Eficiência de medidores de pressão em redes de distribuição de água

Abstract

The water supply system (WAS) is classified as a set of structures whose objective is to distribute potable water for human consumption. In Law No. 14,026/2020, which updates the Legal Framework for Basic Sanitation, it is established that contracts related to the provision of public basic sanitation services must contain, among other goals, the reduction and control of losses in the distribution of treated water. The reduction of physical losses makes it possible to reduce production costs by reducing the consumption of electricity, in addition to providing lower expenses with replacement of networks and pavements and less negative exposure of the Service Provider in the media, besides that, it becomes possible to use the existing installations to increase the supply of water, without expanding the production system. Thus, it is possible to present the results of the evaluation carried out on the efficiency of the new tool installed and used by the Companhia de Águas e Esgotos do Rio Grande do Norte (CAERN) for measuring pressures, with remote monitoring, acting directly on the physical losses, in the framing the emergence of water leaks in supply networks in the city of Natal. Among the results, it can be seen that there is a point where the reduction reached 100% while the point of least impact showed a reduction of 16.67% in relation to the same period of the previous year. During the research, the number of leaks in water distribution networks in the neighborhoods of the South, East and West Zones of the city of Natal / RN was verified. Next, the neighborhoods with the highest rates of leaks were highlighted, and the number of occurrences (complaints) recorded as leaks in the water network were related to the diameter of the pipes. It is concluded that the remote monitoring and georeferenced pressure gauges have variable efficiency in combating physical losses when the parameterizations are achieved.