District Metered Area (DMA)

The concept of DMA management was frst introduced to the UK water industry in
the early 1980s in UK !eport "#$"% where a district is an area of a distri&ution
system which is specifcally defned e'g' &y the closure of (al(es and in which
the )uantities of water entering and lea(ing the district are metered' The
su&se)uent analysis of *ow particularly of the night *ow calculates the le(el of
lea+age within the district' This is to determine not only whether wor+ should &e
underta+en to reduce lea+age &ut also to compare le(els of lea+age in the
di,erent districts to assess where it is most &enefcial to underta+e lea+ location
acti(ities' The +ey to e,ecti(e management of lea+age using DMAs is to ha(e a
clear understanding of the theory of lea+age' The role of DMA management is to
di(ide the distri&ution networ+ into managea&le areas or sectors into which the
*ow can &e measured to determine whether &ursts are present'
DMAs are often used as a tool to control and dri(e down lea+age in networ+s that
ha(e recei(ed little or no lea+ location wor+ other than dealing with reported
occurrences' -nitially the DMAs will &e used as a tool to determine which parts of
the networ+ are e.periencing the highest le(el of lea+age and to discount areas
where there is limited lea+age so that resources can &e targeted to the greatest
e,ect'