The Problem
In December 2011, Glenn Willingham, Kings Park Village manager contacted LDS Leak Detection Specialists Ltd regarding water loss on his site.
The Client
Kings Park Village is the largest Home Park in the country with approximately 900 homes and very little information regarding pipework runs and positions and the site was only metered on the incoming mains.
Project Description
Leak Detection Specialists were commissioned to formulate a plan to try and cut down their water bills as Glen Willingham believed that the charges were too high for the amount of homes on the site.
LDS’s senior engineer Barry Cronin made the first visit to site in December 2011 and carried out an initial survey using acoustical testing of approximately 100 isolation valves across the site.
Results from this initial survey flagged up 2 areas of major concern which were then reported back to the client. After excavation of the 2 areas, 2 large leaks were located and repaired. The water usage was then monitored and the figures showed that the usage had dropped by around 8000 Litres per day, a substantial saving considering that the water authorities not only charge for using but also for disposing of the water into the local sewers even if it is a leak soaking away into the ground.
Kings Park Village were very happy with the results and were eager to find any other losses on their complex water network feeding their 900 homes.
A meeting was held between LDS Leak Detection Specialists Ltd and Glen Willingham to find out how to locate any other losses ongoing on the site. It was decided that the only way would be for Kings Park to fit as many water meters as they could to any of the main water network to allow splitting up of the site and monitoring of the usage in the main pipe work compared to what is used by the homes on a daily basis and compare these figures with the main water meter that feeds the site.
As each meter was fitted and monitored over a period of time, it was found that some areas were losing up to 10 000 Litres per day ! Once areas were narrowed down by isolating and monitoring sections one at a time, Leak Detection Specialists were able to isolate the losses to smaller sections of the park enabling us to calculate losses within designated areas.
A plan was then formulated. On each occasion, Leak Detection Specialists would attend and with the use of accoustical monitoring and by injecting tracer gas into the water network, LDS were able to pinpoint leaks around the site that were costing the site fortunes in wasted water. Some areas were found to have larger leaks, some areas had multiple leaks and some areas very small leaks as little as 500 Litres per day, however Leak Detection Specialists managed to locate the leaks on an ongoing basis as each section had water meters fitted and results were monitored by Glen Willingham and supplied to Leak Detection Specialists .
