Approximately 60% of Riyadh’s water supply is lost through leakage in the 10,000 kilometers of pipes which transport water to the city’s 4.5 million population. The target set by the government-owned National Water Company is to reduce the volume of water and revenues that are lost to leakage to a more sustainable 20%. One of the tools being used to achieve this target is the 900 ABB AquaMaster and WaterMaster flowmeters which measure the flow and pressure of water in the network’s primary pipeline.

Adel Al-Sammak, ABB’s local business manager for instrumentation in Saudi Arabia, said: “These projects required a compact, robust and maintenance-free solution that would measure pressure as well as flow, and transmit the data via the GSM telecommunications network to the National Water Company’s central control room.”

The strong, durable design of the AquaMaster and WaterMaster ensures a long maintenance-free operating life under the most difficult conditions. They can be buried directly in the ground or submersed in water without the need for costly protective chambers. Measurement accuracy in flow and pressure enables National Water Company to know exactly how much water is flowing through the main pipeline and to detect leaks as and where they happen.