An assessment of sub-standard water pressure in South African potable distribution systems

Sub-standard residual water pressures in urban water distribution systems (WDS) are a prevalent phenomenon in developing countries – South Africa being no exception. The phenomenon of sub-standard pressure is poorly understood, with intermittent supply ultimately resulting when there is no residual...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of water, sanitation, and hygiene for development Vol. 7; no. 4; pp. 557 - 567
Main Authors: Strijdom, Louis, Speight, Vanessa, Jacobs, Heinz Erasmus
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: London IWA Publishing 01.12.2017
Subjects:
Business metrics
CFR
Consumers
Developing countries
Distribution
Drinking water
Environmental protection
Hydraulic models
Hydraulics
Hydrostatic pressure
LDCs
Municipalities
Nodes
Pressure
Pressure head
R&D
Regulation
Research & development
Stress concentration
Studies
Systems design
Water distribution
Water distribution systems
Water engineering
Water pressure
Water shortages
Water supply
South Africa
ISSN:2043-9083, 2408-9362
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Sub-standard residual water pressures in urban water distribution systems (WDS) are a prevalent phenomenon in developing countries – South Africa being no exception. The phenomenon of sub-standard pressure is poorly understood, with intermittent supply ultimately resulting when there is no residual pressure left in the system. This research addressed the prevalence and extent of sub-standard pressures by using hydraulic models of potable WDS for 71 South African towns, located in 17 different South African municipalities geographically spread over the country. The hydraulic models included 539,388 modelled nodes, which were analysed to determine the number of nodes with sub-standard pressure heads during peak hour flow conditions. The results show that the residual pressure head was <24 m at 16.5% of the model nodes under peak hour flow conditions, with 6.7% of the nodes having pressure heads <12 m. In contrast, the results also report relatively high pressures in certain parts of the systems, far in excess of the minimum requirement, underlining the need for better pressure management at both high and low ranges. It was also noted that the South African design criterion is relatively stringent compared with some other countries and could potentially be relaxed in future.
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ISSN:2043-9083
2408-9362
DOI:10.2166/washdev.2017.227