LOCALISE
This first stage helps the water utility or contractor identify areas of probable leakage, and should include the logging of flows and pressures within the water distribution network.
Flows are monitored to identify 'minimum night flows', which may be considered unusually high for the expected night-time demand in a particular area.
Pressures may also be monitored to ensure that minimum levels of service are maintained at the 'critial points'.
In some respects this step could be considered as an 'assessment' stage, and could include the formulation of 'District Metering Areas' (known as 'DMAs').
Acoustic loggers are also used in the 'Localise' stage. Deployed throught the network at regular intervals, acoustic loggers (or 'noise loggers') listen to the noise during a user selected time window of usually 2 hours, often between 02:00 and 04:00, to identify the possibility and/or probability of a leak in that area of the pipe network.
