ASSESSMENT OF THE WATER DISTRIBUTION NETWORK PERFORMANCE OF DURAME TOWN WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM

Abstract

The research work was focused on the assessment of water supply distribution network performance of Durame Town, which is the Zonal Town of Kembata Tembaro Zone in Southern Nation Nationality People Regional State of Ethiopia. The main objective of this thesis was to assess Durame Town water supply system by analyzing water demand and supply, water distribution network, water losses and leakage management of the pipe system in the service. To examine the hydraulic performance of the water distribution network system, water GEMS modeling was adopted. The model was used to identify the zone of high pressure and low pressure in junctions and the level of velocity through pipe system. The model run was performed for average velocity, peak demand and low demand to analyze the system model. Furthermore the model analysis result shows different problems of aged pipes, oversized and undersized pipes, high pressure during night flow and low pressure during day flow. As per the analyzed results; the current maximum water demand in Durame town is estimated at 6392.304m 3 /day, while small reservoirs capacity and low pump efficiency were observed in the town water distribution networks and the maximum pressure occurred at night demand is 85m which is above the recommended value. Further, the analyzed water losses result in Durame Town indicates that about 32.58% of production is Non-Revenue Water. Thereby, apparent losses cover 1.76% of total loss and 30.81% were physical losses. Accordingly, for the case of Durame Town apparent losses are less significant, however physical losses contributed unconsidered volume of lost. In general, high demand of water, small capacities of existing infrastructures and large volume of water loss lead to intermittent water distribution in Durame Town. Therefore, it is significant to rehabilitate and improve the , water demand and supply system and providing more attention for the causes of water losses, and leakage management of the Town.