Water Supply Pipeline Failures: Investigative Procedures and Data Management
Publication: Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 31, Issue 6
Abstract
Investigating causes of water main failures can help utilities reduce their frequency and save on lifecycle costs, but procedures are not well established in most utilities. A process to track failures is recommended for asset management programs, and it requires effective management of data from failure sites for ultimate use in decisions. Practices for data collection at failure sites show a mixture of approaches, which are not always integrated with enterprise databases. Current investigative practices split into how frequent minor and largely infrequent major failures are handled. Minor failures are treated like maintenance events, with data entered on forms for transfer to databases. Major events are normally handled by separate investigations, but procedures are not standardized. Water utilities can learn from procedures for investigating natural gas pipeline failures, which follow protocols that would apply to higher-consequence events. Standardization in water main data categories could make asset management and failure investigations more effective.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 31 • Issue 6 • December 2017
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 28, 2016
Accepted: Jun 26, 2017
Published online: Oct 11, 2017
Published in print: Dec 1, 2017
Discussion open until: Mar 11, 2018
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