The Port of Palma allocates €189,000 a year to detect and repair leaks in the drinking water network
Palma
23/09/2020
Over the next four years, the Port Authority of the Balearic Islands (APB) has agreed to allocate an annual €189,000 to detecting and repairing leaks in the Port of Palma’s water supply. This project is part of the APB's initiative to optimise the efficiency of the drinking water network, which began in 2016 with the implementation of a Smart Metering Network (SMN). This system provides real time information on consumption and minimises losses generated by incidents in the network.
In addition, this initiative at the Port of Palma will serve as a pilot project to implement identical control methods at the other public ports in the Balearic Islands.
The SMN can be used to remotely calculate the water consumption of sailing concessions and facilities and the supply of water to ships, among others. Once a day, the network collects the hourly values of the 238 meters and simultaneously classifies the different meters according to their use (APB's own consumption, premises, sailing, industrial, cruise ships and irrigation). The information provided is of paramount importance when making decisions on optimisation. Thus, the gardens are watered with recycled water, and a study is being conducted to assess whether this can be extended to other areas, such as boat cleaning, regulations permitting.
Leak detection
The current investment aims to ensure efficient water management and reduce water losses in the 30,628 m of the water supply network in the Port of Palma.
In addition, ongoing monitoring of the network will help to detect irregularities in the meter readings and by extension, any excessive consumption. On many occasions, these abnormal readings are caused by leaks and incidents in the transport and distribution network, which can be identified, located and repaired, if necessary, as quickly as possible.
