Saving Water Is a Big Topic For The World
Water is an essential need for all living beings to survive on earth. Water resources are gradually decreasing due to water pollution, climate change, structuring in water basins due to rapid population growth and changing consumption habits. This shows that each stakeholder should take responsibility for water protection. Today, zero energy buildings are one of the major initiatives to reduce the water footprint in the world.
According to UN World Water Devolopment Report 2020, global water use has increased by a factor of six over the past 100 years and continues to grow steadily at a rate of about 1% per year as a result of increasing population, economic development and shifting consumption patterns. Combined with a more erratic and uncertain supply, climate change will aggravate the situation of currently water-stressed regions, and generate water stress in regions where water resources are still abundant today (UN, 2020).
Majority of Water Losses Occur with Leakage
Besides factors such as climate change and the chemical content of water, most of the water losses occur with leakage during the transportation and storage of water.
All around the world there is about USD 14,5 billion lost in drinking water every year. That comes from mainly leakege reasons. Water leaks in homes of the US can exceed 1 trillion gallons per year. That’s equivalent to the yearly amount of water used in Los Angelas, Miami and Chicago together. Solutions developed for leak detection and the use of modern pipes are important tools to reduce the rate of water leakage. In addition to this, according to World Bank, approximately 45 million m3 of water (the amount corresponding to the needs of approximately 200 million people) is lost in drinking water networks daily (The World Bank, 2018).
Corrosion damage such as material loss, calcification, crusting and increased internal surface roughness, and incorrect installation, welding failures in distribution lines are the main causes of water losses during the transportation and storage of water. As in the infrastructure installation, the selection of installation materials is important to prevent water leakages in the building interior installation.
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Everything is connected — Sustainability at GF Piping Systems
Prevention of Water Leaks Is Possible By Using Quality Materials
33% of the world's drinking water is lost due to leakage incthe aging infrastructure. The majority of water networks is made of steel, which corrodes. Corrosion results in incrustation, creducing flow, and polluting the medium. Furthermore, corrosion reduces wall thickness, causing holes and pipe bursts, leading to expensive damage and water loss.
One of the most important and main reasons of water losses & leaks is improper installation in distribution lines, and wrong welding is required. Welding methods of carrier pipelines and quality control of these sources play a determining role in loss & leakage amounts and rates. The use of plastic pipes in infrastructure systems and buildings minimizes water leaks . While welding quality cannot be controlled by non-destructive methods (NDT) especially in polymer mains lines, today, it is always very easy to perform source control with non-destructive inspection methods and it aims to eliminate the existing risks and prevent water leaks by providing high reliability results.
It is clear that if we do not invest in sustainable technologies, we will face many irreversible challenges.