Bentley Systems, Incorporated, the leading company dedicated to providing comprehensive software solutions for sustaining infrastructure, today announced that the Brazilian utility Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo (Sabesp – East Business Unit) has decreased water losses in its 272-kilometer-long Passagem Funda distribution system (Cidade Tiradentes & Santa Etelvina Sectors) by 57 percent through its use of Bentley’s WaterCAD product for water distribution modeling and management. This helped Sabesp reduce its monthly production of potable water by 440,000 cubic meters – saving the utility US$170,000 per month. Moreover, changes in the water system eliminated the need for two booster stations, reducing the utility’s energy consumption by about 8,000 kilowatt hours per month.
Located on the east side of the São Paulo Metropolitan Area, the Passagem Funda system (Cidade Tiradentes & Santa Etelvina Sectors) distributes water to 240,000 residents. High pressures, with topographic differences of up to 100 meters, and illegal service connections had been contributing to water losses of 880 liters per service connection per day. Sabesp’s use of Bentley’s innovative software helped to decrease these losses to 376 liters per service connection per day.
During the planning of this water system optimization project, Sabesp used WaterCAD to:
* identify high pressure areas in the system,
* simulate the impact of the implementation of pressure reducing valves in neighboring areas,
* analyze segments affected by ongoing construction,
* set optimal operational parameters,
* identify areas for water loss prospecting, with a view to detecting nonvisible underground leaks.
Nivaldo Rodrigues, Sabesp East Business Unit Department Manager, said, “The enormous success of this project led to our decision to deploy these robust software applications throughout our East Business Unit. By next year, we expect to have a hydraulic model for 100 percent of the water system, encompassing the entire 6,000-kilometer distribution network. With the use of Bentley’s software tools, we were able to optimize our systems and achieve great results.”
All told, Sabesp is responsible for supplying potable water to 27.2 million people and sanitation to 19.5 million people in the São Paulo Metropolitan Area. Today, the utility’s engineering, planning, and operations teams in the East Business Unit are using not only WaterCAD, but also Bentley’s WaterGEMS product for distribution modeling and management, HAMMER product for transient analysis, and SewerCAD product for sanitary sewer analysis and design.
Said Rodrigues, “Overall, Bentley’s water software applications have helped the Sabesp East Business Unit reduce both energy costs and water loss in the metropolitan region of São Paulo, saving energy and conserving water, thus preserving the local natural water resources.”
Added Bentley Director Salvio Lerner, “By taking into account the topographic and other challenges associated with its water distribution network, and working smarter empowered by Bentley’s innovative software, Sabesp is able to make well-informed decisions that best manage available resources and technology. The benefits of this are many, all of which lead to improved quality of life for the community Sabesp serves.”
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