In 2004, the Sahara leak location system was
reintroduced into North America. Sahara is an in-line leak detection tool that identifies
leaks in pipe of any material construction type ranging from 12"(300mm) in diameter and
up. This paper discusses the experience that three large Texan water utilities (located in
Dallas, Wylie, and El Paso) have had with this tool. These utilities were motivated to
reduce the amount of water lost in their transmission systems because of a water
management strategy that emphasized conservation. They were also, however, motivated
by a fiscal desire to minimize the current value of monies spent on rehabilitating
depreciating pipeline assets. As a direct result of these inspections, one utility has been able to defer a capital
investment of almost $900,000 in scheduled line replacements based on the age of the
pipe. Another of these utilities was able to identify a number of leaks whose volume
totaled over 1,000 ML/day ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿ a volume of water equivalent to that produced by a small
water treatment plant.
As a direct result of these inspections, these utilities have established condition based
asset management programs that are based on the actual condition of the pipeline assets,
reduced their unaccounted for water loss and improved water conversation. Includes 7 references, tables, figures.
| Edition : | Vol. - No. |
| File Size : | 1
file
, 870 KB |
| Note : | This product is unavailable in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus |
| Number of Pages : | 8 |
| Published : | 06/01/2006 |
