A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF HYDRAULIC AND WATER RESOURCE ENGINEERING, WATER TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE, SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES, ARBA MINCH UNIVERSITY, IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING JUNE, 2021 ARBA MINCH,

Abstract

Gaps in provision of adequate water supply to rapidly growing urban population in developing country are increasing dramatically. Wolaiyta soddo Town is one of the towns faced with problem of water shortage as well as water loss. In this study, an attempt is made to evaluate both the water supply coverage and the water loss with the available secondary data those were published and unpublished document, annual report, project design document. The focus of this study is to evaluate the town distribution coverage of the water supply and evaluating the total water loss at the town level as well as pressure evaluation in the system. Water production that is only available for the entire town and the water consumption as aggregated from individual customer meter readings were used to evaluate the total water loss at town level. Moreover, records of some sample meters that get water from the same reservoir and are located in different ground elevations were evaluated so as to get some notion for any loss from customer meters. The total water loss derived from the water balance at town was compared using different performance indicators. Moreover identifying pressure in distribution system was done by using Water CADV8.0 software. Opinions of local experts that were obtained through discussion during fieldwork have been also used to support the quantitative analysis qualitatively. Finally, a methodology was suggested to better identify the loss and remedial actions to be taken by the water authority to reduce water loss were recommended. According to the analysis average per capita consumption was 24.8l/per/day, connection per family was 41.8% and the total water losses in the system were 25.24%. From analysis part, water demand and supply of the study area were not balanced and the present water supply network services of the town is not sufficient for all residents, some part of the system contains pressures above and below the maximum and minimum limit that were adapted in the distribution system and it needs adjustment. Also the annual water loss of Wolaiyta Soddo town in terms of percentage was greater than the acceptable level which is 10% that cannot be removed. The infrastructure leakage index value was obtained to be 0.87 and less than an ideal value of 1 that indicates the real loss in the system close to unavoidable