Modeling the Factors Affecting Sanitary System Condition Assessment in Egypt
Publication: Journal of Pipeline Systems Engineering and Practice
Volume 16, Issue 1
Abstract
In the most common cases, sanitation systems consist of four main phases: sewage networks, pump stations, force-main lines, and treatment plants. This research is dedicated to the systematic identification and hierarchical prioritization of crucial factors that impact the condition assessment of various stages within the sanitation system. An initial review compiled a comprehensive list of 115 factors from the literature that influence the condition assessment of the sanitation system’s distinct phases: 31 factors for sewer networks, 21 for pump stations, 18 for force-main lines, and 45 for wastewater treatment plants. By administering 88 detailed questionnaires to field experts, these factors were distilled to 59, predicated on their ascribed importance indices. Factors that achieved an importance index above the 50% threshold were considered to be significant and were retained for in-depth analysis, whereas those with an index below 50% were excluded from the prioritization process. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was used to compare and rank these factors. The results indicated that the two most important factors affecting the condition assessment of sewage networks are pipe material for sewers and cover and frame for manholes, respectively. The factors for pump stations are operational and maintenance procedures for pumps and protective measures for receiving wells, respectively. Pipe material, operation pressure, and corrosion of valves of mechanical pieces are the important factors for force-main lines. The age of electromechanical equipment and cavitations are the two most important factors affecting the condition assessment of wastewater treatment plants. A heuristic evaluation of three existing case studies was used to validate the model, and resulted in correlation coefficients ranging between 0.801 and 0.871. This study will support decision makers in managing sanitation system assets.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article.
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© 2024 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 8, 2024
Accepted: Jun 24, 2024
Published online: Sep 20, 2024
Published in print: Feb 1, 2025
Discussion open until: Feb 20, 2025
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Business management
- Case studies
- Decision making
- Engineering fundamentals
- Engineering materials (by type)
- Environmental engineering
- Infrastructure
- Lifeline systems
- Materials engineering
- Methodology (by type)
- Municipal wastes
- Pipe materials
- Pipeline systems
- Pipes
- Pollutants
- Practice and Profession
- Pumping stations
- Research methods (by type)
- Sewage
- Sewers
- Wastes
- Wastewater treatment plants
- Water and water resources
- Water management
- Water supply
- Water supply systems
- Water treatment
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