Failure Assessment Modeling to Prioritize Water Pipe Renewal: Two Case Studies
Publication: Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 15, Issue 3
Abstract
Studies indicate an urgent need to upgrade the nation’s aging and deteriorating water distribution systems so they can provide customers with reliable and safe water supplies. In response, water utilities apply performance measurement initiatives including pipeline asset management, which requires condition assessment to identify failure-prone pipes and prioritize their renewal. However, the below-ground location of pipes and lack of standard guidelines or tools make pipeline assessment and renewal decisions difficult. This paper presents a model that uses data commonly found in utilities to assist them with their pipe renewal decisions. The model has unique features that increase its responsiveness to industry needs, and it was developed and tested with collaboration of utility professionals. Two case studies illustrate the model’s application to the study of pipes in early and late performance stages while addressing the data limitations and risk averse characteristics of the industry.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The writers extend their special thanks to Don Wilaby and David Totman from Colorado Springs Utilities and Cal Van Zee from Laramie Water for their willingness to participate as case studies and for their invaluable assistance during the model’s development. The writers also thank the focus group participants from the city of Albuquerque, city of Loveland Department of Water and Power, Mobile Area Water and Sewer System, New Mexico Environmental Finance Center, and the Suffolk County Water Authority.
References
Agbenowosi, N. (2000). “A mechanistic analysis based decision support system for scheduling optimal pipeline replacement.” Ph.D. dissertation, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State Univ., Blacksburg, Va.
American Water Works Association (AWWA). (2002). “Deteriorating buried infrastructure management challenges and strategies,” Rep. Prepared for Engineering Dept., AWWA, Denver.
Andreou, S. A. (1986). “Predictive models for pipe break failures and their implications on maintenance planning strategies for deteriorating water distribution systems.” Ph.D. dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
Bates, J., and Gregory, A. (1994). “Development of a pipe evaluation model for the Louisville Water Company.” Proc., AWWA Computer Conf., AWWA, Denver.
Brémond, B. (1997). “Statistical modeling as help in network renewal decision.” Rep. Prepared for European Commission Co-operation on Science and Technology, Committee C3-Diagnostics of Urban Infrastructure, Paris.
Butler, D., and Early, R. (2002). “A rational basis for making pipeline replacement decisions.” Proc., AWWA Conference, Steamboat Springs, Colo., ⟨http://www.rmwea.org/tech_papers/#Water⟩ (Dec. 3, 2007).
Clark, R. M., Stafford, C. L., and Goodrich, J. A. (1982). “Water distribution systems: A spatial and cost evaluation.” J. Water Resour. Plng. and Mgmt. Div., 108(3), 243–256.
Cox, D. R. (1972). “Regression models and life tables.” J. R. Stat. Soc., 34(B), 187–220.
Crow, L. H. (2004a). “Practical methods for analyzing the reliability of repairable systems.” Reliasoft’s reliability edge newsletter, ⟨http://www.reliasoft.com/newsletter/v5i1/repairable.htm⟩ (Dec. 10, 2007).
Crow, L. H. (2004b). “Reliability basics: Fielded systems in reliability growth (Part 1).” Reliability Hotwire, the emagazine for the reliability professional, ⟨http://www.weibull.com/hotwire/issue40/relbasics40.htm⟩ (Nov. 23, 2007).
Deb, A. K., Herz, R. K., Hasit, Y., and Grablutz, F. M. (1998). “Quantifying future rehabilitation needs of water mains.” Rep. Prepared for AWWA Research Foundation, AWWA, Denver, Colo.
Goulter, I. C., and Kazemi, A. (1987). “Spatial and temporal groupings of water main breakage in Winnipeg.” Can. J. Civ. Eng., 15(1), 91–96.
Grablutz, F., and Hanneken, S. (2000). “Economic modeling for prioritizing pipe replacement program.” Rep. Prepared for St. Louis County Water Company, St. Louis.
Herz, R. K. (1996). “Aging processes and rehabilitation needs of drinking water distribution networks.” J. Water Supply: Res. Technol.-AQUA, 45(5), 221–231.
Jacobs, P., and Karney, B. (1994).”GIS development with application to cast iron water main breakage rate.” Proc., 2nd Int. Conf. on Water Pipeline Systems, BHR Group Ltd., Edinburgh, Scotland, 162–168.
Kettler, A. J., and Goulter, I. C. (1985). “An analysis of breakage in urban water distribution networks.” Can. J. Civ. Eng., 12(1), 286–293.
Kleiner, Y., and Rajani, B. (1999). “Using limited data to forecast future needs.” Opflow (AWWA), 91(7), 47–61.
Loganathan, G. V., Sherali, H. D., Park, S., and Subramanian, S. (2002). “Optimal design-rehabilitation strategies for reliable water distribution systems.” Rep. Prepared for Water Resources Research Center, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State Univ., Blacksburg, Va.
Marks, H. D. (1985). “Predicting urban water distribution maintenance strategy: A case study of New Haven Connecticut.” Cooperative Agreement Rep. No. R810558-01-0, EPA, Washington, D.C.
Martin, T. (2005). “Modeling system leverages GIS to assess critical assets.” WaterWorld, 21(3), 14–16.
Mays, L. W. (2004). “Chapter 7: Optimal location of isolation valves in water distribution systems: A reliability/optimization approach.” Water resource system management tools, McGraw-Hill, New York, 7.1–7.25.
McMullen, L. D. (1982). “Advanced concepts in soil evaluation for exterior pipeline corrosion.” Proc., AWWA Annual Conf., AWWA, Miami, 134–142.
Meeker, W. Q., and Escobar, L. A. (1998). Statistical methods for reliability data, Wiley, New York, 1–26.
O’Day, K. (1982). “Organizing and analyzing leak and break data for making main replacement decisions.” Opflow (AWWA), 74(11), 589–594.
Shamir, U., and Howard, C. D. (1979). “An analytical approach to scheduling pipe replacement.” Opflow (AWWA), 71(5), 248–258.
Vanrenterghem, A. (2003). “Modeling the structural degradation of an urbanwater distribution system.” Ph.D. dissertation, Polytechnic Univ., Brooklyn, N.Y.
Walski, T. M., and Pelliccia, A. (1982). “Economic analysis of water main breaks.” Opflow (AWWA), 74(3), 140–147.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 15 • Issue 3 • September 2009
Pages: 162 - 171
Copyright
© 2009 ASCE.
History
Received: Aug 21, 2006
Accepted: Jan 29, 2009
Published online: Aug 14, 2009
Published in print: Sep 2009
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.