Color
Book a demo
Glossary
Water loss, utilities and public funding

What is District metered area (DMA)?

Definition

A district metered area, or DMA, is a section of a water distribution network with metered inflows and outflows, so consumption and leakage inside that zone can be measured on their own.

Where DMAs are used

Utilities create DMAs by closing boundary valves and metering the remaining feeds. They are a core tool of active leakage control in loss control programs. The idea also works on private networks: a campus, airport or industrial park can treat each building or loop as its own zone.

How DMA leakage is calculated

  • Net inflow: meters into the zone minus meters out of it.
  • Minimum night flow: the lowest flow in the early morning, when legitimate use is smallest.
  • Night leakage: minimum night flow minus an estimate of legitimate customer use at night.
  • Trend: a step change in night flow from one week to the next signals a new leak in that zone.

Zones inside one site

Aqueduct's water twin treats floors and lines the way a utility treats DMAs. Each block carries its own metered flow, and analytics drill down to the hour, so overnight flow on a line is visible. When the unaccounted loss term grows, the zone where it grew narrows the search before anyone opens a ceiling.

Questions

District metered area (DMA): common questions

A district metered area is a leakage management unit in a water network, defined by permanent boundaries and flow meters. Operators watch its flow, especially at night, to spot new leaks and judge whether repairs worked. Aqueduct applies the idea through non-revenue water analysis.

The M36 audit is a top-down annual balance for the whole system. A DMA is a bottom-up measurement of one zone that shows where in the network losses occur, so utilities use the audit to size the problem and DMAs to locate it.

Yes. A metered, valved zone is a natural unit for pressure control, and lower, steadier pressure reduces both leak flow and burst frequency. Pressure sensors inside the zone confirm the effect, and the zone meter shows the drop in night flow that follows.

Small enough that a new leak shows clearly in night flow, and large enough to keep the number of meters and boundary valves practical. The right size depends on network layout and connection density, so utilities design DMAs case by case and often start where losses are highest.

See Aqueduct on your own facility.

Bring a site, a utility bill or a question. We will show you where the loss is.

Book a demo Talk to our team