Modeling Water Pipe Breaks—Three Case Studies
Publication: Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 129, Issue 2
Abstract
Municipal water infrastructure systems are in poor condition and are deteriorating rapidly. A general diagnosis of the actual structural state of these systems is needed, as are tools to assess their rate of deterioration. To make a diagnosis, one must collect and analyze data on the characteristics of water pipes and on their breakage histories. Unfortunately, many municipalities have only been rigorously recording breakage histories for a decade, while their pipes have been in the ground for much longer. A modeling strategy, inspired by survival analysis and using the annual number of water pipe breaks as an indicator of the structural state of a network, was applied to three municipalities characterized by their brief recorded pipe break histories. This paper presents a descriptive analysis of the water pipe and breakage data, and the application of the modeling strategy to these municipalities. Different replacement scenarios were also simulated to assess their impact on the evolution of the annual number of breaks in the three municipalities.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 129 • Issue 2 • March 2003
Pages: 115 - 123
Copyright
Copyright © 2003 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 17, 2001
Accepted: Feb 20, 2002
Published online: Feb 14, 2003
Published in print: Mar 2003
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