was a substantial increase in the number of telephone contacts increased to administration staff, technical staff and engineering staff.

Cost savings

The recovery of the supply situation during this hot weather is significant and the savings recorded to date have been in the region of 29m3/h. This saving is anticipated to greater than double when all the leaks detected have been repaired, saving over €30,000 of water at a marginal cost of €0.06.

Additional costs that need to be factored into the equation are the costs of additional valve operations at night turning off the reservoirs. There are less obvious costs associated with the interruptions to the supplies such as poor publicity, additional leaks generated and turbidity.

Increased staff costs were incurred through the additional valve operations and reaction to the customer calls. Other costs which are difficult to quantify are the impact of the regular interruptions to supply which cause an increase in leakage and water quality issues, along with poor public perception.

The overall saving projected over the full year was € 254,040.00.