Project · Municipality of Kütahya · Inner Aegean · 2024–2025
Network in the “critical” band: 432 faults over 348.5 km.
In an acoustic leak detection service carried out with the Water and Sewerage Directorate, the fault density found after listening to the 300 km of the initial tender rose well above international thresholds; the scope was extended and the findings were confirmed.
- Initial scope · main listened
- 300km
- Initial scope · leaks/faults found
- 403count
- Tender extension · additional listening
- 48.5km
- Tender extension · additional faults
- 29count
- Total main listened
- 348.5km
- Total faults found
- 432count
- Fault density
- 1.34faults/km/yr
Comparison with international thresholds
Acoustic detection performance is usually assessed by the number of faults per km per year. The 1.34 faults/km/yr found in the initial work at Kütahya is:
- about 3 times the acceptance limit of EU Directive 2020/2184 (~0.50),
- about ten times the AWWA North American average (~0.09),
- within the 1.0–4.0 band defined in academic work as “requiring rehabilitation”.
The extension decision and its confirmation
The high density showed the faults to be systematic, not random. Finding 29 more faults in the 48.5 km of additional listening carried out under Public Procurement Law No. 4734 confirmed the initial assessment.
Why early detection matters
Acoustic detection catches the great majority of faults before the ground breaks; it reduces the risk of a sudden burst, the cost of an emergency crew and the expense of surface repair.
Acoustic correlation · locating between two contact points
Network main survey
Source: the justification report for the Acoustic Leak Detection Service and the field record tables. Comparison values are based on peer-reviewed publications and institutional documents (AWWA 2018; EU Directive 2020/2184; MDPI Water 2023).
Result
Systematic surveying is essential.
The findings showed that the network as a whole is in a serious deterioration process and that a regular, planned acoustic survey programme is needed. Every fault found was passed to the municipality with an urgent-repair priority.
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