Investigation of Qom Rural Area Water Network Accident in 2010 and Minimization Approaches of Accident Frequencies

Background & Aims of the Study: Accidents in water networks can lead to increase the uncounted water, costs of repair, maintenance, restoration and enter water contaminants to water network. The aim of this study is to survey the accidents of Qom rural water network and choose the right approaches to reduce the number of accidents. Materials & Methods:  In this cross-sectional study, four sector of Qom province (Markazi, Dastjerd, Kahak and Qahan), were assessed over a period of 8 months (July – January 2010). This study was conducted through questionnaire of Ministry of Energy. Results: The total number of accidents was 763. The highest number of accidents in the four sectors was related to Markazi sector with 228 accidents. According to the time of the accident, the highest and lowest number of accident was related to September (19.7%) and November (6.8%), respectively. According to the location of the accident on network, the highest and lowest number of accident was related to distribution network (64%) and connections (17.5%) and transmission pipe (18.34%), respectively. According to the type of the accident, the highest and lowest number of accident was related to breaking (47.8%) and gasket failure (1.2%), respectively. Considering with the pipes’ material, the highest and lowest number of accident was related to polyethylene pipes (93%) and steel and cast iron pipes (0.5%, 0.5%), respectively. Conclusions: Due to the high break rate of Polyethylene pipes, it is recommended to be placed in priority of leak detection and rehabilitation.