The demand for water an already strained resource in many countries and areas is increasing
while cities are continuing to expand and populations are continuing to grow. Urbanisation
population growth migration and industrialisation are all contributing to this ever increasing
need for water (United Nations 2015 World Bank 2016). Water resources are in contrast to
the demand diminishing. This is due to the increase in demand increased polluting of water
sources as well as the impact of climate change. It is therefore inevitable that a crisis
will arise if current trends and behaviour persist. An unacceptable amount of this precious
resource is however lost unnecessarily with one of the main contributors being pipeline
leakage. By monitoring the condition and leakage of distribution and transfer pipes effective
intervention can be implemented to reduce these losses. A lot of research focuses on reducing
leakage from water distribution networks. The leakage from bulk transfer systems must however
not be overseen as large amounts of scarce and expensive water may be lost through these
systems without water utilities realising it. The University of Cape Town has developed testing
equipment for assessing and characterising leakage in distribution networks. The technique uses
pressure tests to obtain a relationship between the combined leakage flow rate of a pipe or a
pipe network and the pressure in the pipe. The characteristics of the leakage can then be
investigation by interpreting the pressure versus leakage relationship and applying the Fixed
and Variable Area Discharge concept as well as the empirical N1 equation.
