The overall runtime of leaks consists of awareness, location and repair times (ALR – see Figure 3.2 below). Long leakage runtimes will generate large amounts of water losses, even from relatively small leaks. Therefore, water utilities should always aim to reduce ALR times to the economic minimum.
References:
[22] Farley, M., Leakage Management and Control. WHO, 2001.
[77] Thornton, J., Sturm, R. and Kunkel, G., Water Loss Control. McGraw-Hill, 2008.