INVESTIGATION OF WATER SUPPLY COVERAGE AND WATER LOSSES IN DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM (A CASE STUDY OF WOLKITE TOWN

Abstract

Water consumption has been increasing significantly in most town due to increasing number of population economic development and expansion of towns. This study evaluate the wolkite town water supply system based on the methods used to study was by main performance indicators;- namely demand and supply, water coverage, water production, water consumption, distribution system ,water loss, customers satisfaction and operation and maintenance. To conduct this research, data was collected from primary and secondary source. Data of water production and consumption, some water supply system data were obtained from the water utility records, other data not found in the water utility records is collected using instruments (pressure, coordination .elevation and interviews) others from governmental organization. The Data was analyzed in different methods. The result shows that the annual total was 349,625m3 which accounts of 33% the total water production and higher than the generally accepted value of 25%, the average domestic water production of the town is found to be 26.3 l/per/day, average daily per capita water consumption of the town is 18.61L/person/day, the average connection per family for the entire town is found to be 0.61. This implies that at average two families and or eleven persons are sharing one connection or water tap. From 2019- 2021 the average water demand for town was calculated to be 3,418.3 m 3 /d and the total demands are 6,596.6 m 3 /day. Coverage based on demand in 2021 is 44%. The maximum day demand of the town is 7915.92 m3 /day (91.6 L/s), Peak Hour Demand is 11873.8 m 3 /day (137.4L/S). The main distribution line water does not reach to the town service reservoir because between balancing reservoir and town service reservoir 30 km length away from the town, in this area there is high loss, leakages. Due to this reason shortage of water in the town is series problems. In conclusion, the town’s water supply system is poor in managing water loss, water access, operation and maintenance with the continuous generation of water from sources continuously in to balancing reservoir. It is recommended that the water utility develop a strategy and work hard on the indicate system deficiencies especially on operation and maintenance to improve the water supply system performance and provide customers with good quality service