Active Leak Detection

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active leak detection programme

Johannesburg Water has an active leak detection programme that was approved as a part of a five-year Water Demand Management strategy in August 2016.

The aim of this strategy is to implement various programmes that will ensure our water demand is reduced to within the limits of our allocation from Rand Water in terms of their Water Use License. Johannesburg Water has 15 teams that do active leak detection on a daily basis in an effort to reduce water demand within the city.

Johannesburg Water has 15 teams that do active leak detection daily in an effort to reduce water demand within the city.

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  • These are dedicated teams that survey our water infrastructure on a daily basis picking up leaks that are either visible or not reported or not visible.
  • The process that is followed is that they will inspect the water reticulation for any visible leaks. They will also use acoustic listening sticks (equipment that uses the sound the leak makes) to determine if there might be a leak on the system but not visible.
  • The visible leaks are reported daily through the SAP PM system to the relevant depot, which would then dispatch a plumbing team to repair the leak.
  • If they, through making use of the listening stick, pick up a sound that might be invisible, it is further investigated by using ground microphones and leak noise correlators. These types of equipment allow the operator to pinpoint the invisible leak more accurately since it is not visible. This will then allow once reported the plumbing team to excavate at the correct location and repair the leak.
  • These leak detection teams cover more than 10,500km of our water infrastructure per annum. This is more than 85% of the infrastructure length.
  • On average per annum, these teams report 1,456 burst pipes, 5,227 leaking meters, 341 leaking valves and 217 leaking hydrants. These leaks are repaired by the network plumbing teams within the specified response times.
  • Annually 8,100 Ml of water is saved due to this programme.