The process from abstracting water – essential for the continuity of life – at its source to delivering it to the user is of vital importance for urban life in terms of development. In our country, with the 10th Development Plan, the matters of “meeting all of the drinking and utility water needs of settlements, preventing water losses and leakages, and improving existing networks while expanding the use of healthy and environmentally friendly materials” – that is, preventing water losses and, to achieve this, the city’s infrastructure investments – have come to occupy a strategic position, particularly for local authorities.
With the Regulation on the Control of Water Losses in Drinking Water Supply and Distribution Systems, published on 8 May 2014, a new page was turned in the sector and in our country with regard to preventing water losses and leakages.
Following the regulation, the Turkish Water Loss and Leakage Forum & Exhibition, the first of which we held in 2014, has become an important platform where the most effective use of water resources, reducing non-revenue water losses in drinking water supply, efficiency improvements, integrated water management, and the presentation and wider adoption of successful best-practice applications are discussed and presented.
Organised by the Infrastructure and Trenchless Technologies Association, the Forum & Exhibition has, since 2014, brought together water management professionals, local authorities, universities, irrigation associations and the finance sector, with more than 8,000 visitors, shaping the dynamics of the sector.