Optimización de la Red No. 2 del Sistema de Agua Potable de la Ciudad de Riobamba

Abstract

With the Optimization of Network No. 2 of the Riobamba City Drinking Water System, it is intended to implement a process of reforms in order to improve the quality of water that has problems of hardness, iron, ammonia, nitrites, total solids, dissolved solids (TDS), residual chlorine, leaks and pressure. Sponsored by Fundación Natura and Glows. During the practical part, portable measuring equipment was used to perform in situ analysis and physical-chemical and microbiological analyses using methods and techniques based on Standard Methods at the Espoch Technical Analysis Laboratory. Preliminary analyses to determine the current state of the network yielded results of 336.86 mg/L of hardness; for iron, values in the order of 0.08 mg/L were obtained, showing that there is a directly proportional relationship between the increase in water hardness and the increase in iron in the water. In the case of ammonium and nitrite, values of 0.03 mg/L and 0.02 mg/L were recorded. The values for total solids and dissolved solids (TDS) are 467.04 mg/L and 206.18 mg/L. For residual chlorine, a value of 0.35 mg/L was measured. The pressure measured in the network is 15.37 psi, and it was determined that 53.56% of the calculated losses represent visible leaks. These results allowed to establish that the processes to optimize the network would be: to implement the chemical softening of the water by adding aluminum polychloride, which will reduce its hardness by 40% and will also reduce the presence of iron by the same percentage. In order to eliminate the sediments accumulated in the pipes and reduce the presence of solids, it was simulated by increasing the distribution time by one more hour, reducing their presence by up to 30%, since increasing the distribution time will drag a greater amount of solids. It is recommended to standardize the procedure for changing and repairing pipes to reduce leaks and ruptures in the system.