A Survey of Water Loss in Ramotswa, Botswana
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A SURVEY OF WATER LOSSES THE CASE OF THE RAMOTSWA VILLAGE IN BOTSWANA Ezekiel Kholoma August 2011 TRITA-LWR Degree Project 11:37 ISSN 1651-064X LWR-EX-11-37 Ezekiel Kholoma TRITA LWR Degree Project 11:37 © Ezekiel Kholoma 2011 Masters level Degree Project Department of Land and Water Resources Engineering KTH Royal Institute of Technology SE-100 44 STOCKHOLM, Sweden Reference should be written as: Kholoma, E (2011) “A Survey of Water Losses – The Case of The Ramotswa Village in Botswana” TRITA LWR Degree Project 11:37 ii A survey of water losses – The case of the Ramotswa village in Botswana SAMMANFATTNING (SUMMARY IN SWEDISH) Vattenrelaterade problem i större befolkningscentra i Botswana fortsätter oavbrutet att växa. Problemen kan hänföras till snabbt växande vattenbehov, minskade vattentillgångar, söderfallande infrastruktur och vattenförluster. Flera rapporter visar att p.g.a. det växande problemet att förse alla med dricksvatten har vattenansvariga satsat mest på öka tillgångarna och mindre på att spara och skydda vattenresurserna. Den senaste ombyggnaden av Dikgathlongreservoaren är ett sådant exempel. Emellertid förloras en stor del av vattnet under distributionen inom många områden. De högsta förlusterna har rapporterats från Ramotswa. Den här studien gjordes för att undersöka faktor och orsaker till vattenförluster i Ramotswa med syftet att förbättra distributionssystemets effektivitet och spara på vatten. Data från undersökningen erhölls ur tidigare rapporter, fältinventeringar och genom intervjuer. Läckage från huvudvattenledning, serviceledningar, reservoarer och ventiler, ej registrerad konsumtion och stölder befanns vara de viktigaste orsakerna till förlusterna. Vattenverkets åtgärder för läckagekontroll var ineffektiva p.g.a. en alltför passiva ansats till att försöka finna och minska på läckagen. I studien föreslås att alla de olika användningarna och förlusterna som utgör distributionssystemets vattenvolym skall identifieras och kvantifieras separat och kontrollåtgärder utvecklas och tillämpas för var och en av vattenförlusterna. iii Ezekiel Kholoma TRITA LWR Degree Project 11:37 iv A survey of water losses – The case of the Ramotswa village in Botswana ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, my greatest gratitude goes to all the lecturers and support staff in the Department of Land and Water Resources Engineering at KTH for truly enlightening me and inculcating a good character in me. This project bears an imprint of contributions of many other people I would like to thank. Thank you very much Associate Professor Jan-Erik Gustafsson (Supervisor and lecturer, KTH Royal Institute), for the great input, guidance and support in the entire research project, Mr. Moeti Matswiri (WUC), Mr. Kgakgamatso Sefetoleng, (WUC), Mr. Maforaga (WUC), Mr. Tlagae, (WUC), Mr. Maipelo Raditsebe, Mr. Geoffrey M. Babusi (DWA), Mr. Ketshabelakae Sebogwe (WUC) and the people of Ramotswa for providing the much needed data and the support and guidance during the field visits. I would also like to thank in a special way my family, friends and KTH colleagues for being there all the time to provide support and love. My genuine benediction goes to Tshepang Kgadimapa, Dintle Lekgowe, Gomotsang Tiro Kokwe, and Peo Roco Kokwe for the assistance they offered during the surveys. Finally, my heartfelt appreciation goes to the Management of the Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST) for the sponsorship. Through your support, I am a better person, academically advanced and socially developed. God bless you all. v Ezekiel Kholoma TRITA LWR Degree Project 11:37 vi A survey of water losses – The case of the Ramotswa village in Botswana TABLE OF CONTENTS Sammanfattning (Summary in Svenska) iii Acknowledgements v Table of contents vii Abbreviations ix Abstract 1 Introduction 1 The research problem 2 Motivation 3 Research Objectives 3 Background 3 Water Supply and Distribution Systems 4 Designs of Supply Systems 4 Layouts of Distribution Systems and Factors affecting them 4 Distribution reservoirs 6 Service connection pipes 6 Water Loss Management 7 Physical or Real Water Losses 8 Apparent Water Losses 11 The Study Area 11 Location and Population 11 Topography, Geology and Hydrology 12 Climate 13 Social, Commercial and Industrial activities 13 Water Demand, Supply and Distribution 13 Water Losses 13 Methods 13 Data collection from reports and other publications 14 Oral Interviews of the water utilities personnel 14 Infrastructure Surveys 14 Identifying leaks and measuring leak flow rates on the supply mains 15 Identifying leaks and measuring leak flow rates on service pipelines 15 Oral interviews of sampled customers 15 The sampling frame 15 The sampling method 15 The sample size 16 Implementing the plan 16 Findings 17 Water demand and supply management 17 The water supply and distribution system 17 The old water supply and distribution system 17 vii Ezekiel Kholoma TRITA LWR Degree Project 11:37 The new water distribution system 18 Maps of the distribution system 18 Water losses 18 The water balance of the DWA 19 Physical (Real) water losses 19 Apparent Losses 20 Data analysis and discussions 21 Water resources, demand and supplies management 21 Management transformations 22 Water conservation through use of tariffs 23 Customer involvement in water loss control 24 Infrastructure management 24 Maps of the distribution 24 Security of infrastructure 25 Water loss management 25 The water balance used by the DWA 25 Real losses management 26 Apparent water loss 29 Conclusions and suggestions 30 Conclusions 30 Suggestions 31 References 32 Other references 35 Appendices I A. A sample of records of water losses (%) in major villages (CSO-B, 2009) I B. The South-East District location in Botswana I C. Map of the South East District in Botswana II D. Public questionnaire – (March - May 2011) III E. Totals of responses from different wards IV F. Statistical records and analysis V G. An extract of the DWA Water balance sheet VI viii A survey of water losses – The case of the Ramotswa village in Botswana ABBREVIATIONS ALC Active Leakage Control ALI Apparent Loss Index AWWA American Water Works Association BNWMP Botswana National Water Master Plan BNWMPR National Water Master Plan Review BWP Botswana Pula CAR Centre for Applied Research CARL Current Annual Real Losses CSO-B Central Statistics Office - Botswana DEA-B Department of Environmental Affairs-Botswana DMA District Metered Areas DWA Department of Water Affairs ELL Economic Leakage Level ILI Infrastructure Leakage Index IWA International Water Association IWA-WLTF IWA – Water Loss Task Force MDG Millennium Development Goals MNF Minimum Night Flow NRW Non-Revenue Water NWWA New Zealand Water Works Association OFWAT Office of Water Services SEDC DDP SEDC District Development Plan SEDC South-East District Council SMEC Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation UARL Unavoidable Annual Real Losses UFW Unaccounted For Water UNDP United Nations Development Program WLM Water Loss Management WTP Water Treatment Plant WUC Water Utilities Corporation ix Ezekiel Kholoma TRITA LWR Degree Project 11:37 x Ezekiel Kholoma TRITA LWR Degree Project 11:37 ABSTRACT Water-related problems in major populated areas of Botswana continue to grow unabated. At the heart of these problems are escalating demands, dwindling water supplies, deteriorating infrastructures and water losses. Several reports indicate that water managers in this area have been engrossed more on increasing supplies and less on demand management and conservation. The latest construction of the Dikgatlhong Dam is an example of the measures taken to supplement the existing water sources. However, much of the supplied water continues to be lost from the distribution systems of some of the villages. The highest losses have been reported in the Ramotswa village. This study surveyed the causes of the water losses and factors affecting their developments and frequencies. The study’s view was that reducing those losses would improve the system efficiency and save more water for supplies. The data for the study was acquired from reports of earlier studies, field visits and oral interviews administered on the water managers and consumers. Leakages from the Boatle-Ramotswa supply pipeline, service pipes, reservoirs and valves, unmetered fire- fighting consumptions and water theft were identified to be the main sources of the losses. The utility’s loss control activities were inefficient due to the lack of measures for identifying and reducing each individual loss. The study proposed that all the different uses and losses into which the system input volume goes should be identified and measured and measures for controlling each of them be designed and instituted. Keywords: Ramotswa, Unaccounted-for-water, Apparent-loss, Real-loss, Authorized-consumption, Active-leakage-control INTRODUCTION The distribution systems in major villages of Botswana were established at the beginning of the country’s independence. SMEC (2003) indicated that the systems have been expanding as the populations continued to grow. The Majelantle (2009) and Arntzen (2006) others also showed that cracks and other defects have been slowly developing on some of the infrastructures. The problem has been reported to be more predominant in the villages surrounding Gaborone city e.g. Tlokweng, Mogoditshane, Gabane, Ramotswa etc. In their attributions, Arntzen (2006) and Hambira et al (2007) related the problem of the inefficiency of the distribution systems to the poor infrastructure