Losses in Water Distribution Systems: A Complexity
Theory Perspective
Bárbara Brzezinski Azevedo
1
&
Tarcísio Abreu Saurin
1
Received: 30 August 2017 /Accepted: 26 March 2018 /
Published online: 3 April 2018
#
Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature 2018
Abstract Water Distribution Systems (WDSs) have losses, which are difficult to be eliminat-
ed due to the complex socio-technical nature of these systems. This paper presents a systematic
review of the literature on losses in WDSs, which addresses two questions: which are the
factors that influence the complexity of WDSs, having an impact on the losses of water? How
do the methods used to control losses in WDSs account for complexity? We assumed that to be
compatible with the nature of WDSs, the loss control methods should account for five
attributes of complexity. Twenty-one factors that influence these attributes were identified
from 49 selected papers, based on a content analysis. Non-linear interactions were the attribute
most frequently accounted by the methods (36.5%), and none of the methods simultaneously
accounted for all the five attributes. The review also supported the development of a model of
the relationships between the factors that influence the complexity attributes. This model is a
basis for the analysis of the impacts of actions for tackling losses.
Keywords Water distribution systems
.
Losses
.
Complex socio-technical systems
1 Introduction
Regardless of the scarcity of fresh water usable for human consumption, many Water
Distribution Systems (WDSs) have significant losses (Hunaidi et al. 2000). Worldwide, the
levels of water loss are usually between 20% and 30% of the production of treated water, being
the water leaks the major part of this figure (Cheong 2003).
In WDSs, losses are usually classified in two types: real and apparent losses. The water
volume that is lost through leakings and the overflow of reservoirs is known as real loss, while
Water Resour Manage (2018) 32:2919–2936
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-018-1976-7
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-018-
1976-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
* Bárbara Brzezinski Azevedo
brzezinski.azevedo@ufrgs.br
1
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
@Phil_Robichaud
@deepthiw
@JoseServera