Vulnerability, Risk, and Mitigation Assessment of Water Distribution Systems for Insufficient Fire Flows
Publication: Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 139, Issue 6
Abstract
Water distributions systems must reliably supply water for fire-fighting needs as well as everyday demands but are vulnerable to a range of failure types that can compromise both functions. A methodology is presented integrating failure probability, risk analysis, and optimization of risk that can be used to assess system vulnerabilities and potential mitigation actions. To demonstrate multiple failure mode analysis, three failure types are included: accidental failure due to soil-pipe interaction, accidental failure due to a seismic event, and malevolent attack. A risk-optimization algorithm is implemented using dynamic programming to identify the failure scenarios having the greatest consequences and probability rather than focusing on just one aspect of vulnerability. Finally, potential mitigation strategies are assessed in a benefit-cost-risk reduction analysis. The methodology is intended as a practicable means for infrastructure managers to assess and address system vulnerabilities in a realistic and cost-effective manner.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Al-Zahrani, M. A., and Moied, K. (2001). “Locating optimum water quality monitoring stations in water distribution system.” Proc., World Water and Environmental Resources Congress, ASCE, Reston, VA.
American Lifelines Alliance. (2005). “Seismic guidelines for water pipelines.”, G&E Engineering Systems, Oakland, CA.
American Water Works Association (AWWA). (1998). AWWA manual M31—Distribution system requirements for fire protection, AWWA, Denver.
American Water Works Association Research Foundation (AWWARF) and Sandia National Laboratories. (2002). Risk assessment methodology for water utilities (RAM-W), AWWARF, Denver.
Arulraj, G., and Rao, H. (1995). “Concept of significant index for maintenance and design of pipe networks.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 121(11), 833–837.
Brumbelow, K., Bristow, E. C., and Torres, J. (2005). “Micropolis: A virtual city for water distribution systems research applications.” Proc., AWRA 2006 Spring Specialty Conf.: GIS and Water Resources IV, American Water Resources Association, Denver.
Brumbelow, K., Torres, J., Guikema, S., Bristow, E. C., and Kanta, L. (2007). “Virtual cities for water distribution and infrastructure system research.” Proc., World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2007, ASCE, Reston, VA.
Cities of Bryan and College Station (BCS). (2005). “B/CS unified design guideline manual, water, sewer, and streets.” 〈www.bcsunited.net/2005Files/DesignManual2005.pdf〉 (May 22, 2006).
Clemen, R. T., and Reilly, T. (2001). Making hard decisions, Duxbury, Pacific Grove, CA.
Current construction costs. (2004). 41st Ed., Saylor Publications, Chatsworth, CA.
Eidinger, J. M., ed. (2001). Seismic fragility formulations for water systems, Revision 0, American Lifelines Alliance, Oakland, CA.
Ezell, B. C., Farr, J. V., and Wiese, I. (2000). “Infrastructure risk analysis model.” J. Infrastruct. Syst., 6(3), 114–117.
Filion, Y. R., and Jung, B. S. (2010). “Least-cost design of water distribution networks including fire damages.” J. Water Resour. Plann. Manage., 136(6), 658–668.
Giustolisi, O., Kapelan, Z., and Savic, D. (2008a). “Algorithm for automatic detection of topological changes in water distribution networks.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 134(4), 435–446.
Giustolisi, O., Kapelan, Z., and Savic, D. (2008b). “Extended period simulation analysis considering valve shutdowns.” J. Water Resour. Plann. Manage., 134(6), 527–537.
Haimes, Y. Y. (2002). “Strategic responses to risks of terrorism to water resources.” J. Water Resour. Plann. Manage., 128(6), 383–389.
Haimes, Y. Y., Matalas, N. C., Lambert, J. H., Jackson, B. A., and James, F. R. (1998). “Reducing vulnerability of water supply systems to attack.” J. Infrastruct. Syst., 4(4), 164–177.
Hasofer, A. M., Beck, V. R., and Bennetts, I. D. (2007). Risk analysis in building fire safety engineering, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, UK.
International Organization of Standards (ISO). (2001). Draft ISO guide 73, Geneva.
Kanta, L., Zechman, E., and Brumbelow, K. (2012). “Multiobjective evolutionary computation approach for redesigning water distribution systems to provide fire flows.” J. Water Resour. Plann. Manage., 138(2), 144–152.
Kanta, L. R. (2009). “A risk-based optimization modeling framework for mitigating fire events for water and fire response infrastructures.” Ph.D. dissertation, Zachry Department of Civil Engineering, Texas A&M Engineering, College Station, TX.
Lewis, T. G. (2006). Critical infrastructure protection in homeland security: Defending a networked nation, Wiley, New York.
Mays, L. W., ed. (1996). Water resources handbook, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Mays, L. W., ed. (2000). Water distribution systems handbook, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Modarres, M. (2006). Risk analysis in engineering techniques, tools, and skills, Taylor & Francis, Boca Raton, FL.
Ostfeld, A., and Salomons, E. (2004). “Optimal layout of early warning detection stations for water distribution systems security.” J. Water Resour. Plann. Manage., 130(5), 377–385.
Pate-Cornell, M. (1984). “Fault trees vs. event trees in reliability analysis.” Risk Anal., 4(3), 177–186.
Rossman, L. A. (1999). “The EPANET programmer’s toolkit for analysis of water distribution systems.” Proc., 29th Annual Water Resources Planning and Management Conf., ASCE, Tempe, AZ.
Rossman, L. A. (2000). “EPANET 2 Users Manual.”, National Risk Management Research Laboratory, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati.
Scawthorn, C., Eidinger, J. M., and Schiff, A. J., eds. (2005). “Fire following earthquake.” Technical Council on Lifeline Earthquake Engineering Monograph No. 26, ASCE, Reston, VA.
Skolicki, Z., Wadda, M. M., Houck, M. H., and Arciszewski, T. (2006). “Reduction of physical threats to water distribution systems.” J. Water Resour. Plann. Manage., 132(4), 211–217.
Tidwell, V. C., Cooper, J. A., and Silva, C. J. (2005). “Threat assessment of water supply systems using markov latent effects modeling.” J. Water Resour. Plann. Manage., 131(3), 218–227.
Wagner, J. M., Shamir, U., and Marks, D. H. (1998). “Water distribution reliability: Simulation methods.” J. Water Resour. Plann. Manage., 114(3), 276–294.
Wang, Z. (2006). “Understanding seismic hazard and risk assessment: An example in the New Madrid seismic zone of the Central United States.” Proc., 8th U.S. National Conf. on Earthquake Engineering 2006, EERI (Earthquake Engineering Research Institute), San Francisco, CA.
Wu, Z. Y., Wang, R. H., Walski, T. M., Yang, S. Y., Bowdler, D., and Baggett, C. C. (2009). “Extended global-gradient algorithm for pressure-dependent water distribution analysis.” J. Water Resour. Plann. Manage., 135(1), 13–22.
Yamijala, S., Guikema, S., and Brumbelow, J. K. (2009). “Statistical estimation of water distribution system pipe reliability.” Reliab. Eng. Syst. Safe., 94(2), 282–293.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 4, 2010
Accepted: May 16, 2012
Published online: May 21, 2012
Discussion open until: Oct 21, 2012
Published in print: Nov 1, 2013
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.