Caspian Journal of Applied Sciences Research, 2(AICCE'12 & GIZ' 12), pp.

205-211, 2013
Available online at http://www.cjasr.com
ISSN: 2251-9114, 2012 CJASR

AWAM International Conference on Civil Engineering & Geohazard Information Zonation

Water Loss Estimation Using Minimum Night Flow in Kinta Valley, Malaysia
Jaber M. A. Alkasseh1, Mohd Nordin Adlan1*, Hj. Ismail Abustan1 and Abu Bakar Mohamad Hanif2
1School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Penang, Malaysia
2Perak Water Board, Jalan St John, 30000 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia.
*corresponding author: Tel: 04-5996252, Fax: 04-5941009,
E-mail: cenordin@eng.usm.my
In 2010, the average percentages of non-revenue water (NRW) for Malaysia and the state of Perak were 36.4%
and 29.4% respectively; this led to high costs of maintenance and operation of the reticulation system. In this
study, the appropriate time band of the minimum night flow (MNF), and the actual water loss or the amount of
NRW, for the district of Kinta in Perak, Malaysia, were investigated. Furthermore, data analysis on the main
characteristics of the water reticulation systems was carried out. The flow and pressure for 361 zones were
monitored for 24 h by the Perak Water Board (Lembaga Air Perak, LAP) using PrimeWorks software (version:
1.5.57.0). Out of the 361 zones, 30 study zones were randomly selected. The frequency of occurrence of the
minimum flow was analyzed in each fifteen minute within the time interval of 1:005:00 am during 2010. For
each day, one set of MNF data was recorded. Hence, 60% of the frequencies were found to be at the time band
3:00 am to 4:00 am, whereas 95% of the frequencies were at time band 1:45 am to 4:45 am. Based on water
distribution networks analysis, it was found that the total length of the water reticulation system for the 30
selected zones is 194,459 m. Pipes with diameters less than or equal to 200 mm constituted approximately 95.1%
of the total length. The majority of pipe diameters are 100 mm AC, 150 mm AC, and 150 mm UPVC at 24.9%,
18.2%, and 31.4%, respectively. The percentage of AC pipes is approximately 47.4% of the total length.
Additionally, 85.4% of total length of pipe is between 11 and 40 years old.
Key word: minimum night flow; PrimeWorks; water distribution system; water loss.

(WDSs), especially in the reduction of

underground leaks and unaccounted for water
(Uyak et al., 2007).
Water losses are present in every water supply
system and the most commonly used method to
evaluate the leakage level in a water network is the
minimum night flow (MNF) technique (Garca et
al., 2006). The MNF is the measured flow into a
controlled area (district meter area or DMA) of the
network during the period of minimum demand
between 1:00 am and 4:00 am. MNF can be an
indicator of distribution leakage and consumer
wastage. The characteristics of the area can have a
significant impact on MNF. In small residential
areas, the lowest night flow consists of supply pipe
leakage, legitimate night domestic demand and
unavoidable consumer wastage from dripping taps.
In larger areas, legitimate use includes nondomestic night time consumption (Johnson et al.,
2009). A study was conducted in Ottawa, Canada
to estimate the background leakage, residential
night water demand and pressure-leakage
relationships.
Night flow and pressure for
residential district-metered areas were measured

1. INTRODUCTION
Water is one of the main sources for living, and
water loss is one of the major issues in water
management. Water loss is a part of non-revenue
water (NRW). Controlling and reducing NRW is
one of the subjects to consider in sustaining water
resources. NRW control is a high priority of the
Malaysian Government (Ku-Mahamud et al.,
2005). The Malaysian Water Industry Guide
(MWIG, 2011) reported that the average
percentages of NRW for Malaysia and the state of
Perak in 2010 were 36.4% and 29.4%,
respectively. These figures resulted in major
financial, supply, and pressure losses as well as
excessive energy consumption (pumping) and the
associated carbon footprint. The excessive leakage
can also cause contaminant intrusion under low- or
negative-pressure conditions within the pipe,
which may lead to harmful or even serious water
quality incidents (Boulos and AbouJaoude, 2011).
In contrast, financial, environmental, and social
benefits may be gained by improving the
management of Water Distribution Systems

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Alkasseh et al.
Water Loss Estimation Using Minimum Night Flow in Kinta Valley, Malaysia

and analyzed. Based on the fieldwork, the

residential demand generally decreased over night;
the maximum decrease was observed during the
periods 1:00-3:00am and 1:30-3:30 am. Besides,
there were short periods over which the flow rate
remained almost constant. This indicated that there
was no residential demand during these periods
and subsequently the background leakage level
might be assumed to be equal to the rate of MNF
(Hunaidi and Brothers, 2007).
Currently water loss management is one of the
research priorities for the International Water
Association (IWA) (Munoz-Trochez et al., 2010).
Generally IWA Operation and Maintenance
Specialist Group and its Water Loss Task Force in
particular, have led to a set of performance
indicators ideally suited to assess the water loss
situation and to quantify the components of NRW
(Liemberger and Farley, 2004).
Another study confirmed that the continuous
measurement of inflow to the water supply zones
allows identification of leakages. The zones for
monitoring have to be selected in such a way that
they are not too large to keep the variations during
night consumption within a tolerable range. An
appropriate size would be at approximately 5,000
inhabitants or a pipe length of 15 km (Kober,
2007).
The MNF analysis and Epanet Calibrator
Software were applied to two water distribution
systems of South Brazil (Cheung et al., 2010). The
leakage was estimated when the flow into the
DMA was at its minimum, which occurred
between 1:00am and 4:00am when the
consumption was minimal, and the leakage
components were at their largest. The field tests
were carried out between 2:00 am and 4:00 am,
during which most households tanks were full and
most users did not use water. The assessment of
real losses using both methods presented relatively
similar results. They concluded that the MNF
technique was mostly preferred by the practitioners
as the mathematical modeling was still an
unreached reality in water companies mainly in
developing countries.
A methodology was developed to evaluate
NRW and losses in water distribution networks by
applying annual water balance and MNF analyses
in combination with a hydraulic simulation model,
such as EPANET and geographic information
system (GIS models). This case study was carried
out in an Iranian town. For estimation of small
night uses, the authors proposed that the total
active population during nighttime may be
considered to be about 6% of the total population.

The lowest MNF rate was recorded from 3:00 am

to 4:00 am. Results showed that the total leakage
calculated by the model was the same as the results
of the MNF method obtained from the field
(Tabesh et al., 2009).
The component of real losses can be determined by
applying the MNF principle. The real loss
component was estimated by subtracting an
assessed amount of legitimate night consumption
for each of the customers connected to the mains in
the zone being studied from the MNF (found to
occur between 02:00 am and 04:00 am)
(Liemberger and Farley, 2004)
A major amount of treated water is lost before it
reaches the consumer, due to pipe burst or leakage.
The amount of water leaked in water distribution
systems varies widely between different countries,
regions and systems, from low (37%) in well
maintained systems to high (50%) in less well
maintained systems (Puusta et al., 2010) and water
losses can be caused by a number of different
factors. Some examples depend on the length of
the network, number of service connections,
pressure fluctuation over the day, pipe material,
soil characteristics, quality of construction, level of
internal and external pipe protection, kind of
maintenance and upkeep of the network and age of
the system (Gomes et al., 2011).
The failure data gathered from the water mains
of the UKs water industry over many years were
published in 2006. Results show that the worst
performing pipes are the old cast iron pipes that
have been in the ground for many years. The next
poorest are the asbestos cement pipes, which are
already coming to the end of their useful life. The
next highest failure rates are from the PVC and
iron pipes, and the lowest failure rates belong to
the PE pipes (Walton and Al-Muhairi, 2008).
In general, most of the previous studies
(Liemberger and Farley, 2004; Hunaidi and
Brothers, 2007; Adlan et al. 2009; Johnson et al.
2009; Tabesh et al. 2009; Cheung et al. 2010)
identified the period of MNF to be between
1:00am and 4:00 am. However the detailed
procedure to arrive at this conclusion was not fully
clarified. Considering this gap, an attempt was
made in the present study, to determine the
appropriate time band of MNF for a strategic water
supply network in Malaysia (Kinta district, Perak
state). The PrimeWorks software (version:
1.5.57.0) which is an excellent tool for handling
water supply problems, was employed in
conjunction with Microsoft office excel 2007 and
Minitab version 16. Screening of recorded data of
MNF for 30 DMA in the time interval between

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Caspian Journal of Applied Sciences Research, 2(AICCE'12 & GIZ' 12), pp. 205-211, 2013

1:00 5:00 am was carried out, and the frequency

of time of MNF was analyzed using Minitab
version 16 in each 15 minute. Data analysis on the
main characteristics of the water reticulation
systems were carried out.
2.

of 361 study zones of the Kinta District. The

results obtained could be generalized for the
remaining districts.
3.
3.1.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Data collection and analysis

THE STUDY AREA

Out of 361 zones, 30 DMAs were randomly
selected. The 30 DMAs were chosen using the
random function of Excel 2007. Using
PrimeWorks (version: 1.5.57.0), data of flow and
pressure during 2010 for the 30 DMAs were
collected from the records of the water network in
the study areas. The water supply system in those
areas is managed by the Perak Water Board
(Lembaga Air Perak, or LAP). Flow and pressure
were monitored every 15 min for 24 h. Automatic
and continuous monitoring were achieved through
the implementation of DMA management using an
electronic data logger. The pressure entering the
zones was controlled through pressure reducing
valves (PRV). Via PrimeWorks, data of flow and
pressure were plotted, as shown in Fig. 2. Sorting
and filtering through the recorded data of flow for
30 DMAs from the time interval between 1:00 am
to 5:00 am was carried out as MNF using
Microsoft Office Excel 2007.
The MNF and the related time were screened in
the time band 1:00 am to 5:00 am. For each day,
one recorded data of MNF in the time band 1:00
am to 5:00 am were reported. The frequency of the
MNFs occurrence in 30 study areas was analyzed
for 15 min each; one frequency equals one data per
day. Fig. 3 demonstrates the frequency of MNF in
30 zones in 2010. The total frequencies (days) was
4,202.

The study area is situated in the Kinta District, one

of the ten administrative districts of the state of
Perak, Malaysia, (Fig. 1). According to MWIG
(2011), approximately 99.2% of Peraks
population has access to water supply. The total
number of connections was 665,674 (88.3%
domestic and 11.7% non-domestic), the total
length of different types of pipes was
approximately 10,792 km, serving a population of
224/km. The NRW percentage for Perak in 2010
was 29.4%.
Previously, a study was conducted at a single
zone (Taman Anda, Ipoh) of the Kinta District to
quantify the amount of NRW based on pressure
reduction in the network, and to reduce leakage in
the water supply system. The study included DMA
management and night flow analysis. The study
was carried out from 12 midnight to 4:00 am. MNF
was estimated based on 30 random samples from
the consumers water meters between 2:00 am to
4:00 am. Overall percentage of leakage for the
study area was determined to be 26% (Adlan et al.,
2009). This study was extended in the present
work, which focused on identifying the MNF and
the leakage, and the eventual assessment of water
loss for the whole Kinta District. This objective
was accomplished by analyzing the flow and
pressure data for 30 DMAs randomly selected out

Fig.1: Kinta District, Perak, Malaysia

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Alkasseh et al.
Water Loss Estimation Using Minimum Night Flow in Kinta Valley, Malaysia

Fig. 2: MNF (6.00 L/s, 3:45 am) of the zone, IP222 TAMAN SYABAS BARU for the date 01-02/02/2010.

Fig. 3: The frequency of MNF of 30 zones selected in Kinta Valley in 2010.

Based on the frequency of time for the MNF,
the mean MNF for each zone in 2010 was
determined to be between 1:00 am and 5:00 am.
The mean of pressure during that time period was
determined.
According to the LAP, the characteristic of the
reticulation systems for particular zones was
identified; mainly, the total length of reticulation
system (meter), number of connections, age of
pipes (year), and type of reticulation pipe (Table
1).

4.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Via PrimeWorks and Microsoft Office Excel 2007,

sorting and filtering through the recorded data of
minimum flow for 30 DMA between 1:00 am and
5:00 am was carried out as the MNF. The
frequency of time of MNF was analyzed using
Minitab version 16 for 15 min each to investigate
the time band of the MNF.
Hence, 60% of the frequencies were found to be

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Caspian Journal of Applied Sciences Research, 2(AICCE'12 & GIZ' 12), pp. 205-211, 2013

Table 1: Characteristic of reticulation systems for the zone IP19 TAMAN SRI SAYANG
Name of zone

No of
Connection

Total length of
reticulation system
(m)

Type of reticulation
pipe

1112

1380

100mm AC

3968

150mm AC

22

4543

150mm UPVC

23

1243

155mm UPVC

12

263

200mm UPVC

23

438

250mm AC

22

167

250mm MS

23

IP19 TAMAN SRI

SAYANG

at the time band 3:00 am to 4:00 am, whereas 95%

of the frequencies were at time band 1:45 am to
4:45 am. The present finding on the MNF time
band (3:00 am to 4:00 am) is consistent with the
findings obtained from previous study (Tabesh et
al., 2009).
Fig. 3 shows that 84.9% of the frequencies of
MNF for the 30 study areas were found at the time
band 2:15 am to 4:15 am. However, the minimum
frequencies were observed at 1:00 am, 1:15 am,
and 5:00 am. The MNF time band (2:15 am to 4:15
am) is consistent with those obtained by the
previous workers (Liemberger and Farley, 2004;
Hunaidi and Brothers, 2007; Adlan et al., 2009;
Johnson et al., 2009; Cheung et al., 2010), as
summarized in Table 2.
According to the LAP, the characteristics of the
reticulation systems for the particular zones were
identified, including total length of the reticulation
system (meter), number of connections, age of
pipes (year), and type of reticulation pipe. Table 1
shows that each study zone has a different type of
reticulation pipe.

17

Based on water distribution networks analysis,

the total length of each type of pipe for the 30
selected zones is illustrated in Fig. 4. The total
length of the water reticulation system for the 30
selected zones is 194,459 m. Pipes with diameters
of less than or equal to 200 mm constituted
approximately 95.1% of this total length. The
majority of pipe diameters are 100 mm AC, 150
mm AC, and 150 mm UPVC at 24.9%, 18.2%, and
31.4%, respectively. The percentage of AC pipes is
approximately 47.4% of the total length.
Approximately 98.7% of the pipe length were
aged less than or equal to 50 years, whereas the
majority of the pipe length (85.4%) for the 30
study areas is between 11 and 40 years and about
56.4% of pipe length is between 20 and 40 years,
as shown in Fig. 5. Since the age of the asbestos
cement pipes is almost 25 years, it is the right time
for the water authority to replace them. This is
consistent with previous study (Walton and AlMuhairi, 2008; Adlan et al., 2009).

Table 2: Comparison of MNF time band with previous works

Time band of
MNF
2:00-4:00 am
1:30-3:30 am
2:00-4:00 am
1:00-4:00 am
1:00-4:00 am
2.15-4.15 am

Age of Pipes
(year)

Country

Reference

UK
Canada
Malaysia
UK
Brazil
Malaysia

Liemberger and Farley (2004)

Hunaidi and Brothers (2007)
Adlan et al. (2009)
Johnson et al. (2009)
Cheung et al. (2010)
Present work

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Alkasseh et al.
Water Loss Estimation Using Minimum Night Flow in Kinta Valley, Malaysia

Fig. 4: The total length of each type of pipe.

Fig. 5: The age of pipe

5.

MNF is analyzed using Minitab version 16 in each

15 minute. It is found that, the maximum
frequency of occurrence of MNF (60%) is during
3:00-4:00 am, while the minimum frequencies are
at 1:00 am, 1:15 am and 5:00 am, whereas 95% of
the frequencies were at the time band 1:45 am to
4:45 am Furthermore, a data analysis on the main
characteristics of the water reticulation systems
was performed. Based on water distribution
networks analysis, it was found that the total length
of the water reticulation system for the 30 selected
zones is 194,459 m. Pipes with diameters of less
than or equal to 200 mm constituted approximately
95.1% of this total length. The majority of pipe

CONCLUSION

In the present study, the time band for MNF in a

Malaysian water network (situated in Perak) is
determined by the combined use of Prime Work
software, Microsoft Excel 2007 (for randomization
of DMAs, and screening of MNF) and Minitab
version 16 (for analyzing the frequency of the time
of MNF), in order to assess the water loss. The
flow and pressure for 361 zones in the Kinta
District are monitored during 24 hours by using
PrimeWorks software. Screening of recorded data
of MNF for 30 DMA between 1:00 am and 5:00
am is carried out, and the frequency occurrence of

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Caspian Journal of Applied Sciences Research, 2(AICCE'12 & GIZ' 12), pp. 205-211, 2013

diameters are 100 mm AC, 150 mm AC, and 150

mm UPVC at 24.9%, 18.2%, and 31.4%,
respectively. The percentage of AC pipes is
approximately 47.4% of the total length. In
addition, 85.4% of total length of pipe is aged
between 11 and 40 years. Since the age of the
asbestos cement pipes is almost 25 years, it is the
right time for the water authority to replace them.

Hunaidi O, Brothers K (2007). Night flow analysis

of pilot DMAs in Ottawa. Water Loss
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Association, Bucharest, Romania, pp. 32-46.
Johnson M, Ratnayaka DD, Brandt MJ (2009).
TWORTS water Supply. 6th ed. Oxford,
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Kober E (2007). Sustainable reduction of water
loss in urban water distribution systems.
Proceedings of IWA Specialist Conference
on Water Loss, Bucharest, Romania, pp.
493-500.
Ku-Mahamud KR, Abu-Bakar MS, Wan-Ishak
WH (2005). Modeling the Perlis Non
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the Perak Water
Board (Lembaga Air Perak, LAP) for their support
and for providing the required data for this study.
The authors also acknowledge the Ministry of
Higher Education Malaysia for providing LRGS
Grant No. 203/PKT/6726001- River bank/bed
Filtration for Drinking Water Source Abstraction
to fund this research. Special thanks are also
expressed to the Institute of Postgraduate Studies,
Universiti Sains Malaysia, for their statistical
assistance.
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